Red Bird wrote: ↑Thu Nov 08, 2018 3:57 pm
At this point I can’t empathize too much with Nietzsche- at least if I understood him right. I’m not sure about it because is not discussed very often here since everyone gets hysterical about the term
Übermensch very too fast. The denial of all illusion in in a way an illusion itself. Since we are unable to see the whole picture, there will always be illusions as a necessity. If we cut out religious illusions there will be other illusion to take their place. At present the illusory substitute is quite often ideological instead of religious which of course causes a spiritual vacuum. It’s not only visible at anglo-american universities, you could also take Berlin for an example. This is the reason why I see the concept of Nietzsches
overman critical. A lot of famous philosophers turned out to be a little megalomaniac at some point- same goes for Nietzsche. Maybe the illusion of having no illusion played a part in this.
The meaning of “illusion“ is for Nietzsche mainly a sort of platonism or christianism, which rather have a little do with Plato or Christ, though Nietzsche doesn't make such a difference. It's not like he's merely saying this in reference to certain
common interpretations about Plato and Christ. For Nietzsche, the “death of God“ means the modern situation in history, when common forms of “platonism“ and “christianity“ have lost their credibility and fail to satisfy the modern man. He interprets that Plato and Christ are both talking about an otherworldly afterlife and since this isn't anymore philosophically plausible, it's an illusion Instead of
rightfulness in an otherworld, Nietzsche bases his “philosophy“ on Hegel's concept of a
heroic artist. Otherwordly rigtheousness is discovered as an illusion, which has merely been used as an instrument for power — e.g. priests as a ruling class. Nietzsche thinks, that when man frees himself of these illusions, he has a twofold possibility: the
last man and the
over man. “Last man“ stands in the vacuum left by the outdated forms of power mentioned — last man is a
nihilist, because he based his highest ideals in an otherworld, which turned out to be an illusion.This man is essentially a part of the fate of western man. Eventually the common rubble shall understand otherworld as an illusion and achieve the nihilistic destiny of western man. Last man is the
worst man, since even a priest in the middle-ages had an understanding of power and used it, even though it was a fable — this is why Nietzsche says, that
truth is less valuable than an
illusion. “Truth“ is here truth about this illusion, which leaves man in his western nihilism. It's not that Nietzsche thought there was no truth, or that illusion were the
highest value. This means, that even an illusion which
empowers man is for Nietzsche better than a
weakening truth. Even so, Nietzsche didn't think that platonism and christianity were
true because they empower in some degree. They're illusions, but
truth is western man's fate, which eventually leads to a new form of weakness, which is even worse than christianity or platonism. This process is essentially irreversible: western man can't forget the “death of God“ and pretend to believe at the cost of truth. Nietzsche thought that there was an escape from this supposed historical destiny: the
over man, who creates new values, because his
will is one with
power. Overman creates better values than the outdated ones. Overman doesn't merely repeat old fables, but creates new values, which don't need pretending. In this Nietzsche is even better than “original“ Plato and Christ. This overman is an artist, who has shaken off the old illusions, but hasn't fallen to nihilism. Nihilism makes sore
play of everything — overman is
earnest in his
joy. Hence overman overcomes the nihilistic vacuum left by the truth about older values, which were based on an otherworld. Overman's earnest joy is in
this temporal life — an absolute
value.