Nietzsche is a famous German philosopher during the 19th century. Although Nietzsche did not have a successful career when he was alive, his writings on truth, nihilism, and morality had a major impact on the future of western philosophy. Most people known him for his declaration that “God is dead”. This is perhaps one of the most famous statements in philosophy. But do people really know the meaning of his philosophy? Nietzsche believed that the central idea of philosophy was how to be who we are.
There are three basic concepts in his general understanding. The first concepts is human envy. Deep Down, we think we’re always missing something. We are never satisfied.
We may be envious of other people’s talents or appearance. This emotion can make us feel miserable and hopeless. No philosopher like Nietzsche takes envy very seriously. He describe it as the most important emotion of human being. It take a big part in our life.
When we are young, we are told that envy is a bad emotion. We shouldn’t be envious of others. In a lot of literature and movies, the bad guy is often a envious person.This is why we are ashamed of our envious feeling. They seem to be symbols of evil. Because of this, people try to hide it from each other.People often say they don’t even feel that way because they want to be a good and decent person.This creates a paradox, Envy is essential to us like other feelings and we feel humiliated to have a desire for something we can not have.
In Nietzsche’s writing, he think this feeling is appear more in modern society. Back in the days of the feudal aristocracy, it was widely believed that there were class differences that could not be changed. We just can not have things that never belong to us. Class distinctions have now disappeared after the old feudalism. Everyone was told we were all equal. People have legitimate reasons to be envious of others. If we’re all equal, why can’t I have what you have? However, there are nothing wrong to be envy. What matters is how we deal with it. Eney reveals what we want deep down. There’s no need to hide them. Nietzsche believes that a successful man could learn from his envy and improve himself by knowing his purpose in life. For Nietzsche, it’s better to say what you want rather than distort your whole personality to avoid the humiliation for envy. We must be strong enough to face the darkest side of ourselves and remain honest.
Essays on Truth, Nihilism And Morality. (2021, Dec 16). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/essays-on-truth-nihilism-and-morality/