Introduction.
The world as we know is made up of different assumptions or beliefs which are asserted by individuals some internally and some vocally, these may stand to be true and some may be false (Sire, 1990:29-30). The way the world is viewed differs from an individual’s perspective, this led to authors like Nietzsche and Sartre formulating, and explicating different philosophies.
The worldview and philosophy.
A worldview is a locution that originated in German where it was known as weltanschauung, it was later asserted in the English vocabulary as a worldview in modern English the actual idiom is at times used as a borrowed or loanword (Marshall et al., 1989:2). (Olthuis, 1989:29) asserts that worldviews are a set of significant beliefs which our lives are tied upon which include our day-to-day lives and the beliefs we may hold about our future in this world.
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Olthius in his take on worldviews asserts that they may be based on historical cultures. To highlight the slight difference from philosophy they share the same viewpoint with Wolters as they both state that worldviews are pre-theoretical and non-scientific as they appeal to the masses rather than certain individuals or elites. Therefore, it is safe to say that worldviews are the beliefs that may be influenced by historical attributes such as the culture in which a group or an individual view’s the world.
On the contrary, philosophy is premised on scientific and theoretical and it appeals to the literate (Marshall et al., 1989:2). This conclusion is drawn from Wolters's views on the relations between worldviews and philosophy. Ontology is part of metaphysics which is based on the sense of being or coming to existence, giving birth to epistemology which is the knowledge of how things came into being. Philosophy, therefore; is a phenomenon based on epistemology as it theoretically and scientifically tries to establish the sense of existence and how the world and everything that we know came into being.
Nietzsche's nihilism
Nihilism is a philosophy that was revived by Nietzsche, he asserted that it is the negation of the modern views which shy away from reality in pursuit of believing in idols. These ideals or idols are said to be superior to live itself. Nihilism is premised on the idea of connecting mankind with reality rather than insinuating that ideal such as religion, science, and politics are superior. Nietzsche asserts that history should be clear and there should be no hidden agenda, and there is no such thing as morals because what’s done during life will never find its way outside of life (Ferry, 2011:143-147). These are post-modern views asserted by Nietzsche in his pursuit to emancipate mankind from false realities raised by idols and prove that these ideals are not transcendental.
In his explication of nihilism, Nietzsche formulated three ideas which were the revaluation of all values, willpower and the idea of a superman. The first step he took was the revaluation of all values, where he highlights that humans were enslaved by rationality and Christian morality. In simple terms, people had less room for improvement as they were held back by traditional morality and rationality which he disputed. He believed that human essence comes from within and not from God, meaning a person can be and do whatever they desire as they have the willpower to do so. Willpower according to Nietzsche is driven by internal forces rather than external factors or values. Lastly, he taps into the idea of a superman, this idea is formulated based on a belief that everyone has an obligation to create meaning in their lives and improve through self-transcendence (Li, 2016:298-319).
Critique of a worldview based on Nietzsche’s nihilism.
Nihilism disputes the idea of Christian morality as Nietzsche labeled himself as an immoral and untimely being. He asserts that there is no God and rejects transcendentalism. He states that Christian morality enslaves earthly beings as they negate reality which they leave in as they believe that all the bad things on earth will catch up with them in the next world. In his view, there’s no God and there are no sins, and there is no heaven or hell. Therefore, to leave a meaningful life one ought to shy away from the idols and the cultural values of Christianity. According to Nietzsche Christianity is an escape from reality for those who allow external factors to shape their lives instead of allowing their willpower to create their own essence.
Reference List.
- Ferry, L. 2011. A brief history of thought: A philosophical guide to living. Translated by Theo Cuffe. New York, NY: Harper. pp. 143-197.
- Li, G. 2016. Nietzsche’s Nihilism. Frontiers of Philosophy in China. pp. 298-319. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44157012 Date of access: 08 October 2020.
- Olthius, J.H. 1989. In worldviews. In Stained Glass: Worldviews and Social Science, edited by P.A Marshall, S. Griffioen, R.J. Mouw. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.
- Sire, J.W. 1990. The universe next door; is a guide to world views. Leicester: InterVarsity Press.
- Wolters, A.M. 1989. “On the idea of worldviews and its relation to philosophy.” in Stained Glass: Worldviews and Social Science, edited by P.A Marshall, S. Griffioen, R.J. Mouw. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.
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