Both fragments of Nietzsche's books concern two main ideas of his social theory: compassion and Christian idea of compassion. Nietzsche was quite coherent in his critics of the compassion and the enemy of the Christian church. Nietzsche was the admirer of the power over people by a certain group of people, superior men. He stressed that the will to power makes our lives more full and significant. The man is tempered in life full of adventures and dangers of struggle and tension. This excitement and risk life increases his will, and the person becomes strong and independent, proud and self-sufficient. Such man could not ask for anything. He is afraid nothing, and may become a lord of his destiny and be able to rule over the others. This man may do whatever he wants, take from life everything he needs. Of course, he will not be able to experience remorse or repentance as feelings of guilt and compassion are alien to him. He does not understand what is good and evil and believes that everything is possible. This man is capable for everything. Nietzsche starts his fragment with such words: "Whether it be hedonism, pessimism, utilitarianism, or eudaemonism, all those modes of thinking which measure the worth of things according to PLEASURE and PAIN" (Horstmann and Norman, 2003).
Good and evil is just a pure fiction for such a man. These words were invented by weak people who tried to deter aggression and tyranny of the strong. Nietzsche says that it is necessary to stand on the other side of good and evil (Horstmann and Norman, 2003). This means that we should redefine all the values, ideals, rules and regulations. We should understand that there are no rules and regulations at all and the only one rule or the law is power. If you are strong, do whatever you want, and if you are weak, get out of the way and leave the living space to the strong.
Nietzsche thought that a modern man is weak, cowardly and worthless. He is capable of nothing, he just tries to disguise his own insignificance. Ideal of Friedrich Nietzsche is a superior man that goes through life boldly and independently, crushing all common setting, age-old habits, attitudes and ideals. Of course, there is no God for a superior man as he is his own God. Nietzsche speaks about the Christian priests: "False values and fatuous words: these are the worst monsters for mortals—long slumbereth and waiteth the fate that is in them" (Del Caro and Pippin, 2006). Religion for the superior men is the moral of cowardly and weak.
Evaluating the man, Nietzsche highlights that the true nature of a man lies in his basic instincts, the instinct of cruelty and the instinct of liberty. Cruelty is based on the suppression of freedom instinct and it is usually expressed by torturing the others and observing it. Nietzsche says that cruelty is the oldest way of relationships between the man and the world, and the man’s relation to himself. Under the instinct of freedom Nietzsche implies the energy that creates the beauty. Nietzsche considers the striving for power as the possibility of self-realization. Each person has an inner potential. Therefore, a person should have a creative approach to life. The basic dynamics of life is the diverse interaction between striving for power and the instinct of cruelty. Both instincts contribute the development of civilization.
According to Nietzsche, the self-destruction appears in case of absence of the object of violence (Del Caro and Pippin, 2006). The motive of self-destruction is associated with the theme of sacrifice, the productive self-destruction. Without the will of self-torture there is no self-denial. Nietzsche believes that a fulfilled life requires sacrifice. The sacrifice for Nietzsche is primarily associated with the work, and true creativity combines the great and the tragic. On the level of whole humanity the destruction processes are perceived as the productive cruelty that improves us as the human beings. Complete destruction, according to Nietzsche, purifies the human species from mild instances to leave the space for the healthy and strong individuals (Deleuze, 2006). Despite the fact that Hegel and Nietzsche were on different philosophical platforms, both revealed the teleological aspect of destruction as a self-improvement. Nietzsche believes that anthropological decomposition leads to the strengthening of the human race (Muller-Lauter, 1999).
Contemporary man for Nietzsche is a man of decay era. Instincts are expelled from life and civilization makes people to act violently towards each other. Philosopher encourages us to break the cycle of civilization and to go back to the nature. Everybody should realize the harmony of the median position of man in the world and to understand that the human being is not the best in this world and not its end goal. According to Nietzsche, there are two socio-cultural mechanisms of destruction of the European civilization, the great aversion to the man and a great pity for the man (Del Caro and Pippin, 2006). Due to the common painful tenderness, the development of civilization has led to the fact that man has learned to be ashamed of his instincts.
Compassion to the man Nietzsche calls a powerful, deadly force. Compassion is not only useless, but harmful, as it only increases the suffering in the world. "Our sympathy—do yet not understand what our REVERSE sympathy applies to, when it resists your sympathy as the worst of all pampering and enervation? — So it is sympathy AGAINST sympathy" (Nietzsche, 2003). Nietzsche believes that pity, compassion and mercy are the worst qualities, because they focus on all those who are useless and a burden to society, those who can’t achieve anything by themselves. And such weak person does not deserve to live, according to Nietzsche's opinion (Del Caro and Pippin, 2006). So, mercy and compassion are declared to decompose, generating sick and weak people.
Nietzsche believes that religion is the main destructive factor in civilization, particularly Christianity. The church covered its corrosive effect on the human race by the words of spiritual growth. Nietzsche proves the relativity of morality in his work. He denies the moral rules that people have established themselves and that are now limiting the people. Nietzsche rejects a sacrifice, preached by the church. He talks about another sacrifice: to be free (Del Caro and Pippin, 2006). A man must sacrifice his faith and morality. Death of God gives a man the freedom for creativity, because death is already potentially a revival. "And lately, did I hear him say these words: "God is dead: of his pity for man hath God died" (Del Caro and Pippin, 2006).
Nietzsche seeks a new morality in his philosophy, which can be used to release a person from traditional values. The former moral contributes to the justification and perpetuation of the destructive elements in society. Therefore, such a morality is inhumane. On one hand, the society masks the degradation of the human beings relying on morality, it hides its ability to limit the nature of man. On the other hand, the society of double standards uses the property of the ambivalence of life, proclaiming to be a regress everything that is somehow new that does not fit into the usual social life (Deleuze, 2006).
Works Cited
Del Caro, A., and R. Pippin, eds. Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. NY: Cambridge UP, 2006. Print.
Deleuze, G. Nietzsche and philosophy. NY: Columbia University Press, 1983. Print.
Horstmann, R. P., and J. Norman, eds. Nietzsche: Beyond good and evil: Prelude to a philosophy of the future. NY: Cambridge UP, 2003. Print.
Muller-Lauter, W. Nietzsche: his Philosophy of Contradiction and the Contradictions of his Philosophy. Illinois N.p., 1999. Print.
