As we have mentioned before, Nietzsche is the last of the “Dionysian” philosophers in the Western tradition and the last real “initiate” of Western esoterism. After Nietzsche, esoterism in the West has largely been lost. But couched in his esoteric style was a great deal of irony and sarcasm. One cannot assess Nietzsche without taking the irony and sarcasm of his writings into account. For instance, Nietzsche wrote: “Love of one is a barbarism; for it is exercised at the expense of all others. The love of God, too.” Another ironic and sarcastic Nietzschean statement which stands out is: “The attraction of knowledge would be small if one did not have to overcome so much shame on the way.”
By virtue of his esoteric discourse and logical holism, Nietzsche tore into the logical atomism and gross materialism of fin de siècle Europe. Nietzsche wrote: “As for materialistic atomism, it is one of the best refuted theories there are, and in Europe perhaps no one in the learned world is now so unscholarly as to attach serious significance to it.” Nietzsche argued that the “visible evidence” against materialistic atomism was too great to deny.
Nietzsche also rightly defined truth and inquiry as a series of never-ending questions. If one wants the truth, then inquiry can never end. Indeed, inquiry never ends, given that inquiry leads to one question after another. The basic idea is that in the way of truth, one cannot settle. Nietzsche wrote: “Hence the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire…”
Nietzsche also wrote in regards to truth-seeking: “The will to truth which will still tempt us to many a venture, that famous truthfulness of which all philosophers so far have spoken with respect – what questions has this will to truth not laid before us! What strange, wicked, questionable questions! That is a long story even now – and yet it seems as if it had scarcely begun.”
Nietzsche’s esoteric discourse was not devoid of political thought either. For instance, Nietzsche wrote: “A state that cannot attain its ultimate goal usually swells to an unnaturally large size.” As a result, Nietzsche’s esoterism and his philosophy in general has contemporary relevance and can even serve as a basis or foundation for postmodern philosophy in the coming future. At the heart of his political philosophy, Nietzsche was a stanch opponent of anachronism and reactionaries. As Nietzsche stated: “Sometimes there appear rough, violent, and impetuous spirits, who are nevertheless backward; they conjure up once again a past phase of mankind. They serve as proof that the new tendencies which they are opposing are still not strong enough, that something is lacking there; otherwise, those conjurors would be opposed more effectively.”
Nietzsche’s moral theory was also a peculiar one, for Nietzsche refuted any claim that morality could have a “rational foundation” as Western philosophy generally insisted and in turn Nietzsche suggested that there are “many moralities” to account for. Both reason and instinct can play into these many moralities, whereas Western philosophy in general sought to elevate reason as the foundation for morality. Nietzsche argued that one cannot narrow down morality to one rational source. Christian morality was something that Nietzsche lambasted and thoroughly undermined. For instance, Nietzsche wrote: “Industrious races find it very troublesome to endure leisure: it was a masterpiece of English instinct to make the Sabbath so holy and so boring that the English begin unconsciously to lust again for their work-and-week-day.”
Hence, Nietzsche saw European modernity and Christian morality as two mutually exclusive phenomena or objects which could never be reconciled or brought together. To claim or suggest Christian morality in a modern atmosphere and ontological condition would amount to hypocrisy and disingenuity. But the most notable of all of Nietzsche’s ideas and contributions to philosophy as a whole was ‘nihilism’ and it is an idea which we will hopefully address in a later post.
Adam A. Azim 