Many people's understanding of nihilism begins with Nietzsche, but some people don't really understand what Nietzsche's nihilism is about. After Hegel, metaphysics reached a dead end, and the metaphysical ideal ended with the cosmic ghost of the Absolute Spirit, which was obviously not the original intention of metaphysics to find a basis for meaning in life, so it rejected metaphysics as a consensus in the field of thought, and Hegel tried to turn himself into a god but became a dead dog. Nietzsche's thought also began from the opposition to traditional metaphysics, Nietzsche carried out a complete subversion and ruthless criticism of metaphysics, he said that metaphysics is a false idea, metaphysics has always been committed to proving that there is a more real essential world behind the complex world of appearances, believing that there is some kind of unity behind this chaotic and diverse world or that there is an ultimate purpose, but Nietzsche believes that this so-called essential world or unity does not exist at all, this is just a metaphysical fabrication, There is no ultimate purpose in this world, and Nietzsche believes that the essential world invented by metaphysicians is an illusion, a non-existent nothingness, which is the original meaning of Nietzsche's nihilism, not the kind of nothingness that some people understand that God's value collapses after death. Nietzsche believed that the reason why metaphysicians made up these things is because of their fragile hearts, they can't face the fear of death, they want to find some kind of certainty in the unpredictable world, so that their souls can be at peace and have spiritual sustenance, and they can't get rid of inferiority and fear in the real world, so they fantasize about an essential world. Just like a poor person who loves money very much, but because of poverty and feels extremely inferior, he makes up the lie that money makes people depraved, establishes the value of treating money as dung, and seeks solace from the fabricated stories. Nietzsche called this phenomenon to its peak at the time of Socrates, he even called Socrates a pariah who disguised all vices and **, he also said that the Platonists were poisoners, they themselves were poisoners, they used dialectics to peddle their poison, their dialectics were both invincible and shameless, Nietzsche believed that a person only chose dialectics when he had no other way, and used dialectics to justify his insignificance and incompetence. Nietzsche's views were as shocking and amazing as you can imagine in his time, he ruthlessly trampled under the feet the values that had been sacred for thousands of years, and his behavior was like the child who told the truth in "The Emperor's New Clothes", revealing the extreme predicament and embarrassment of people who had nothing to rely on, and had to fantasize about a spiritual home where they could live and live. Nietzsche realized that his words would surely alarm the sleeping people, and he called himself not a man, but an explosive, a body of truth.
Not only that, Nietzsche also announced the death of God in an earth-shattering manner, and this shocking insight will inevitably lead to the collapse of the Western ** religious world in the past two thousand years, and make all the meaning and value of life based on ** religious beliefs disappear, and people will be enveloped by eternal emptiness. Nietzsche believes that in the process of people fighting for the desire for life, they will always encounter frustration and pain, feel powerless and humble, in order to reduce this pain, ** religion made up asceticism, declaring that abstinence is noble, and escaping the pain of reality by denying the desire for life, just like a man likes a beautiful woman but can't get it, so the man will make up the lie that a woman is a curse, a beauty is a poisonous snake, and that being single is the best life, and gets comfort from it. In Nietzsche's view, those metaphysics and teachings that seem noble and elegant, full of certainty, are the real reasons for creating nothingness. Nietzsche denied ** faith, and people fell from the nihilism of faith into the emptiness of value, so Nietzsche proposed to revalue all values. Nietzsche did not admit truth, he said that truth is just another form of error, and morality is just a fiction of the lower groups that hinder the higher people.
Nietzsche's ideas not only destroyed metaphysics but also fundamentally shook the belief in religion, which is precisely the two foundations of Western civilization, and his shocking views disintegrated the foundation of the entire Western civilization, so he was considered a recognized dangerous element in the history of Western thought. Perhaps it was Nietzsche's thought and courage that were so shocking that no one dared to look directly at him and notice his existence, and it was not until a long time after his death that he was gradually taken seriously and had an increasing impact, which shows that the curtain under Plato's cloth has obscured people's insight into the truth for too long, and people have a dazzling hallucination under the illumination of the sun that shines on the earth in Plato's "cave parable", and cannot adapt to it at once, and the truth revealed by Nietzsche, Like the endless abyss of darkness, few people have the courage to gaze head-on. Nietzsche himself had long foreseen this situation, and he claimed that he was born after death, and that his loneliness was doomed.
However, Nietzsche was not the first to discover the abyss, and the truth he revealed was already revealed to Democritus, both of whom believed that the sensual world was the only world that was the most real, and that there was no transcendent world or essential world at all. In the face of a blind universe, Democritus only told people to restrain their desires and pursue spiritual pleasure and peace of mind, a statement that would have had little appeal in an ancient world of calamities, wars, and irrationality. When a person is besieged by a heavy, tired, cyclical but lifeless life, when people are so cowardly, helpless, and lamenting in the struggle, when life gradually forgets itself in the paralysis of pitiful meanness and lets it disappear, people can only find hope and comfort in metaphysics and faith, and for thousands of years, when people are accustomed to crawling in Plato's world of ideas and ** religious salvation, Nietzsche let out a deafening sound: "No"! He said that after the death of God, the real man is resurrected, the real man is a critic rather than a complainer, showing a strong will, Nietzsche requires people to dare to face the bleak life and the truth of nothingness, stimulate the primitive life force and Dionysian spirit, let the strong life impulse and creativity follow the strong will to move forward, create their own meaning of life, let the flowers of life bloom all over the place, this is his philosophy of life or superhuman philosophy.
But who can guarantee that Nietzsche's strong will and superhuman philosophy are not another metaphysics or another theoretical fabrication? Nietzsche's strong will** Schopenhauer's will to life, is this idea that there is an invisible force behind life not the same as the metaphysical line of thought? Nietzsche contradicts himself in denying the existence of the metaphysical transcendent world, but establishing the transcendent world of strong will, so Heidegger insists that Nietzsche, although the fiercest critic of metaphysics, is still a metaphysician, the last metaphysician, and completes the end of metaphysics. Nietzsche seems to have anticipated his own contradictions, for which he proposed that the key to the meaning of life lies in the individual's choice and not in the doctrine of others, and that people should have the courage to face nothingness and create meaning in life like Superman, which he called positive nihilism, he said, "You say you believe in Zalastura, but what is Charastura?" You say it's my believers, but what are all the believers? You didn't explore yourselves, but you discovered my ......Now I want you to leave me and find yourself, and I will only return to you when you all deny me. ”
It was Nietzsche who observed the existential dilemma of man and proposed his philosophy of life, which had a major influence on later existentialism, Jaspers said: "Kierkegaard and Nietzsche are first-class stars", "Kierkegaard and Nietzsche opened our eyes". In his book The Clash of Ideals, the American scholar L. J. Villain said: "The theories of Jaspers, Heidegger, and Sartre are undoubtedly based on the insights received from Nietzsche. In this sense, we can consider Nietzsche a precursor of existentialism", and existentialists all assert that the meaning of our lives is not given by the outside world, but by ourselves. Sartre said that existence precedes essence, and Beauvoir also said that the essence of man is the absence of essence. Both of them believe that man will never be what he is, but will always be what he is, and that man is absolutely free, and that freedom means bearing the burden of choice alone. Kierkegaard also believes that it is up to each individual to decide for himself what is worth living for, and that people should make passionate commitments and each take the risk of that choice. Camus, on the other hand, believed that people should strive to be the heroes of life like Sisyphus in the absurd reality. It can be seen from this that the true existentialist is never a sick-moaning preaching or a coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death, but is committed to death, pursuing the true experience of life, and always preparing for the ideal to leap forward. Romain Rolland said: "There is only one kind of heroism, and that is to love life even after recognizing the truth of life". But there is at least one kind of heroism in the world, not a fearless march towards death, but a deep gaze and meditation on nothingness.
Limited by the review, part of the content can not be published, the full version in WeChat *** civilization power").