Friedrich Nietzsche is well known for having attacked on all aspects of moral and religious distinctions and belief systems in terms of democracy, equality, morality, God and other modern value systems. He repudiated all theories of religious and moral beliefs. In his rejection of the contemporary belief systems he believed that it was necessary that all existing value systems in regard to social and political institutions must be destroyed for the future development of humanity. He was a nihilist and there was barely any unambiguous element in his thoughts that was not relevant to the context that he referred to. He wanted that society should adopt radical changes by believing in realism and reason. Nietzsche’s statements represented his philosophical efforts in covering a wide range of subjects and Christianity was one of the areas that were struck by his logic of reason and reality. Nietzsche considered that modern values and morals mattered more to humans, and propagated the belief that ultimately it is the will power of people and their natural self that will lead them towards happiness rather than in following Christian Moral Ideals (CMI) which are firmly rooted in the religion and philosophy of most parts of the world. Most of what was espoused by Nietzsche faced criticism in being labelled as nihilistic, pessimistic and harsh but there is lot of strength in his arguments that is of an inspirational nature. Most of what he advocated proved to be very prophetic and penetrating.
In criticizing the CMI he believed that it carries forward the human life towards denial of the natural self thus implying that the natural being is deprived of any intrinsic value. He considered that values accrue in life as a consequence of the way of life but they get support from CMI solely with the purpose of devaluing the interpretations of the forms of life. In considering that religion interprets human acts as right or wrong on the basis of predetermined code of conduct is wrong; he strongly vouched for human activities to result because of instincts and not from sources outside of the natural world. Nietzsche understood very well the growing forces within humanity in regard to nihilism and was able to predict the history for the next two centuries. The predictions that he made are relevant to this day and can be related to the thought processes of mankind.
Nietzsche believed that moral ideals espoused by Christianity contained its own flaws because it places the sources of all human values outside of nature and promotes the importance of truth as being most important which in turn logically leads to the conclusion that there is very less that falls outside the scope of nature. It was in this context that he claimed that “God is dead”. Hence he felt that there was no basis for CMI to justify the following of religious beliefs by humans in achieving more than they already had. Nietzsche wrote such things 26 years before the outbreak of World War I which was later followed by World War II. He was able to foresee the contradictions in the human belief systems and thus knew that such catastrophes would result, not due to being military conflicts but as a result of the representative forces and fast changing cultures. Such changes altered most things that stood within their own characteristics including the authority of God.
Nietzsche did not believe in the regression and decline of the spirit’s power but he considered that the human spirit has immense power. His philosophy signified several qualities of the positive living of modern day humans in conveying that man is essentially on his own in creating a positive meaning to his life while in the past such meaning got its measure from religion and mythology. The world of today is constantly bringing new challenges for mankind and Nietzsche’s views in effect heralded the emerging values of today.
I feel Nietzsche valued individualism a great deal although some philosophers considered this to be attempts at simplifying what he intended to convey. He considered individuals as complex subjects that had instincts and will to power which I consider to be a kind of radical individualism. I do not consider Nietzsche to be an individualist thinker but he is more of a hierarchy scholar in covering the social order as related to contemporary thought patterns. I understand that Nietzsche has involved himself with politics to some extent in providing humanity with certain goals and directions in considering the problems and contradictions faced by people during his time. His criticism of Christianity and morality has in fact criticized human feelings. He is found to have detested the patterns of altruism and pity which he considered as being ways by which the weak empowered the strong. From what he wrote it appears that he disliked the state and the way it functioned while he spoke negatively about socialism, anarchy and anarchists. His writings conclude that there are very few people who can disengage from herd mentalities and this theme is common in most of his writings.