10.22.09
How Nietzche discredited atheism
…”God Is Dead.”… (Karen Armstrong)
No. When Friedrich Nietzsche announced the death of God in 1882, he thought that in the modern, scientific world people would soon be unable to countenance the idea of religious faith. By the time The Economist did its famous “God Is Dead” cover in 1999, the question seemed moot, notwithstanding the rise of politicized religiosity — fundamentalism — in almost every major faith since the 1970s. An obscure ayatollah toppled the shah of Iran, religious Zionism surfaced in Israel, and in the United States, Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority announced its dedicated opposition to “secular humanism.”
Armstrong is right, in a way. Nietzsche miscalculated the issue of atheism, and one of the ironies of his philosophy is that he became so extreme that he discredited his own position. Who wants to be vulnerable to fascism just to be an atheist?
Etc…
It is worth studying Kant here, since some (but by now means all!) scholars have noted an implicit ‘atheism’ in his critique of metaphysics, followed by a reconceived perspective (moral) on the ‘god’ idea. Kant understood well enough that, as to metaphysics, ‘god’ the metaphysical concept was dead, and required being recast in a new understanding.
The Gurdjieff Con » Nietzsche and atheism said,
October 22, 2009 at 3:45 pm
[...] http://darwiniana.com/2009/10/22/how-nietzche-discredited-atheism/ The ‘god is dead’ theme was originally critiqued very well by Rajneesh, no theist, and in general his critiques of religion have been imitated by the so-called New Atheists (perhaps without realizing it). [...]
How Nietzsche discredited atheism | Kant’s Challenge said,
October 22, 2009 at 4:43 pm
[...] How Nietzche discredited atheism [...]