Nietzsche (of whom I am very fond, remember) made the best of a bad situation. Since there is no overarching, cosmic criterion by which to critique values, there is nothing to say that we cannot promote those values that we prefer, values which encourage strength and creativity, and favor the talented and the brave. So far, not so bad. Of course, since we cannot rely upon argument to command agreement, we must either enforce the values through the common range of sanctions, formal and informal, or persuade through rhetorical and propagandistic means. This assumes, of course, that the philosopher will ever have such a command of the "cultural levers", or that those the philosopher favors will see that they have the opportunity to break free of bad conscience and take control of the cultural levers on behalf of those values. However, if one believes in a more laissez- faire approach to culture, then the idea of self- creating humanity is laughably far off, and we will continue to muddle through with the usual range of conflicts of belief and value:-)...
As for God as the Moral Lawgiver, I agree with Kant that we have moral convictions before belief in God. He thought that we believe in God because it is the only way that we can conceive of justice being ultimately vindicated. To Kant, the belief was justified because the question was materially irresolvable, and therefore we were at liberty to believe that which squared with our sense of justice...
Now, Nietzsche himself was faced with a problem, which is that the Abyss is the Abyss is the Abyss, which he created a trope for--- The image of the Eternal Return, which is the ultimate image of futility, although one could just as well substitute the "heat death of the universe", or the current fave, "the rubber- band universe" that expands until it collapses on itself, and begins a new cycle of BANG! (Where are your "progress and survival of the species" then?) Finally, the idea of the opportunity for man to take control of his own destiny wasn't enough, which is why he developed the idea of the Ubermensch. What was the primary characteristic of the Ubermensch? That he be able to embrace the Eternal Return and still affirm life!If one is honest, it is not so easy to do...
Anyway, there are various choices, and you have made one which is not ignoble, so I will leave it at that for the time being.... |
