Table of Contents
Why was Nietzsche against the Enlightenment?
Nietzsche saw the Enlightenment as broad and bold, powerful and terrifying. He believed that it spanned several centuries and that it encompassed most of Western Europe. It was, for him, an arrogant intellectual ethos that made troubling universal assertions about the nature of human existence and society.
Who was Nietzsche’s audience?
Wagner is Nietzsche’s principal audience, for he is perhaps the only one able to understand the book, Nietzsche suggests; but this does not mean that Nietzsche intends to exclude all others.
Was Kant counter enlightenment?
Kant’s autonomy of the will represented the fourth aspect of Berlin’s antirational Counter-Enlightenment. In response, Kant held that only as independent actors—not acted upon by previous or external forces—could human beings be considered moral agents.
Was Rousseau anti enlightenment?
Viewed in the context in which he actually lived and wrote—from the middle of the eighteenth century to his death in 1778—it is apparent that Rousseau categorically rejected the Enlightenment “republic of letters” in favor of his own “republic of virtue.” The philosophes, placing faith in reason and natural human …
Did Nietzsche read Voltaire?
Guillaume Métayer (CNRS, France) : “Nietzsche and Voltaire” Nietzsche’s interest in French writers has been the subject of many different studies, and yet his reading of Voltaire had been completely overlooked, which is all the more surprising since for a long time Voltaire appeared as the greatest representative of French literature.
What was Nietzsche’s philosophy of life?
However, other interpreters of Nietzsche say that in attempting to counteract the predicted rise of nihilism, he was engaged in a positive program to reaffirm life, and so he called for a radical, naturalistic rethinking of the nature of human existence, knowledge, and morality.
What is an exemplary human being according to Nietzsche?
Nietzsche claimed the exemplary human being must craft his/her own identity through self-realization and do so without relying on anything transcending that life—such as God or a soul.
What was the relationship between Nietzsche and Wagner like?
In short, Nietzsche was overwhelmed by Wagner’s personality. A more mature Nietzsche would later look back on this relationship with some regret, although he never denied the significance of Wagner’s influence on his emotional and intellectual path, Nietzsche’s estimation of Wagner’s work would alter considerably over the course of his life.