Nietzsche's Influence On Religion

Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the greatest 19th century philosophers who have influenced and inspired many philosophers that succeeded him. Nietzsche was born on 15 October 1844 in Prussia. Nietzsche’s father was a Christian priest and Nietzsche himself was raised as a Christian. Nietzsche exceled academically at a young age and was offered to teach classical philology at the University of Basel at a young age of 24. Despite his philosophical intelligence and academic ability, Nietzsche lived a disappointing life as he witnessed the deaths of both his father and brother when he was a young child. Nietzsche also suffered from various injuries from his time in the Prussian army as well as recurring diseases and throughout his life spam, which …show more content…
Nietzsche being an atheist was faced with the dilemma of having no moral code to follow. Nietzsche’s statement which originates from his books The Gay Science, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, is often mistaken as a celebratory statement that reflects the triumph of atheism over theism and instituted religion. However, Nietzsche’s statement actually reflects his concern that atheists are simply directionless without an institution or a moral guide. Nietzsche is one of the few atheists that are brave enough to address this issue, as if God is dead, (or never existed according to Nietzsche himself) then all actions are permissible and humans have no guide in life or even a moral code to follow. Nietzsche’s respond to this atheist problem resides in his own philosophy and views and morality. Nietzsche also argued that with the death of God many of the common values and morals are dismantled and thus a sense of imbalance is created between people which will have major effects on culture, literature, and philosophy. Nietzsche argues that God is dead because the modern thinkers killed him. Through this claim, Nietzsche blames scientists and academics (himself included) for the nihilism resulted from the concept of God’s death. Nietzsche predicted that nihilism would be an inevitable conclusion to humans turning away from established religion and the overall concept of God. Nietzsche defined nihilism as the overall feeling or concept that everything is meaningless and pointless. Nihilism is another aspect of Schopenhauer’s philosophy that Nietzsche attempted to overcome through his own philosophy. Ergo, Nietzsche’s declaration that God is dead presents one of the most complicated problems for atheism, yet he overcomes it through his own philosophy and moral code of the will to power and the superman, yet not all atheists practice Nietzsche’s