Monday, March 9, 2020

Christianity

In regards to the issues of Christianity, Human Nature, and Morality philosophers Fredrich Nietzsche and Thomas Hobbes express radical views that are completely in opposition to one another. Hobbes philosophy is dominated by loyalty to the crown, riddled with references to the Christian scriptures, and centered on a belief that life is nasty, brutish, and short. (Leviathan) Nietzsches philosophy is dominated by the pessimistic views of Arthur Schopenhauer and his belief that the human race is nothing more than a herd. Nietzsche believes that God is inert and thus the enemy of life. (Anti-Nature) Both Hobbes and Nietzsche look at the world in a completely different light. Hobbes was a Christian who defended the bible, while Nietzsche refers to Christianity as being a great curse, one of stupidity in fact. There is nothing we envy less than the moralistic cow and the fat happiness of the good conscience...peace of soul, the Christian desideratum. (Anti-Nature) On the topic of human nature Hobbes thought life to be the war of every man, against every man. (Leviathan) Nietzsche, on the other hand, took a nihilistic approach and declared that human nature is simply a euphemism for inertia, cultural conditioning, and what we are before we make something of ourselves. Hobbes views on morality were strictly biblical, straight out of Exodus. Nietzsche, however, held morality as an impediment to the development of a new and better civilization; after all how could a religion that believes in turning the other cheek proclaim any intelligence? If thy eye offend thee, pluck it out. (Anti-Nature) Nietzsche believed that modern Christian civilization is demented. It is a sickness that must be overcome. Hobbes, however, declared that God, when he speaks to any subject, he ought to be obeyed. (Leviathan) Throughout his life, Nietzsche held the belief...