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[–]manfred_wellington 46 points47 points ago

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Nietzsche wasn't a nihilist

[–]GregorMendel 16 points17 points ago

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If anything, he believed more fully in life than many other philosophers.

[–]IFeelOstrichSized 5 points6 points ago

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Nihilism doesn't mean what most people think it means. It's not simply a "belief in nothing" or a rejection of all moral systems.

It has a lot of different forms, but at it's base it simply states that life has no objective meaning... I think that's something most non religious people could quite easily agree with. Most forms of it simply reject objective "rightness" or meaning, and honestly that makes total sense, assuming you don't believe in some outside force that makes something right or wrong, or good or bad.

The term has a bad reputation and is often misused because it got tied to revolutionists in Russia during the 19th century, and later in the US because all forms of godless philosophy (existentialism as well) were derided as depressing and valueless.

It didn't help that "The Big Lebowski" had characters who comically misunderstood the term (both the main characters and the "nihilists" were totally ignorant of what it meant).

[–]inyouraeroplane 1 point2 points ago

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Still, "God is dead" came with a warning against using technology and science as the basis of our morality and worldview.

Now in a world where God is dead we can only hope that technology and science does not take control and “be treated as the new religion, serving as a basis for retaining the same damaging psychological habit that the Christian religion developed” (Magnus 36).

Also, quoting from Lebowski, all philosophical statements can be regarded with the catch-all statement of epistemological doubt "That's just, like, your opinion, man."

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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I think that's more existentialism.

[–]IFeelOstrichSized 0 points1 point ago

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Not really, read more about nihilism, it's different forms, and what it's meant through history. It's a broader term than Existentialism (which is a pretty broad term itself). The two are not mutually exclusive and can overlap.

[–]Sikot 20 points21 points ago

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It's unfortunate that Nietzsche is so ridiculously misunderstood among the masses, and the stigma of the infamous "god is dead" quote doesn't help either.

A quick summary on the subject from a philosophy major to clear shit up: What he means by "god is dead" is simply that there is not an entity that exists that entails what is 'good' and what is 'bad.' Another way of saying it is there are no absolutes. Absolutes are a construct of humanity in a sad/mistaken attempt to organize the chaos/personal journey that is life. This doesn't mean that there aren't any values though. A person CREATES value in his/her personal achievements and triumphs.

[–]fxkqwan 21 points22 points ago

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Nearly.

'God is dead' is a metaphysical assertion in response to the Kantian question of understanding the phenomenal and noumenal; we cannot make any claim to knowledge of the noumenal, further, we cannot posit the existence of a noumenal at all, and as such must merely give up on the idea. Such a noumenal realm would contain such things as the metaphysical underpinning (i.e. objects free of our perception) of what we see and perceive and would also include 'God', the creator of worlds (which can be expressed as a kind of metaphysics).

The Nietzschean conclusion is that we can make no subject/object distinction and we cannot find any absolute truths that would be conferred value by a metaphysics or a god, rather we have varying degrees of fictions with no relative absolutes on which our judgements and perceptions are based.

So, 'God is dead' is the replacement of the old fiction of metaphysics and the creator as the source of reality in the world with the new fiction (a better fiction) that actually all is the action of perception and action with no subject/object or doer/act done; ultimately expressed as the will to power.

Nietzsche literally means that 'God is dead' in the sense that God was once alive (remember that fictions are comparable to truths in many regards for Nietzsche) and that we have killed God by moving beyond that metaphysical picture.

[–]Lampmonster1 5 points6 points ago

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I like boobs.

[–]Kentenathien 1 point2 points ago

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Walt Whitman, is that you?

[–]notQuiteCrazyEnough 0 points1 point ago

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  1. define "boobs".
  2. define "like".
  3. define "I".
  4. Do NOT respond with "Define 'define'".

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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Really? me too.

What do you prefer about them? Is it how they laconically suggest a underlying ontology that pertain to a ad hoc proposition whose truth can only be comprehended by minds provided with a similar erotic framework?

Or is it their exuberant actuality which transcends the immediateness of the human experience into a deeper holistic cogitation but still offer a over-erotic immanence that mingles beautifully id, ego, and super-ego?

[–]Poison1990 0 points1 point ago

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I understood what he was saying differently. As I understand it God is Dead - was not a claim that some metaphysical being which once lived has now stopped living, but rather that we no longer believe in the pre-enlightenment God. Although we may claim to believe in God, we now believe in a very watered down version of it. Religion 2.0. No one really believes in spirits and demons and angels and the like since the enlightenment - yet our system is based around this world-view. When Nietzsche says God is Dead he is implying that we need a new system, because of the 19th century idea that systems are only as strong as what they are founded on. If you loose belief in the founding principles then you need to scrap it entirely. Now days we tend to have more faith in development and progression.

A quote I remember from an essay I wrote "Nietzsche did not set out to kill god, but found God dead in the hearts of his contemporaries"

[–]TheDebaser 1 point2 points ago*

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I'm gunna go play over here now.
www.reddit.com/r/aww

[–]mandalore237 3 points4 points ago

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"Only sith deal in absolutes"

-Nietzsche

[–]AtheismFTW 1 point2 points ago

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Another way of saying it is there might be no absolutes.FTFY

[–]manfred_wellington 1 point2 points ago

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Also, didn't "god is dead" refer to his fear that lack of a God/post-life would create nihilism?

[–]patient_form 4 points5 points ago

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Agreed. I was under the impression that the infamous quotation was actually an expression of his belief that true "orthodoxy" was dead. Due to technological and political (democratic) "progress" in his century humans were no longer capable of devout faith, and rather ignobly focused on procuring comfort and equality. Nietzsche hated this. All of the Dionysian elements of the human soul were being quelled in favor of a sleepy pacifism. That is why Nietzsche eventually became obsessed with myth-making and the creativity of the "philosophy-artist" as he felt humanity no longer had a purpose; we no longer had something to believe in. He wanted to change that with Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Last Man is a nihilist and an ugly human being as he has no purpose. Nietzsche wanted to recreate purpose in mankind's existence. He despised Christianity because he believed it falsely characterized all men as equal, bringing the strong down to the level of the weak, and was therefore a "slave's religion". Nonetheless he certainly wanted a new kind of faith that was superior to the cold calculation of the marketplace in the nineteenth century. To him God's death was the greatest problem humanity had ever faced and consequently an opportunity for man to prove his strength through creation of new meaning while staring directly in the abyss of nihilism.

[–]alvinrod 0 points1 point ago

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Another way of saying it is there are no absolutes.

None at all? That sounds a little— absolute.

[–]canandaiguan 9 points10 points ago

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No, he often spoke against nihilism... that's the joke.

[–]manfred_wellington 4 points5 points ago

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I think the joke is the whole 'nothing matters' mantra of nihilists, actually.

[–]canandaiguan 1 point2 points ago

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You may be right about the intent, but the joke may work better with an actual nihilist, then.

[–]tgdvw 4 points5 points ago

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you mean like these guys?

[–]rocket_propelled_emu 0 points1 point ago

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you sir are the only cool person aside from myself in this comment thread

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points ago

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Reddit, whats the matter?

'I don't understand shit but still comment on it all the time!'

[–]alicapwn 2 points3 points ago

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It was probably syphilis.

[–]rbcb 2 points3 points ago

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I came here expecting empty arrays and instead got introspection

[–]DeathDeathDeath 1 point2 points ago

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Zing

[–]OriginalKaveman 1 point2 points ago

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that's hilarious, truly and honestly.

[–]inyouraeroplane -1 points0 points ago

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Nothing is "truly and honestly" hilarious without an objective definition of hilarity!

[–]OriginalKaveman -1 points0 points ago

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i stand corrected. What you said to me is fucking hilarious, truly and honestly.

[–]Canuck_Syrup -1 points0 points ago

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Dont get it :|

[–]hoodriche 2 points3 points ago

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The title is the best part.

[–]alexgeek 1 point2 points ago

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I don't get the title.

[–]wild9 0 points1 point ago

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Nietzsche says, "out of chaos comes order".

[–]TeCuervo 0 points1 point ago

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hahahaha (should have paid attention in class)

[–]Windsurfer -1 points0 points ago

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[–]o8643 -1 points0 points ago

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[–]pistachioshell -2 points-1 points ago

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Okay that's pretty funny.

[–]nubijoe -5 points-4 points ago

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Nietzsche is dead - God

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