...Kant vs. Nietzsche One of the most fundamental questions in philosophy is what the most important thing we are looking for is and what effects it has on our lives. There are different views related to such a fundamental question. The treatment of people is the question of morality. We are going to take a look at positions taken by great German philosophers Kant and Nietzsche on the question of morality and the way people should be treated, based on their arguments presented in theories developed by them. Kant’s philosophy is based on the assumption that there is a metaphysical dimension which implies that there are some absolute things that do exist outside of human beings and which are the ends in themselves (not intended to promote an achievement of any other end). Kant calls these abstract absolute things the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative in his view is something that is not dependent on anything else and, therefore, should be something that we should strive for. The concept of the categorical imperative is important because we can use it to determine whether our actions are being moral through the application of the universal law, which implies the categorical imperative. The universal law says that we should never act except in such a way that we can also will that our maxim should become a universal law. The whole system of Kant’s morality is based on the assumption that there is an autonomous will, which is the source of moral action and decision-making...
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...Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most well-known German philosophers and influential thinkers of the 19th century. He is considered one of the first existentialist philosophers and his work influenced many future philosophers. He undoubtedly had an impact on 19th century philosophy and that impact continues on even today. However, most of Nietzsche’s views went against the popular and conventional beliefs of his time. His ideas challenged Christianity, contemporary German culture and traditional morality, which as a result, created a great deal of controversy. Nietzsche is also one of the most misunderstood philosophers and his work is often misconstrued, never more than with the Nazis. The Nazis claimed that Nietzsche was one of their biggest inspirations. They had an attraction to Nietzsche's ideas, such as his attacks against Democracy, Christianity, and Parliamentary Governments. They took a lot their like-mindedness towards Nietzsche from his work The Will to Power. The controversy comes from whether or not this was Nietzsche’s intention or if his work was taken out of context by the Nazis for their own interpretation. Although Nietzsche may have had a similar attitude towards concepts such as religion, the will to power, and the idea of an Übermensch (Superhuman) that the Nazis coincided with, his work was not intended to be used in reference to, or in support of, Nazism and/or Fascism. The Nazis misused Nietzsche's philosophy, misinterpreted his views and distorted...
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...J.D. Greening Nietzche Seminar Prof. Hawley 1/21/2015 Philosophy Exegesis Essay “Thus the man who is responsive to artistic stimuli reacts to the reality of dreams as does the philosopher to the reality of existence; he observes closely, and enjoys his observation; for it is out of those images that he interprets life, out of these processes that he trains himself for life” (The Birth of Tragedy, 15) ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>F. Nietzsche</Author><Year>2008</Year><DisplayText>(Nietzsche)</DisplayText><record><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>F. Nietzsche</author></authors></contributors><titles/><title>The Birth of Tragedy</title><periodical/><dates><year>2008</year><pub-dates/></dates></record></Cite></EndNote>(Nietzsche). This passage was extracted from one of Friedrich Nietzsche’s works, particularly the one entitled, the Birth of Tragedy. In order to have a clearer understanding of the Nietzsche meant when he mentioned these exact words in his work, it would be important to be familiarized with the context in which he said it. Part of that includes knowing what the work in which the phrase was a part of was all about. The Birth of Tragedy is a highly philosophical work that is divided into a total of twenty six chapters which includes the...
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...their interests in the afterlife. I do not believe that Nietzsche's bold ideas and provocative language were not meant to please the aristocratic elite but to free individuals from the solitude of their pathetic lives. When Nietzsche spoke of slavish morality or of contemporary Europe in general, he gave an offensive outlet to his abhorrence at what culture has done in the name of morality. He rejects society's repugnance of the self-contained peoples who point out its hypocrisies of class, ranks, and morals. The solitary is he who challenges society's desire to turn the human being into an animal. Nietzsche’s viewpoint, to fully understand the concepts of Good and Evil vs. Good and Bad, one must first understand certain how moral systems developed and how culture played a role in its development. Nietzsche felt that moral systems were not created by exterior beings. He feels that moral systems are developed from within a society. This claim was one of the reasons his works were so provocative during his era. Nietzsche had a tendency to make outrageous claims and he used an evocative style. As a result, his philosophy caused intense reactions of either hatred towards him or love. He directly attacked society as a whole and what was wrong with the people. Nietzsche portrays a distinction between ethics and the code of conduct which is run under the morality of good...
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...Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher who was born in the Prussian city of Rocken. He was the son of a clergyman and became influenced by the ancient Greco-Roman civilization and the principle of “survival of the fittest.” He also strongly believed that those who do not deserve to live should perish. He attended the University of Bonn and Leipzig. There he found his new philosophical learning to be extremely meaningful and interesting. At the Age of 24, Nietzsche became a professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Nietzsche, later in life, emphasized the idea of “transvaluation of values”. By emphasizes this idea, Nietzsche tried to make people look beyond the traditional values and undergo the transformation that was vital in obtaining new and true values. Nietzsche also understood that there were two types of morality that existed in society. The two types of morality that Nietzsche emphasized are called master-morality and slave-morality. Master-morality is when the master is the judge and creator of all values. This is what determines the values and dominates strength. On page 214 in Great Traditions in Ethics by Theodore C. Denise, Nicholas P. White, and Sheldon P. Peterfreund Nietzsche states, “He honors whatever he recognizes in himself: such morality is self-glorification. There is a feeling of plentitude, of power, which seeks to overflow, the happiness of high tension, the consciousness of a wealth which would fain give and bestow.” In other words...
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...BROCK UNIVERSITY • DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY • 2014-2015 PHIL 1F94 - Introduction to Philosophy: Problems Essay 2: Existentialism Evaluation: 20% of final grade Length: 1400-1500 words Due: After uploading to Assignment2 students are required to hand in a hard copy of their essays at the beginning of their seminars on March 10, 2015. Late papers will be penalized 3% per day. Students must write this essay in order to complete this course with a passing grade. Choose 1 essay topic from the following list of 16: Sartre Write an essay which explicates and evaluates some of the central claims in Sartre’s “Existentialism” (the first essay of Existentialism and Human Emotions.) You should frame your essay around a particular philosophical claim or theme which you would like to write about in Sartre’s essay. For example: 1. How does Sartre argue that “existentialism is a humanism” and is his argument a good one? 2. What is Sartre’s notion of freedom and how does it relate to ethics? Is this a viable ethics? 3. Explain and evaluate the claim that “existence precedes essence.” What are the implications for living if one accepts this claim? Defend or consider problems with this position. 4. What does Sartre mean when he says that “man is condemned to be free” but also that we are nonetheless responsible for who or what we become? In what way are we free, in which ways are we responsible, and to whom are we responsible? Is Sartre right? If so, why...
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...(A) 1.On the Genealogy of Morality is a philosophical treatise by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, first published in 1887, and is also a follow-up to Beyond Good and Evil. , a book previously written by Nietzsche. 2. This book is composed of a preface and three additional sections which discuss the ways in which our views of morality have changed. He goes through history and gives a timeline of how morality has changed up until the time of when the book was written. One major point of Nietzsche is that there is a difference between a thing and its meaning. He argues that things don’t have an inherent meaning, and that the meaning of those things have changed over time. In the books he connects this concept with or view of morality, and in particular to good and evil. Thus he arrives at a conclusion that there isn’t any objective and inherent truth to morality. He concludes the one can only have a true understanding of things only when we realize that the meaning of certain things has changed overtime. In this book he explains this in further detail with his “will to power” perspective. (3) Outline- Prologue 1) Good and Evil, Good and Bad A) Faulty Explanations of Morality B) Meaning of Good C) Change in language - Change in power D) Jews as Priestly class - Revaluation of values E) Lambs and Birds of Prey F) Slave Morality - Justice -Christian Hatred2 Guilt, Bad Conscience, and Related Matters A) Promises -human predictability B) Guilt C) Suffering ...
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...Wilhelm Nietzsche (/ˈniːtʃə/[2] German: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈniːt͡sʃə]; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philologist, philosopher,cultural critic, poet and composer. He wrote several critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism. Nietzsche's key ideas include the Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy, perspectivism, the Will to Power, the "death of God", the Übermensch and eternal recurrence. One of the key tenets of his philosophy is the concept of "life-affirmation," which embraces the realities of the world in which we live over the idea of a world beyond. It further champions the creative powers of the individual to strive beyond social, cultural, and moral contexts.[3]Nietzsche's attitude towards religion and morality was marked with atheism, psychologism and historism; he considered them to be human creations loaded with the error of confusing cause and effect.[4] His radical questioning of the value and objectivity of truth has been the focus of extensive commentary, and his influence remains substantial, particularly in the continental philosophical schools of existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism. His ideas of individual overcoming and transcendence beyond structure and context have had a profound impact on late-twentieth and early-twenty-first century thinkers, who have used these concepts as points of departure in the development of their philosophies.[5][6] Most...
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...EXISTENTIALISM IN THE STRANGER Albert Camus born in Mondovi, Algeria, in 1913, spent his early years in Algiers. He completed a doctorate in philosophy, then worked at various jobs, establishing his own theatrical company in the 1930s. At the age of 24 Camus became severely ill, a victim of tuberculosis. During four years of recovery, he formulated his existential philosophies and began his writing career. Most of Camus’ works are representative of the philosophy of existentialism. His well-known fictional piece is “The Stranger”. Meursault, the narrator of The Stranger, is an existential anti-hero. Locked into the routine of daily existence, his life is a shapeless void without ideas, preferences, goals, or emotions. Like a robot, Meursault responds to everything automatically, neither feeling nor caring. When he is offered a job transfer to Paris, Meursault says he does not care where he works; yet he does not go because moving would be too much trouble. His mother’s death is met with similar lack of response: he feels no despair or grief. Occasionally, Meursault lacks motivation to do anything, so he spends the day sitting at his bedroom window, smoking cigarettes more out of habit than desire. Meursault utilizes all of the six existential themes: Freedom, Contingency, Individuality, Existence, Reflection, and Nihilism. The first existential theme is freedom. Freedom means that whatever happened prior to now does not influence what your next choice in life will be,...
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...writers and culture that surrounded Mann. During the spread of eighty years, Mann was exposed to many influential writers: Friedrich Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer, Richard Wagner, and Hermann Bahr. Aside from the writers that Mann was influenced by, Mann was influenced by the German culture that surrounded him growing up in Lübeck, Germany. Researching Mann and finding sources that were critical of Mann was difficult, especially when it came to finding print sources. This is perhaps due to Mann's life being rather unimportant when compared to how influential and philosophical his works are. His works have so much depth and hiding meaning and cause contained within their covers that critics would much rather criticize his works than Mann himself. Another reason quite possibly be, that to criticize Mann's work a critic does not have to know Mann's background because of how well and precise Mann conveys and illustrates the ideals and philosophies of those who influenced him while writing. Nietzsche, influences nearly all of Mann's short stories and novels, whether it be that Mann quoted him or built antitheses off Nietzsche ideals or even based an essay completely off of a writing of Nietzsche. Mann has been accounted stating that he was undoubtedly a Nietzschean (Robertson 27). This being, Mann wrote in his “A Sketch of My Life,” that he saw in Nietzsche, above all, “the man who conquers himself”: “with him I took nothing literally, I believed almost nothing, but precisely this gave...
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...Nicolas Kouatli PHIL 315: Kant and 19th Century European Philosophy Upon The Blessed Isles: Interpreted Thus Spoken Zarathustra thoroughly illustrates Friedrich Nietzsche’s core philosophical beliefs, utilizing scripture-like parables and mystical narratives that outline the travels and experiences of the quasi-fictional philosopher Zarathustra. Nietzsche’s philosophy is quintessentially immoralist and inescapably the story unraveling it would have to denounce morality as a whole. In Nietzsche’s eyes, the historical Zarathustra would serve as the perfect figurehead for his personal teachings. Historically, Zarathustra (or Zoroaster as the Greeks knew him) was an influential Persian philosopher credited with popularizing the ideas of individual judgement, “Heaven and Hell”, the future resurrection of the body, and the afterlife – essentially paving the path for all modern religious doctrines. In Thus Spoken Zarathustra, Nietzsche’s Zarathustra attempts the polar opposite – effectively dismantling the “out-dated” concept of morality and bringing all moral-powered beliefs down with it. Nietzsche’s Zarathustra doesn’t stop there; he goes on to introduce the concept of the “overman” as the necessary answer to the death of God and illuminates a cyclical explanation of time, which he refers to as “eternal return”. Thus Spoken Zarathustra was originally composed of four separate books, each written apart from each other – which have since been compiled into one comprehensive...
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...Care Theory Compare and Contrast Paper Jean Watson’s Theory of human caring is based on transpersonal relationships and developing a caring environment that offers the development potential while allowing the person to choose the best course of action. Through interactions with others we learn how to recognize ourselves in others. Watson believes that through these interactions humanity is preserved. John Paley’s article A Slave Morality: Nietzchean themes in nursing ethics criticizes Watson’s theory that caring is central to nursing. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast John Paley’s article to Jean Watson’s Commentary on Shattle M (2004) Nurse-patient interaction: A review of the literature. A discussion of Watson’s background and care theory; John Paley’s background, and a brief discussion Friedich Nietzschen’s major philosophical beliefs. Jean Watson’s background Jean Watson was born in West Virginia in 1940. She graduated from the University of Colorado where she earned her BSN, MS, and in 1973 her PhD. Dr. Watson is widely published and has received many awards and honors. She is a distinguished professor of nursing and endowed chair in Caring Health Science. She is also a fellow at the American Academy of nursing. Watson’s research specialized in loss and human caring. She developed the Theory of Transpersonal Caring, which is also referred to as The Caring Model in the late 1970’s. Her theory evolved over many years, but the principles have remained...
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... Friedrich Nietzsche Life in Germany during 1840s is hard for someone growing up in the 21st century to relate to. Germany was a country of villages and farms. Jobs outside agriculture were rare. The price of food was extremely high and many people starved to death. Private organizations and churches were trying to help the starving people whereas the government did very little. The telegraph was gaining popularity and news was traveling much faster than ever before (Crisis Page). During this time thousands of Germans were immigrating to the United States (“Irish” 25f). There was a lot going on in Germany during the 1840s and on October 15th 1844 Friedrich Nietzsche was born. Nietzsche grew up in the small town of Röcken, in the Prussian province of Saxony. Nietzsche’s parents, Carl Ludwig, a Lutheran pastor and former teacher, and Franziska Oehler, married in 1843 and had two children. In 1849 Nietzsche’s father died from a brain ailment. The following year his younger brother, Ludwig Joseph also passed away. Nietzsche then moved to Naumburg. He lived with his grandmother there until she died in 1856 (“Friedrich” Page). In 1853 he enrolled in Knaben-bergenschule. He didn’t do very well in this school so he transfers to a private school. This prepared him for his time at Domgymnasium. He spent many hours studying in order to keep up with Greek. After graduation in 1864, Nietzsche commenced studies in theology, classical philology...
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...Legacy His end came suddenly. In January 1889 in Turin, Italy, he had a mental breakdown and collapsed on the street. He mailed several “madness letters” right after his breakdown, which hurried his friend Franz Overbeck to Italy to return him to Basel. He mostly lived the final eleven years of his life in a psychic fog beginning in a Basel asylum, then in Naumburg with his mother, and following her death in 1897, under his sister’s care in Weimar. While the reason for his collapse remains in doubt, he most likely died from CADASIL i.e. “cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy” on August 25, 1900. The linkage of his name with that of Adolf Hitler and with fascism in general...
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...Ouroboros Cloud Atlas “The important part of this responsibility becomes manifest when we as ourselves: out of the system of values giving consistency to culture, which ones shall we choose for making them the sense of our life? The answer is based, of course, on free choice. But this implies a great responsibility, because we have to decide which values we choose for guiding our being: placing us in a ridiculous and ephemeral world, or those which offer depth to our personality and elevate it to the maximum of humanity.” (Source: Culture and Freedom (Romanian Philosophical Studies, III), (3rd ed.), The Relation Between Value and Cultural Development. In Marin Aiftinca, pp. 16-17.) “So, the past erupts into the present not only announcing the other, repressed, side of modernity but also seeding a more unruly disturbance. Modernity does not merely become more complex through the addition of the unacknowledged; it remains irretrievably undone by the questions it can no longer contain. The archaic, presumed to lie back there in the mist of time, appears in the midst of modernity bearing another sense, another direction. An absence, the ‘lost’ world of the past against which the present measures its ‘progress’, unexpectedly returns to haunt modernity. Rational certitude confronts a ghost that bears witness to the return of the apparently timeless economy of the ‘archaic’ and the ‘primitive’: ‘a rumour of words vanish no sooner than they are uttered, and which are therefore...
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