Little Footnote for the unawares, Nietzsche was NOT a nazi philosopher, a close relative of his converted his writings to nazi ideology and claimed it was him.
His sister, yeah. Nietzsche himself, when in an insane asylum at the end of his life, ordered all anti-semites to be shot, which, as a late 19th century German man, is pretty fucking based. He had moments of what we would see as anti-semitism himself, but generally of odd and occasional stereotyping (“All Jews become mawkish when they moralize”) rather than a distinct and exclusionary racial-prejudice of the type we’re used to seeing from antisemites.
He was actually pretty religious, though,
No, he was definitely an atheist.
when he wrote “God is Dead” he was actually writing a warning to athiests and unaligned that a world without a central pillar of morality was coming.
This is somewhat correct - when Nietzsche writes of the death of God, he is speaking of the absence of a central morality in a world that is rapidly casting off its former superstitions. The thing is that Nietzsche does not see that alone as a good thing - with the death of God, the old ways of thinking persist, but now with a hollowness that renders their previous purpose superfluous - like a trained animal working a pellet dispenser long after it has broke. The death of God, thus, will lead to a period of true nihilism, in which many who are unable to cope with the world drown in purposelessness- knowingly or unknowingly. But it is also an opportunity - for a revaluation of morality, for men of great spirit to found new ways without the chains of the old dragging them down - the Overman (or Overmen).
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? 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? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
Nietzsche is fond of intentional self-contradiction, in addition to having his ideals develop considerably over the course of his works, so he’s not always the easiest author to pin down, but the death of God as both warning and opportunity is pretty widely accepted.
DEAD ARE ALL THE GODS: NOW DO WE DESIRE THE OVERMAN TO LIVE.
His sister, yeah. Nietzsche himself, when in an insane asylum at the end of his life, ordered all anti-semites to be shot, which, as a late 19th century German man, is pretty fucking based. He had moments of what we would see as anti-semitism himself, but generally of odd and occasional stereotyping (“All Jews become mawkish when they moralize”) rather than a distinct and exclusionary racial-prejudice of the type we’re used to seeing from antisemites.
No, he was definitely an atheist.
This is somewhat correct - when Nietzsche writes of the death of God, he is speaking of the absence of a central morality in a world that is rapidly casting off its former superstitions. The thing is that Nietzsche does not see that alone as a good thing - with the death of God, the old ways of thinking persist, but now with a hollowness that renders their previous purpose superfluous - like a trained animal working a pellet dispenser long after it has broke. The death of God, thus, will lead to a period of true nihilism, in which many who are unable to cope with the world drown in purposelessness- knowingly or unknowingly. But it is also an opportunity - for a revaluation of morality, for men of great spirit to found new ways without the chains of the old dragging them down - the Overman (or Overmen).
Nietzsche is fond of intentional self-contradiction, in addition to having his ideals develop considerably over the course of his works, so he’s not always the easiest author to pin down, but the death of God as both warning and opportunity is pretty widely accepted.