Nietzsche's Loss Of The Power Of God

Friedrich Nietzsche’s own skepticism symbolized the secular changes in contemporary Western civilization, in which he details mankind’s break away from faith into a new rule of chaos. In Book 5 of The Gay Science, Nietzsche establishes that “God is dead”, meaning that modern Europe has abandoned religion in favor of rationality and science (Nietzsche 279). From this death, the birth of a ‘new’ infinite blossoms in which the world is open to an unlimited amount of interpretations that do not rely on the solid foundations of faith in religion or science. However, in contrast to the other philosophers of his age such as Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Nietzsche deviates from the omniscient determinism of history towards a

Existentialism has impacted the questions philosophers ask as well as the methods used to answer those questions. For Nietzsche, god was dead; it was high time to direct human endeavors to the reaching of highest potential without the confines

The whole world has crashed. It is full of emptiness and miserable scenes on earth, where dead bodies are all around lying on the ground, demonstrating the massive destruction caused by people who attempt to conquer nature. For decades, every creature except for humans has been extinct; everyone who struggles to survive wants to murder and rob others, and some people even choose to practice cannibalism in order to survive. Humanity and morality established through billions of years by human ancestors since the Paleolithic period fade with the dignity of every individual. God is no longer above this world; he is tired of people’s unconsciousness and immoderation.

Nihilism originated somewhere around the mid-1800s, it was a shift from the social philosophy around that time which viewed life with purpose and meaning which was found usually though God, or some religious doctrine, however Nihilism is the philosophy that dictates the meaninglessness in life; it leaves an empty and void existence. Nihilism is usually associated with German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is often although not a Nihilist himself Nietzsche wrote a considerable amount concerning Nihilism and its implications as a philosophy. Nietzsche saw Nihilism as a growing problem, he believed that as the world grew conscious of Nihilism it would destroy all morality and meaning man has created, this is because he would realize the

​This paper will analyze afterlife in Hinduism and in Catholicism. Afterlife will be considered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1020-1060 and in Romans 10. Afterlife will also be considered in Bhagavad Gita 2:27, Obayashi page 146 and in Rig Veda 10.14.8. This topic is intriguing because death is a part of life and it is interesting to see the different perspectives of their two religions and of what happens in the afterlife. Besides the perspectives, this topic studies the greatest mystery of life, death which is an uncommon topic since people usually shy away from talking about this because of the emotional implications that it brings to people.

One of the most ancient mystery yet unsolved is the question pertaining to death and the afterlife. This mystery is one of the fundamental studies in both field of philosophy and religion. Comparing those who believe in a god-existing religion against those who don’t, we often see many differences in the answers relating to death. In the contrary, the similar answers to theist and atheist are evident strongly in two great thinkers and their works. The focus will be on Socrates’ speech in the Apology by Plato setting in 399 BCE and De Rerum Natura by Titus Lucretius 300 years later.

In Nietzsche’s Will to Power, he writes, "Nihilism is . . . not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one's shoulder to the plough; one destroys” (Dale Wilkerson, “Friedrich Nietzsche (1844—1900)”). Beyond Nietzsche’s works.

In Twilight of the Idols Nietzsche emphasizes that the Christian Church is a false idol. He dares to say, “..God to be an enemy of life..” and, “Life ends where the ‘kingdom of God’ begins..” because he believes that Christian morality is against life itself (Idols, 23). The reason for this is because Nietzsche believes that, “to have to fight against the instincts- this is the formula for decadence: so long as the life is ascendant, happiness equals instinct” which simply means that if one goes against instincts, or an intuitive way of carrying ones life, then as a consequence it will lead to the degeneration of society and intellect while if life is on the rise, happiness must be equivalent to following ones’ instinct (Idols, 15). Because of his belief it is understood that Nietzsche wants one to embrace their instincts. Nietzsche states that a life in which

Nietzsche believed that once "God is dead", we must become like Gods and create our own meaning of life. We would be the creators of our own values, ethics, morals and truth. He believed that without God, there would be an emptiness between the difference of good and evil. For that reason, we would need to build our own definition of good and evil with no metaphysical belief in it. Furthermore, Nietzsche explained that God is not only a divine being for religious people but that he represents the foundation of our system of knowledge and the code of law of the modern civilization This idea is expressed in his book the gay science when he says: "Whiter are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backwards, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? [...] God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him." (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 181). What this quotation means is that God is the source of all meaning and since he is dead we are now left plunging through a valueless universe. We have lost our source of meaning, values, ethics, morals and truth. How can we know what is "up and down", "good and bad", or "right and wrong" anymore? This quotation proves us that once God is dead we will have no choice but to create new values for ourselves. Another interesting quotation that ties in both the

Nietzsche and Kierkegaard are both considered to be the top existentialists for solely different reasons, as well as being very different from each other. They have different philosophies when it comes to their thoughts on religion and it is important to see exactly how they line up in this regard. The best way to do this is to start from the beginning of each’s work, their history and how they grew into their respective roles in their fields. It is also important to note exactly what existentialism is. It is the theory of exercising the idea that the individual has the freedom and free will to develop their own path and existence in a responsible manner. It is a very interesting subject that is debated on the concepts of thinking in absolutes. The need to compare and contrast these two is a volatile understanding of this particular philosophical theory. It is also important to review their thoughts and critique them in the sense of saying what makes sense, and what does not make sense.

Another philosopher who also a pioneer of existentialism was Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche’s faith, like Kierkegaard’s, was at one time rooted in Christianity. However, Kierkegaard remained embedded in his faith and Nietzsche abandoned his. Nietzsche’s existentialism had many of the same beliefs as Kierkegaard’s such as – both believed that philosophy should be based on the value of people’s beliefs and that people had to find their own way in life and decide for themselves what the meanings of life and existence are (Cline, 2011). Nietzsche was concerned

The dispute of God extends past just who He is. It extends into what He values, what He believes, and even to what He loves. However, these seemingly complex questions are redundant. The answers to all these questions revolve around one thing: us. We create who He is. We determine what He values. We determine what He believes. We determine whom He loves. We created God. What we should truly be asking is: Does one need God? The necessity of God is discussed at length in Friedrich Nietzsche’s book, “On the Genealogy of Morals,” wherein he states that since we create morals our own morals, God is too a social construct, who is different for every person. Because standards for morality vary by person, the enforcement of a single, divinely ordained law or code or set of values over all humans generalizes and subsequently overlooks individual experiences. Subsequently, we do not need Him, because we are using God as a figurehead to pass judgment upon ourselves. Nietzsche claims that we use God as a social crutch in order to give ourselves purpose in this world because we fear having a meaningless life. Nietzsche’s ideas are a constant theme throughout Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, “Fight Club,” wherein we witness the transition of God from being one’s father to the character Tyler Durden. This anthropomorphized God causes destruction and discontent and illustrates the struggle people have with living a meaningless life. Both Nietzsche and Palahniuk argue and illustrate that since God

Existentialism can be defined as a branch of philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice. It focuses on the question of human existence and the feeling that there is no purpose or explanation for existence. Although they never used the term existentialism in their works, Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche are considered two of the first and significant philosophers to the existentialist movement. They focused on subjective human experience and were interested in the struggle to escape boredom and find meaning in life. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche also stressed the importance of making free choices and how these choices change the identity of the individual. Both Kierkegaard and Nietzsche felt that life is

Nietzsche introduced an idea of philosophy that was more than simply a rational groundwork of existence or as the pursuit of an absolute truth. Instead, he suggested that philosophy is something to be respected as a personal interpretation of life and all its faculties (morality, existentialism etc.) and that was – for him - focused on life affirmation. Furthermore, this thinking implies that philosophy is not a be all and end all answer to life’s questions; rather, it is merely a

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” (Gay Science, 126) This harsh statement remains among Friedrich Nietzsche’s most powerful and disturbing quotes, spoken by a proclaimed Madman to a crowd of disbelievers. After making this claim, the Madman becomes horrified by his audience’s ignorance, noting that “This tremendous event is still on its way.” This has an effect of suspending the Madman’s message in time, expanding its audience infinitely, for the event of God’s death could still be on its way. Therefore, nearly 150 years after these words were written, we must ask ourselves, does God remain dead, and has our modern society killed him? This is a haunting and disturbing question, but in many ways our society does resemble Nietzsche’s masses. However, it also resembles the Madman himself, due to its inherent individualism.