So today we studied the mad, bad and dangerous to know Friederich Nietzsche. Nietzsche is someone who you probably wouldn't want to have a drink with. He strikes me as someone who'd be perennially miserable no matter what you did (unless it was take part in an orgy in the basement of Cinderella's Castle).
Nietzsche seems to, rather unfairly, have this reputation as a completely insane Nazi. While, in fairness, he did eventually go bonkers (most likely due to syphilis), his beliefs themselves weren't all that mad. He was also no Nazi. He had his beliefs twisted and bastardised by the Nazi's, but Nietzsche was opposed to anti-semitism, nationalism and racism, which was pretty much everything the Nazi party stood for.
Nietzsche had some good ideas in his syphilis addled brain.I don't entirely disgaree with his views on morality, for example. For Nietzsche, morality was created by mankind and there was no such thing as moral absolutes. Everything was relative to everything else. If someone grew up in a society where it was okay to beat women then they wouldn't see it as wrong, even though we'd find it abhorrent.
I also concur with his attitudes towards religion. By breaking with the idea of a God, one loses the right to an exclusively set range of Christian morals. This is a stark contrast to the philosophical beliefs of Immanel Kant, someone whose beliefs were based very heavily in the Christian mindset.
This being said, I do disagree with Nietzsche's opinions on equality. Personally I feel that people are born equal. Yes people are elevated to positions of power, but that's just their title. As people, they're no different on a fundamental level to anyone else. Additionally, I don't agree with his dislike of democracy. Yes, if the world were left in charge of wise, infallible people who always made the right decision for everyone that'd be super. However, people make mistakes no matter how enlightened they are. To place the power of society in the hands of a few individuals is the road to corruption.
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