Two Brands of Nihilism Essay -- Nietzsche Nihilism Philosophy Essays

Two Brands of Nihilism As philosopher and poet Nietzsche's work is not easily conformable to the traditional schools of thought within philosophy. However, an unmistakable concern with the role of religion and values penetrates much of his work. Contrary to the tradition before him, Nietzsche launches vicious diatribes against Christianity and the dualistic philosophies he finds essentially life denying. Despite his early tutelage under the influence of Schopenhauer's philosophy, Nietzsche later philosophy indicates a refusal to cast existence as embroiled in pessimism but, instead, as that which should be affirmed, even in the face of bad fortune. This essay will study in further detail Nietzsche view of Schopenhauer and Christianity as essentially nihilistic. Nihilism Throughout his work Nietzsche makes extensive use of the term â€Å"nihilism†. In texts from the tradition prior to Nietzsche, the term connotes a necessary connection between atheism and the subsequent disbelief in values. It was held the atheist regarded the moral norms of society as merely conventional, without any justification by rational argument. Furthermore, without a divine authority prohibiting any immoral conduct, all appeals to morality by authority become hollow. By the atheists reckoning then, all acts are permissible. With Nietzsche's appearance on the scene, however, arrives the most potent arguments denying the necessary link between atheism and nihilism. It will be demonstrated that Nietzsche, in fact, will argue it is in the appeal to divine proscriptions that the most virulent nihilism will attain. There is a second sense of nihilism that appears as an outgrowth of the first that Nietzsche appeals to in his critique of values. It contends that not only does an active, pious, acknowledgment of a divinity foster nihilism, but also, the disingenuous worship of a deity that has been replaced in the life man by science, too, breeds a passive nihilism. Christianity Nietzsche conceives the first variety of nihilism, that fostered through active worship, as pernicious due to its reinforcement of a fundamental attitude that denies life. Throughout his life Nietzsche argued the contemporary metaphysical basis for belief in a deity were merely negations of, or tried to deny, the uncertainties of what is necessarily a situated human existen... ...if a man is sincere and in full possession of his faculties, he will never wish to have it over again, but rather than this, he will much prefer absolute annihilation† (WWI 589). Schopenhauer's pessimism has some roots in our inability to adequately satisfy our wants. A casual reading might have one to believe both philosophers took the will to be the same oject or process, but that where one celebrates it the other denigrates it. A more careful reading will reveal, however, that, Nietzsche though initially impressed with the Schopenhauer conception of the will, he will later reject it. Schopenhauer concieves the will to be a primal metaphysical reality. The mileage the two philosophers get from investigating â€Å"will†, the term is no coordinate in their use, nor are we surorised at the disparity of their mature philosophies. For Nietzsche, the resignation of the will is a forlorn denial of life. Similarly, the appeal to a transcendent deity also indicts the indivuals as resentful in the face of those who can affirm life. Nietzsche proposes one should affirm life even in the midst of tragedy, thus the passive nihilism that embraces the ascetic ideals are overcome.