Existentialism : An Introduction (9780745682853) by Aho Kevin

Author:Aho, Kevin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc
Published: 2013-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Living with style

There is no way to access Nietzsche's conception of authenticity without placing it within the context of nihilism. For Nietzsche, nihilism means that the very idea of “truth is an error” (1968, 454, 540), and there is no objective or universal justification for our choices and actions. This, however, is not a cause for despair, but for celebration. It frees us from the bourgeois values of the Western tradition so we can create new values and meanings that reflect our own temperaments and styles of living. In this sense, Nietzsche's account of being true to oneself is unique in the canon of existentialism because it is not so preoccupied with gloomy themes of death and anxiety. For Nietzsche, the confrontation with nihilism is a cause for rejoicing, cheerfulness, and laughter because it opens up new and exciting possibilities for self-creation. In The Gay Science, he writes:

After all, these immediate consequences, its consequences for us, are, contrary to what one might expect, not at all sad and gloomy, but rather like a new kind of light that is hard to describe, a new kind of happiness, alleviation, cheering, encouragement, and dawn. When we hear the news that the ‘old God is dead,’ we philosophers and ‘free spirits’ feel as if we were struck by the rays of a new dawn; at this news, our heart overflows with thankfulness, wonder, presentiment, expectation. (1995, 343)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.