“A Brief description of Nietzsche’s Ideas” by me
“A Brief description of Nietzsche’s Ideas”
On October 15, 1844 at Rocken in Prussian Saxony Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born to the country pastor. He attended several country schools and in 1869 Leipzig made him a doctor of philosophy and he later became a professor of classical philology at Basle where retired on pension ten years later in 1879. In 1877 he published his first of nearly a dozen works on philosophy. In 1780 he lost his mind and his sister took care of him until his death on August 25, 1900. This essay contains a brief description on Nietzsche’s ideas of intellectual freedom, morality, Christianity, family life and death.
Nietzsche believed that everybody should have intellectual freedom. To have intellectual freedom meant that you should never be certain of anything and always be willing to change your ideas if a better idea is presented.
He wisely stated this idea by writing…
“We should not let ourselves be burnt from our opinions themselves, of which we can never be quite sure, but we may perhaps do so for the right to hold and change them.” (Mencken, p.1)
Nietzsche felt that “convections are more dangerous enemies to truth than lies” and “all intellects that are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be intellectuals”(Mencken, p.1).
Nietzsche had a view on morality that most people would consider strange. He felt that “all that increases the feeling of power - the will to power - power itself - in man!” is good and “all that comes from weakness” is bad(Mencken, p.3). He continued to support the idea by saying “the feeling that power increases - that resistance is being overcome” is the feeling of happiness(Mencken, p.3). He also had a similar belief of Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory in that he stated and believed “the weak must perish!” and “we must help them to do so”(Mencken, p.3). He felt the only thing worse than crime is “active sympathy for the week”(Mencken, p.3).
Nietzsche is most known for his view on Christianity in which he utterly despised. In Der Antichrist Nietzsche wrote…
“I Condemn Christianity. I bring against the Christian church the most terrible accusation ever voiced. It is to me the greatest of all imaginable corruptions: it has sought to bring about the ultimate corruption. It has left nothing uncontaminated by it’s depravity; it has made every valuable thing worthless, every truth a lie, every honest impulse a baseness of soul.” Nietzsche, Der Antichrist
Nietzsche also had a strange view on the way family life should be. He didn’t like marriage and stated “the fortuitousness of marriage makes all rational and ordered progress impossible!”(Mencken, p.16). He felt women were only good for “child-bearing” and wrote “man should be educated for war and woman for the recreation of the warrior”(Mencken, p.22). He believed “man’s happiness lies in I will!” and “woman’s happiness lies in he will!”(Mencken, p.23).
Nietzsche also had a strange view on death. He felt that a natural death was not at all natural and stated “it is involuntary death, death at the wrong time, a coward’s death”(Mencken, p.48). He believed that “we should desire a different death”, one that is “voluntary, conscious, not accidental or by surprise”(Mencken, p.48). In one of his books he wrote…
“Under certain conditions it is improper to live any longer. Continued vegetation in cowardly dependence, after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost, should entail the profound contempt of humanity.” (Mencken, p.48)
Nietzsche felt that “when man does away with himself he does the noblest thing in the world” and by doing so “he almost proves his right to live”(Mencken, p.48).
In the near dozen philosophical books Nietzsche wrote, many strange ideas were presented, these ideas, if you support them or not, were influential to many people and brought on a new and different perspective on humanity in general.
Works Cited
Mencken, Henry L. “The Gist of Nietzsche” John W. Luce & Company Publishers, Boston, 1973
Dr. Siegfried E. Heit, in class lectures, UCO Monday/Wednesday/Friday 2:00pm-2:50 2004
On October 15, 1844 at Rocken in Prussian Saxony Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born to the country pastor. He attended several country schools and in 1869 Leipzig made him a doctor of philosophy and he later became a professor of classical philology at Basle where retired on pension ten years later in 1879. In 1877 he published his first of nearly a dozen works on philosophy. In 1780 he lost his mind and his sister took care of him until his death on August 25, 1900. This essay contains a brief description on Nietzsche’s ideas of intellectual freedom, morality, Christianity, family life and death.
Nietzsche believed that everybody should have intellectual freedom. To have intellectual freedom meant that you should never be certain of anything and always be willing to change your ideas if a better idea is presented.
He wisely stated this idea by writing…
“We should not let ourselves be burnt from our opinions themselves, of which we can never be quite sure, but we may perhaps do so for the right to hold and change them.” (Mencken, p.1)
Nietzsche felt that “convections are more dangerous enemies to truth than lies” and “all intellects that are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be intellectuals”(Mencken, p.1).
Nietzsche had a view on morality that most people would consider strange. He felt that “all that increases the feeling of power - the will to power - power itself - in man!” is good and “all that comes from weakness” is bad(Mencken, p.3). He continued to support the idea by saying “the feeling that power increases - that resistance is being overcome” is the feeling of happiness(Mencken, p.3). He also had a similar belief of Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory in that he stated and believed “the weak must perish!” and “we must help them to do so”(Mencken, p.3). He felt the only thing worse than crime is “active sympathy for the week”(Mencken, p.3).
Nietzsche is most known for his view on Christianity in which he utterly despised. In Der Antichrist Nietzsche wrote…
“I Condemn Christianity. I bring against the Christian church the most terrible accusation ever voiced. It is to me the greatest of all imaginable corruptions: it has sought to bring about the ultimate corruption. It has left nothing uncontaminated by it’s depravity; it has made every valuable thing worthless, every truth a lie, every honest impulse a baseness of soul.” Nietzsche, Der Antichrist
Nietzsche also had a strange view on the way family life should be. He didn’t like marriage and stated “the fortuitousness of marriage makes all rational and ordered progress impossible!”(Mencken, p.16). He felt women were only good for “child-bearing” and wrote “man should be educated for war and woman for the recreation of the warrior”(Mencken, p.22). He believed “man’s happiness lies in I will!” and “woman’s happiness lies in he will!”(Mencken, p.23).
Nietzsche also had a strange view on death. He felt that a natural death was not at all natural and stated “it is involuntary death, death at the wrong time, a coward’s death”(Mencken, p.48). He believed that “we should desire a different death”, one that is “voluntary, conscious, not accidental or by surprise”(Mencken, p.48). In one of his books he wrote…
“Under certain conditions it is improper to live any longer. Continued vegetation in cowardly dependence, after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost, should entail the profound contempt of humanity.” (Mencken, p.48)
Nietzsche felt that “when man does away with himself he does the noblest thing in the world” and by doing so “he almost proves his right to live”(Mencken, p.48).
In the near dozen philosophical books Nietzsche wrote, many strange ideas were presented, these ideas, if you support them or not, were influential to many people and brought on a new and different perspective on humanity in general.
Works Cited
Mencken, Henry L. “The Gist of Nietzsche” John W. Luce & Company Publishers, Boston, 1973
Dr. Siegfried E. Heit, in class lectures, UCO Monday/Wednesday/Friday 2:00pm-2:50 2004