Nietzsche's Philosophical Critiques: Nihilism, Metaphysics, Science

Nihilism and the Crisis of Meaning

With nihilism comes the death of God, a profound crisis of meaning and belief. Existence becomes unsustainable, empty, and devoid of purpose. Consider that every value is possible only if God exists, and if God does not exist, it ultimately leads to despair.

Nietzsche's Critique of Metaphysics

Nietzsche accused metaphysics of hating the notion of becoming. He asserted that the only attributes of reality are plurality and mobility. The apparent world of the senses is the only thing that exists, and anything else is unprovable.

Metaphysical Errors Identified by Nietzsche

• Metaphysicians confuse the last with the first. General concepts are the last thing humanity captures through abstraction, beginning with the senses. Secondly, these general concepts are the most devoid of reality.
• Nietzsche argued that language and grammar are responsible for metaphysical confusion. He believed language eliminates real, unlike things.
• Language also makes us believe in the existence of the self, as every judgment or proposition presupposes a subject due to the subject-predicate structure of language. This structure also leads us to believe in "substance," as the concept of substance derived from the concept of the subject.

Nietzsche's Assertions on Metaphysics and Language

1. The "I" is but a fiction, a collection of similar conditions intended to come from the same substrate.
2. We will never be able to get rid of metaphysics, especially the idea of God, if we are not aware that the language carries conceptual implications through its subject-predicate structure.
3. To embrace life, as opposed to static language, intuition suggests open metaphorical insights and perspectives.
4. The hidden metaphysical attitude is often mobile and stems from:
   • Fear of life: The individual lacks the strength to create the world they desire and takes refuge in a world of concepts and supreme values.
   • Hatred of life (Nihilists): They judge that this world should not exist and believe a world beyond exists as it "should be."
   • Revenge on life: This is enacted through the phantasmagoria of another world.

Nietzsche's Critique of Science

Nietzsche accused the Enlightenment of rejecting positivist metaphysics but then putting science in its place. He believed science is supported from its point of departure by an act of faith—faith in truth. This, he argued, is false for two reasons: