Nietzsche’s existential view of life

Once U3A classes can resume I am thinking of running a course on the enigmatic philosopher Frederick Nietzsche.   

The proposed structure of the course is as follows:

Firstly to do justice to his work I will be providing a brief history of his early life and his influencers. It is virtually impossible to understand a philosopher like Nietzsche unless you have some comprehensive background behind his era and the forces that shaped his thinking.

In my introduction I will aim to shed some light on the common threads –for instance why he considered society and religion to be decadent and how those issues might have relevance to today’s world.  A precursor to modernity?

What is evident in reading Nietzsche is the vitality and robust nature of his writings which seek to tear down the accepted conventional wisdom. Bear in mind the conventional wisdom that merged Greek rationalism with the traditional Hebrew way of thinking began with St Paul and had held sway for roughly 18 centuries. Nietzsche sets out his objections in his uniquely strident conversational manner written in a series of aphorisms. He forms an alliance with a psychological based perspective that rallies against any philosophical structure which involves the rational listing of values and the accompanying virtuous life enslaved to those principles.

In what is considered the beginning of western democracy in Ancient Greece he is voraciously opposed to the ideas of Socrates and Plato which he describes as decadent. His alliance is attuned to the Homeric ancient Greeks.    

I aim to explain the reason for his thinking (without necessarily agreeing with all of it) by reference principally to ‘Twilight of the Idols’. The full text is available here. 

The question to be discussed is how that might apply to contemporary problems. What were his key ideas and do we see any residue embedded in the modern world.     

There will be ample opportunity for interesting discussions on why Nietzsche regarded the ancient Athenian Greek philosophers as decadent.

One of his crucial concepts was of Eternal Recurrence and what it means according to Nietzsche- the question arises is this a helpful and a realistic way to stoically accept life as it is or not? E.g. Love of fate. Nietzsche-rallies against the Christian idea of freewill and moralising – providing an opportunity to discuss his spiritual psychology which encapsulates a healthy free spirit as he puts it to operate principally in an instinctive basis. But when he talks about the instincts he doesn’t mean the natural impulses as we would interpret it but rather the intuitive spiritual sense that frees us from any sense of artificiality contrived forced style of morality. Hence one of his works is aptly named ‘Beyond Good and Evil’.  

According to Nietzsche there are no facts, only interpretations as he would have it. In other words the world as an illusion and how we live within it to say yea to life. 

So that Nietzsche talks about becoming more than human- The question is- is this a fanciful notion or a living life to the full? Is the concept of greatness a hollow claim or an invitation to aspire to a more meaningful inspirational life?  

He is aghast at the current view on morality and one can discuss the principles he espouses to show cause as to why he thinks this view of morality it is the enemy of the natural world in which we reside. Other topics I am considering are as follows:  

·       The antichrist and how Christianity became decadent.    

·       Kierkegaard explained with comparisons to Nietzsche and Dostoevsky.

·       Comparing the 2, which Philosopher, if any, do you relate to or see eye to eye. 

As can be ascertained this is an early structural outline and any comments are most welcome.