Friedrich Nietzsche :

Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist

 Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Genealogy of Morality
• Death of God, the ascetic ideal and the path to
Nihilism
• Overcoming Nihilism
• Relevance today
 Introduction
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a renowned German philosopher,
cultural critic, and poet, known for his profound impact on Western
thought. Born in Röcken, Prussia, Nietzsche demonstrated
extraordinary intellectual prowess from a young age, hired as a
professor of Classical Philosophy at the University of Basel aged
31( youngest till date) . His study of philology ( the study of critically
analyzing ancient languages ), which later influenced his critical
approach to philosophy.
•
In his early career, Nietzsche delved into the world of academia,
focusing on Greek tragedy and the works of the philosopher Arthur
Schopenhauer. However, as he progressed, he began to diverge
significantly from traditional philosophical paradigms, most notably
challenging the ideas of Plato and the prevailing philosophies of his
time.
Introduction
• Nietzsche's critiques of Plato's ideas and
the concept of the "thing in itself" sought
to replace the idea of absolute truths
with a more nuanced understanding of
reality, embracing multiple perspectives
and acknowledging the human element
in the quest for knowledge and
understanding.
Genealogy of Morality
Genealogy of Morality
• The First Settler’s Debt ( German, Greek and
roman words for ‘debt’ later become words
for evil)
• The need for obedience to preserve and
advance a society at the expense of
individual freedom ( origin of religious
feeling)
• Early use of Gods and Myths ( Greeks,
Hindus) vs Later use
Genealogy of Morality
• के पाप र पुण्य universal, objective कु रा हुन्?
• ‘Good & Bad’ vs ‘Good and Evil’
• Criticism of Kant and the Categorical
Imperative and Free Will
The Ascetic Ideal
• Poverty
• Abstinence/Chastity
• Humility
• Submission
• “उसले एक थप्पड हान्छ, अर्को गाला थाप”
• “सायद मैले मेरा पापहरुको कारण दुःख पाइरहेको छु ”
The Ascetic Ideal
• “ I cannot exert my power over anybody
else, so I will exert it on myself” – साधु, भिक्षु,
पण्डित, Monk, Philosophers, Priests, Person
doing self harm, etc.
• Ascetic Ideal to provide a meaning for
suffering, or to have control over one’s
suffering.
• Pilgrimage (तिर्थ यात्रा)\
The Ascetic Ideal
• Stems from an internal( but not self-
admitted) denial, hatred and
purposelessness of life, and the desire to
‘not exist’
• Very much Alive in art, culture and
literature ( even science)
• Romeo and Juliet, War Movies,
• मुना मदन, शिरिसको फू ल
God is dead. God remains dead. And we
have killed him. What was holiest and mightiest
of all that the world has yet owned has bled to
death under our knives: who will wipe this
blood off us? What water is there for us to
clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement,
what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is
not the greatness of this deed too great for us?
Nihilism
• Nihilism: any aim is lacking, any answer to the
question "why" is lacking. What does nihilism
mean?--that the supreme values devaluate
themselves.
• Loss of meaning, Loss of purpose, Loss of reason
• Leads man to act recklessly on whims, indulging in
their base desires, ultimately just to satisfy their
ego, and nothing else.
• ‘If man has nothing left to desire, he will desire
oblivion itself’
Nihilism
• "Whoever fights monsters should see to
it that in the process he does not
become a monster. And if you gaze long
enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze
back into you."

• 'Man will desire oblivion rather than not

desire at all.'
Overcoming Nihilism
• Critically examine ‘truths’ and ‘ideals’
• Doubt is good, Convictions are the
enemy of the truth, more than the
untruth.
• Ideals do not represent ‘truths’ , they
represent the human desire for ‘truths’
• Self- Evaluation, Self- Realization and
Self- Overcoming ( again and again)
Ubermensch (Beyond-Man)
• ‘ Man is something that must be
overcome’
• A rope between animal and
Ubermensch, over an abyss
Overcoming Nihilism
• Amor Fati
• It is not suffering that is bad, it is the
meaninglessness of suffering that drives
us to despair
• Create meaning by embracing your
suffering, celebrating your personal
standards, go beyond
• Scientific Spirit
• All idealists imagine that the causes
they serve are significantly better than
the other causes in the world; they do
not want to believe that if their cause
is to flourish at all, it needs exactly the
same foul-smelling manure that all
other human undertakings require.
Relevance in Today’s World
• Did Nietzsche Predict modern Politics?
• Ideals and words
• Overcoming ideals and concrete views
Pablo Picasso
Thoughts??