Nietzsche Vs. Hobbes
... be overcome”(The Anti-Christ, 156), Hobbes would have found that excerpt to be repugnant having declared that “God...when he speaks to any subject...he ought to be obeyed” (Leviathan, 492). Hobbes was a Christian, while Nietzsche was a atheist, their views on Christianity are completely opposite. Nietzsche held the belief throughout his life that “Christianity has taken the side of everything weak, base, ill-constituted, it has made an ideal out of opposition to the preservative instincts of a strong life; it has depraved the reason even of the intellectually strongest natures by teaching men to feel the supreme values of intellectuality as sinful, as misleading, as temptations,”(The Anti-Christ, S. 5) Professor Howard Rainer of Davis University states that “Nietzsche was uncompromisingly anti-Christian, for Christianity was the most potent force against those values which he prized most highly.” Nietzsche felt that Christianity would hinder the emergence of the “overman”(The Will to Power, 546), a human being that follows their own path and not the herd’s. Hobbes while being a Christian to the end, had a rather pessimistic view of it; Professor Ian Johnston of Malaspina University states that “ Hobbes believed the public religion of the artificial state must serve the need for security to protect the selfish economic interests of the individuals composing it.” Hobbes view of Christianity was quite radical for his time and he publicly scorned for his belief that Christendom was nothing more economic security blanket; Hobbes attacked the elements in the Christian church which profited from religion. The times in which Hobbes and Nietzsche lived in were very different, in Hobbes times “Deadly religious wars were fought across the European continent. It was in this climate the Thomas Hobbes proposed...[his] philosophy.”(Howard Rainer, Lecture Notes) Nietzsche did not have to worry about being hunted as a heretic if his ideas were not like by members of the Christian community, Hobbes did. Hobbes makes references to the scripture quite frequently in his works, he uses them to strengthen his ideas surrounding philosophy; Nietzsche never quotes from the Bible but he make many references to the parables of Jesus, he uses these in his critiques on modern Christianity. Hobbes and Nietzsche views on Christianity could never be reconciled, Hobbes died a Christian, while Nietzsche is reputed as saying ”let me go to my grave a honest pagan”. Both Nietzsche and Hobbes share a pessimistic view of human nature, Hobbes asserted that life was “nasty, brutish, and short”(Leviathan, 278) while Nietzsche believed that human nature was akin to that of an animal herd. Professor Howard Rainer of Davis University states that “Nietzsche thought that human nature was nothing more than cultural conditioning on a mass scale. Nietzsche and Hobbes both shared the view that human nature changed depending on the situations a person found themselves in. Hobbes ideas on human nature were gloomy, in Leviathan Hobbes states “in the nature of man, we find three principall causes of quarell. First, Competition; Secondly, Diffidence; Thirdly, Glory. The first, maketh men invade for Gain; the second for Safety; and the third, for Reputation.”(Leviathan, 345) Most of Hobbes ideas were born out of his experience with the English Civil War, Hobbes; “attitude toward man, whom he considered a wicked animal, knowing no restraint to his passions, was, doubtlessly formulated in England during the turbulent years of the Revolution.”(Ethics:Origins and Development, 172). Nietzsche thoughts on human nature are revealed in this quote: “ It is not things, but opinions about things that have absolutely no existence, which have so deranged mankind!”(Daybreak, s. 563) Nietzsche held the belief that man had no such thing as human nature to battle against, he belief that the idea of human nature was fictitious creation of past philosophers who sought to explain life. Nietzsche advanced the opinion that mankind has a ”Herd mentality [that] overcomes master morality by making all the noble qualities appear to be vices and all weak qualities appear to be virtues. Mediocre values are the values of the herd.”(Helen Grayman, Lecture Notes). Nietzsche’s writings on human nature, for the most part are an attack on the herd mentality, which he holds great contempt for. Nietzsche put forth this idea “Our entire sociology simply does not know any other instinct than that of the herd, i.e., that of the sum of zeros-where every zero has ‘equal rights,’ where it is virtuous to be zero.”(The Will to Power, 33) Nietzsche believes that “Not ‘mankind’ but overman is the goal!”(The Will to Power, 519 ), this means that the goal of the human race, in Nietzsche’s mind, should be the development of a class of human beings that is not part of the herd, which hinders mankind’s development. Both Hobbes and Nietzsche’s views on human nature were misanthropic, Nietzsche held the belief that mankind was nothing more than a herd, and Hobbes views on human nature can be summed up wonderfully with three words: competition, diffidence, and glory. Hobbes and Nietzsche have differing opinions on morality, Hobbes adhered to the Christian mores during his time, Nietzsche would have found this funny because he was an atheist and also because he did not beleive in any moral code. Nietzsche thought “Morality makes stupid.-- Custom represents the experiences of men of earlier times as to what they supposed useful and harmful - but the sense for custom (morality) applies, not to these experiences as such, but to the age, the sanctity, the indiscussability of the custom. And so this feeling is a hindrance to the acquisition of new experiences and the correction of customs: that is to say, morality is a hindrance to the development of new and better customs: it makes stupid.” (Daybreak,s. 1...