Nietzche
Nietzsche and Morals “I mistruct all systemizers and I avoid them. The will to a system is a lack of integrity.” - Nietzsche ("Twilight of the Idols", 'Maxims and Arrows', part 26). This quote offers Nietzsche’s view on morality and his general beliefs about the values of society. In Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche criticizes conventional beliefs of Christianity and morality. He begins by criticizing past thinkers and enlists reasons for his disregard of morality. In addition, he offers his opinion on the four errors of Christianity. Often, his arguments are mainly criticisms of other thinkers, rather than offering ideas for the reader to adopt a new system of belief or morals. While his work is intriguing and offers excellent discussion points, it is not of great influence in our society today. The book begins with a section titled "The Problem of Socrates," which offers Nietzsche's appraisal of Socrates and Plato. Both are identified with decay in Greek society and even reason itself is made into a oppressor. "Socrates was a misunderstanding: the entire morality of improvement, the Christian included, has been a misunderstanding . . . to have to combat one's instincts -- that is the formula for decadence: as long as life is ascending, happiness and instinct are one." (Problem of Socrates, #11, p.34) "'Reason' is the cause of our falsification of the evidence of the senses. In so far as the senses show becoming, passing, away, change, they do not lie. . . But Heraclitus will always be right in this, that being is an empty fiction. The 'apparent' world is the only one: the 'real' world has only been lyingly added. . ." ("Reason" in Philosophy, #2, p. 36) Within this, language is seen in the same light as reason.