#10 Nietzche and Human Suffering Part 2

     Nietzche was an interesting man with interesting views. His scope in philosophy was wide ranging and asked a lot of big questions, such as what are the reasons humans suffer? He is also famous for saying that "God is dead." When he said this he had not actually meant that god was dead, but rather that he never existed in the first place because if there truly was a God in the first place, he would not have died. His argument is basically that science and society had gotten to a point where they had the tools and knowledge needed to ,in a sense, disprove God and that we didn't need this idea of God to stick around because we no longer needed it.     

Nietzche also had this idea of an "Übermensch" which is translated roughly to superman. Nietzche's superman was someone who was able to shoulder the heavy burden of suffering without turning away from it and escaping it. This idea somewhat fits into his anti-religious ideologies because he considered religion a tool people use to escape suffering. Nietzche believed that suffering was caused by our need to be basically immortal. Humans are one of the few species that recognize and know of our own mortality and that we will eventually come to an end. We all know that one day our life will come to and end, and this is what causes our suffering. We want to be immortalized in some way, and so we compete with others in trying to achieve this goal. It is within this competition that suffering ensues because we will do whatever it takes, which means anyone who gets in our way will suffer. He is highly critical of religion because it is basically a way to try to circumvent our mortality. The idea of an afterlife or even reincarnation is directly trying to counter suffering, and so someone who is religious could never become a superman because they would not face suffering head-on.

Nietzche's philosophy centered heavily on religion and suffering. He was not the biggest fan of the west because of how they used religion. Nietzche saw that once you accepted that "God is dead," all the values someone had learned from their religion could be challenged. Then would the world not turn into complete chaos without a system of values? Not necessarily. Nietzche also believe that the source of all value was human suffering, so what better way to truly understand what is valuable in a society than throwing away the ideas of God and allowing oneself to suffer? This is where the superman comes in once again. A man who has experienced great suffering, but has not lost his values. A truly superior man to others because suffering has molded him into an immaculate being. This then begs the question: If everyone is suffering, does everyone become a superman? This is also not necessarily true because throughout our life spans, humans all experience different types and levels of suffering, so only those who have endured the greatest would become a "superman."

Comments: 

1st: https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/12/life-after-death.html?showComment=1513101542684#c6271566213429509696

2nd: https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/12/sad-post-about-death-and-dogs-9.html?showComment=1513101758407#c1559892075492113438