Nietzsche and Nihilism

Friedrich Nietzsche waged war against nihilism, that which is anti-life or otherworldly. He finds this first and foremost in the Judeo-Christian tradition but also in the philosophy of Plato. Nevertheless, Nietzsche’s greatest praise was reserved for the ancient Greeks, the Greeks described by Homer and the Athenians of the Golden Age.

In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche suggested, only as an aesthetic phenomenon can the world be justified. Later on, he tells us 'God is dead' and offers us an alternative to Jesus in the form of the Persian prophet Zarathustra, who preaches the this-worldly.

In this lecture, the late Professor Robert C. Solomon discusses Nietzsche's views on a wide range of topics, but specifically the subject of nihilism and the frequent misinterpretations by contemporary scholars.

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Nietzsche also defends perspectivism: the view that all our knowledge of the world (and of ourselves) is gleaned through one or another perspective, a particular point of view.