The Philosophy Book

216

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Ethics

APPROACH

Existentialism

BEFORE

380 BCE Plato explores the

distinction between reality

and appearance in his

dialogue, The Republic.

1st century CE The Sermon

on the Mount, in Matthew’s

gospel in the Bible, advocates

turning away from this world

to the greater reality of the

world to come.

1781 Immanuel Kant’s Critique

of Pure Reason argues that we

can never know how the world

is “in itself.”

AFTER

1930s Nietzsche’s work is

used to help construct the

mythology of Nazism.

1966 Michel Foucault’s The

Order of Things discusses

the overcoming of “man.”

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

Elsewhere Nietzsche writes about

philosophizing “with a hammer”,

and here he certainly attempts to

shatter many of the most cherished

views of the Western philosophical

tradition, especially in relation to

these three things. He does so in a

style that is astonishingly hot-headed

and fevered, so that at times the

book seems closer to prophecy than

philosophy. It was written quickly,

with Part I taking him only a few

days to set down on paper. Even so,

while Nietzsche’s book does not

have the calm, analytical tone that

people have perhaps come to

N

ietzsche’s idea that man
is something to be
surpassed appears in
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, perhaps
his most famous book. It was
written in three parts in 1883–84,
with a fourth part added in 1885.
The German philosopher used it
to launch a sustained attack on
the history of Western thought.
He targets three linked ideas in
particular: first, the idea we
have of “man” or human nature;
second, the idea we have of God;
and third, the ideas we have about
morality, or ethics.

expect of philosophical works, the

author still succeeds in setting out

a remarkably consistent and hugely

challenging vision.

Zarathustra descends

The name of Nietzsche’s prophet,

Zarathustra, is an alternative name

for the ancient Persian prophet

Zoroaster. The book begins by

telling us that at the age of 30,

Zarathustra goes to live in the

mountains. For ten years he

delights in the solitude, but one

dawn, he wakes to find that he is

weary of the wisdom he has

Christianity says

that everything in this

world is less important

than that of the “next”

after death.

It says we should

turn away from what

seems important in

this life, and try

to transcend it.

But in doing this

we turn away from

life itself.

Christianity’s

idea of “man”

undermines us.

We must

surpass this

limiting idea.

And besides,

God is dead!