Nietzsche's Critique of Metaphysics and the Embrace of Reality

Nietzsche's Critique of Abstract Philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche criticizes philosophers who deny the reality of change and the dynamism of real life, replacing them with "mummified concepts" – a substance always equal for all eternity. He vehemently rejected the lack of historical sense, arguing that denying change renders history meaningless. Nietzsche also criticized what he termed "Egypticism," which he saw as a taste for the eternal and immutable, akin to Egyptian mummies.

Nietzsche and Heraclitus: Embracing Flux

Nietzsche's perspective resonates with Heraclitus's philosophy, which recognizes that reality is multiple and in continuous change and transformation. For Heraclitus, this change is caused by the constant struggle of opposites (dialectics) and governed by a universal law, the Logos, responsible for order and structure in the world.

The Primacy of Sensory Knowledge

Nietzsche reasserts the importance of the senses as the fundamental basis of our knowledge. He argues that only sensory knowledge can be considered truly scientific because it faithfully reveals reality. Other forms of knowledge, such as metaphysics or theology, he rejects as non-scientific due to their disregard for sensory experience. For Nietzsche, logic and mathematics are merely knowledge of signs and do not even address the problem of reality. In this regard, Nietzsche's views are reminiscent of positivism.

Critique of Abstract Concepts and Scholasticism

Nietzsche critiques philosophers for basing their theories on abstract concepts, elevating these supreme concepts as the foundation of reality when, in fact, they are empty. These abstract concepts, for scholastic philosophers, exist beyond the physical world and are dependent on God. Everything else, they believe, does not need more than this divine foundation to exist.

The "Other World" Fallacy: Plato, India, and Kant

Nietzsche draws a comparison between Greek philosophy (specifically Plato) and Indian thought. He argues that both, in an attempt to safeguard the "dignity" of this world – which they perceive as conceptually real (a category, reminiscent of Kant, through which reason understands the empirical, sensory world) – have invented a transcendental world, a "world of ideas." To this world, we supposedly belong as rational beings, and reason itself, he notes, is also an idea.

For Nietzsche, our reality is not found in universal abstractions but in what we perceive. He asserts that the concept of "being true" is a sign of non-being, emerging from nowhere, and in contradiction with the real world. An "other" world beyond this one makes no sense; it would be a slander, a diminution of life. Distinguishing between a "real" world and an "apparent" world is, for Nietzsche, a symptom of declining life. Instead, for the "selected artist," the "apparent" world is embraced as real, strengthened, and corrected.

Reflections on Nietzsche's Philosophy

Nietzsche's thought is, in our opinion, very complicated and challenging to fully grasp. It presents some quite negative implications for the human condition and how one should live life on Earth. His theory differs significantly from earlier philosophies, such as those of Aristotle or Plato, where beauty and happiness were central aspirations.