Student Essays On Kant and Nietzsche

Here are some excellent student essays from our unit on Kant and Nietzsche. 

Essay 1 - Student MC
"From the first accounts of man to the stories of the Bible up to the Modern era, there has been throughout all society the presence of religion in various forms. Whether people were sacrificing animals, crops, or even other people, there has seemed to be a universal understanding of something beyond man. The ancient pagans had their collection of gods, while Socrates hinted at what Christians devoutly believe to be a Highest Good -- the One true God. Traditional philosophy reaffirms through right order of reason that this God is the most Real thing, Reality Itself.

Around the time of the Renaissance the precursor to the Scientific Revolution, Modern philosophy began to take its first foothold. Through the new Scientific Method, employed by philosophers like Descartes and Hume for things way beyond its reach, the problem of "above-nature" things became only a matter of certainty rather than reality. What can man be most certain of? What if these "most real" things can't really be reasoned to? 

Kant takes the musing of Hume and Descartes and tries to mold together the unity Traditional Philosophy had lost. However, by establishing metaphysical ideas to be merely regulatory - meaning they act only as barriers to our universe that can't actually be reasoned to - Kant denied conformity to reality and instead affirmed dependence on certainty. This is where Nietzsche takes ahold of the reins and drives it all downhill fast.

Nietzsche takes a look at history with the "enlightened" eyes of a 19th century gentleman, accounting only for the Naturalist argument for the world. Since metaphysics - especially God - cannot be reasoned to, it must not exist at all. What, then, were those pagans doing with their sacrifices? Nietzsche's answer is not one of teleology, but of instinctual brutality: the strongest, naturally, must conquer the weak in basic survival of the fittest. Religion, then, must be the weak people's retaliation against the strong. It is oppressive, asking one to give of themselves, stripping them of their primal desires. This is why Nietzsche hated Christianity the most, because one must give up desires of the body entirely, and all of the strong who came out on top go to Hell, while the poor and weak are lifted up. And if all religion is merely a power tool, a relationship with God is obsolete. If God means nothing, morality, then, is based not on alignment with The Good, but in regard to physical strength. This can only lead to Nietzsche's intended conclusion, that in order for the physically strong to "come out on top," they must beat down the lesser races. People can be reduced to animals once morality is destroyed." 

- Student MC

Essay 2 - Student CG

"Before Nietzsche, Kant developed the idea that the human mind and reason is limited and that it cannot possibly grasp universal concepts. Nietzsche builds on this thought process. He believes that because the human mind cannot know universals or things outside of itself, the idea of "God" is nothing more than an idea. According to him, it is a tool used by the powerful to oppress the weak and a fantasy or myth used to escape reality. He brings up two states of life: the Dionysian and the Apollonian. The Dionysian, after Dionysus the god of wine, pleasure, and partying, pertains to the bodily desires natural in every human being. The Apollonian, on the other hand, pertains to the mind. Apollo is the god of music, of beautiful and higher realities. Christianity and other religions attempt to reject the Dionysian and adopt the Apollonian. In other words, to deny the body of indulgence in pleasure and to strive towards higher realities. 

However, this is what Nietzsche claims is a nihilistic way of thought and life. He believes that to rejcet the natural human tendencies of the body and to reach towards God and other high ideas which the limited mind cannot actually grasp is to reject meaning. To Nietzsche the body and desires is what is most real, and the human person must embrace it instead of saying that it has no meaning. He especially resents Christianity, which in his eyes has glorified such cruel treatment of the body with Christ on the cross. Nietzsche claims to save Europe from this "nihilism" of the body by saying that God is nothing but a useless idea and that pleasure is almost necessary for the good human life. 

However, the reality is the opposite of what Nietzsche believes. Plato and Socrates both hold the true idea that that which is most real is the metaphysical , and what Christianity knows as God. Thus, the process of dying to the body and embracing higher ideals, the Apollonian view, is what saves the person from a nihilistic view that nothing matters save the body. Nietzsche is the real nihilist, who rejects that which is most real and turns inward toward the self and the Dionysian way of life. 

The is the opposite of Plato's philosophy in the Apology. Unlike Nietzsche, who things it foolish to reject the body, Plato practices death to the point that his bodily death seemed small compared to the death he practiced every day. He sought after true meaning, whilst Nietzsche enslaved himself to mortal, meaningless things." 

- Student CG 

Essay 3 - Student WS 

"Nietzsche's philosophy could be described as the inverse of Socrates' philosophy because it rejects the same things Socrates' holds as most valuable, and accepts what Socrates rejects. This is primarily seen through Nietzsche's 'Ubermensch'. Nietzsche's Ubermensch was the idea of a perfect human being, but only in the physical sense. Such a human could overpower any weaker man, and would most likely come from 'the blonde beasts of the north'. This idea of the Ubermensch trickled down into preceding philosophies, such as in the Nazi regime, which held that the Aryan race was superior to all other races and peoples. Behind the materialist philosophy, which aimed at subjecting nature and reducing all things into aesthetics, lies the same problem which C.S. Lewis addressed in the 'Abolition of Man'. Lewis argued that 'men without chests' (reflecting Plato's tri-partite soul), men whose desires were not aligned with morality and truth, would inevitably attempt a total subjection of nature. He predicted such things as humankind attempting to eliminate suffering, and to build a perfect world for themselves. Nietzsche's Ubermensch was no more than an attempt at achieving this very outcome. Lewis also argued that this subjection of nature and rejection of the "Tao" (which is synonymous with the moral law) would ultimately fail and collapse in on itself, as such endeavors do when man tries playing God.

Nietzsche's philosophy can also be seen as an inverse of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, because, on the one hand, Nietzsche's Ubermensch would try to use reality, and bend it towards his own will, and on the other hand, the man in the Allegory of the Cave would seek to understand Nature, and even look beyond the merely physical (the shadows) and attempt to see the divine. These philosophies provide to extreme, one seeking glory, power, and beauty in the physical and the other seeking truth, goodness and true beauty in tall this material and immaterial. Ultimately the problem with Nietzsche's philosophy is that it is shallow; it does not go deep enough into reality; it remains happily contented and ignorant with the shadows. Like much sic, this philosophy seeks something good, something real, but fails to reach far enough to attain it. It is like an alcoholic striving to find meaning and joy in his life, when he is unaware he has settled for less. The true Ubermensch is the man who ascends out of the cave, where he can finally behold the light of truth and where he can find true peace." 

-Student WS