Nietzsche's Nihilism
Abstract Nietzsche's philosophical views have by now been superseded. He found the roots of nihilism in European
society's traditional metaphysics and Christian morality, and he located nihilism specifically within the field of
morality or value. He so urgently sought to resolve the problem of nihilism that
he proposed extreme methods, such as the revaluation of all values. But he did not overcome nihilism completely,
though he claimed that the Overman would replace the Christian God. Nihilism is not only a European phenomenon.
As a historical process, nihilism may appear in different countries. We should take a positive attitude toward this
phenomenon and guide it in the right direction. Nietzsche's ideas on nihilism are important contributions and an inspiring
legacy that can help us confront contemporary phenomena.
Keywords nihilism, value, Nietzsche
Nietzsche's ideas have always been controversial. Some of his views would be
very hard to justify. Some of his claims are also hard to understand. For example,
he considered himself "untimely," out of keeping with his times, but we can
interpret this this expression in two different ways. First, being untimely could
result from the freshness, their novelty, as opposed to the more entrenched
character of prevailing views among his contemporaries. Second, it may be
interpreted as implying that reigning beliefs were nearing their demise and that a
new way of thinking was coming into ascendancy. I contend that Nietzsche is
untimely primarily in the first sense. He diagnosed cultural nihilism, and this
made him out of step with his society. From the point of his contemporaries,
Nietzsche rightly called himself an "immoralist." He thought that "morality"
suppressed life, so he rejected it. But this does not mean he opposed all morality.
What he rejected was the morality of his tradition, Christian morality, as he understood it.