Nietzsche and Iqbal on Nihilism and Religion

LUMINA: An Interdisciplinary and Scholarly Journal of Holy Name University, 2009

This journal article argues a bright theistic aspect of Nietzsche's philosophy hinting from his devotion on the sanctity of human life, and his existentialistic philosophy of "amor fati" and the doctrine of eternal recurrence. The author argues that there is no direct contradiction between Nietzsche's atheistic claims and the idea of a religious divine and creator of life and the universe. Being himself a devotee of life, Nietzsche does not contradict the idea of God as the genuine creator of human life.

Philosophy & Social Criticism, 2020

While the term 'nihilism' has become increasingly widespread throughout the past two centuries, not only in academic discourses but in popular culture more widely, there is a surprising lack of consensus regarding its specific meaning. This is perhaps owing to the myriad contexts in which the word has appeared since its inception, which range from specialized works of philosophy to an array of mass-cultural products. This article overviews the emergence and development of the term 'nihilism', in order to clarify some of the principal reasons for its prevalence and ambiguity. Having discussed the word's origin, the article scrutinizes its significance in the early work of Friedrich Nietzsche, who was largely responsible for its popularization, and overviews some of its major appearances throughout the 20th century, in order to show that while Nietzsche stands as the iconic founder of discursivity on nihilism, posthumous uses of the word deviate sharply from his own determinations. The term 'nihilism' is of a peculiar nature, to say the least. Since its emergence, in the second half of the 19th century, it has acquired considerable currency-but also notoriety gradually becoming one of those words that appears to be widely understood (or at least familiar to most) but whose deployment seems to suggest quite the opposite. Although the term is prevalent in philosophical and other discourses of the 20th century, there seems to be little agreement as to its precise meaning. Even today, the word is ambiguous, for 'nihilism' is used to denote both a lack of ideology and ideology as such (or even a lack of ideology as ideology). Yet, despite this ambiguity its presence in the

2014

Friedrich Nietzsche’s contribution to philosophy is mostly recognized in relation to moral philosophy. His distinction of master and slave morality, critique of the Judeo-Christian morality is what is commonly considered as the main contribution of his philosophy. How-ever, on the other hand, his examination of metaphysics and epistemology comprises fun-damental constituents to apprehend his philosophy. Accordingly, it can be said, Nietzsche’s approach towards morality and politics is a demonstration of his analysis of metaphysics and epistemology. Since the construction of metaphysical and epistemological grounds precedes the construction of ethical systems, the critique of morality is presupposed by the critique of its metaphysical and epistemological foundations. Therefore, the focus of this paper will not be Nietzsche’s critique of morality and politics. Rather, it will critically examine his criticism of the metaphysical and epistemological ba-sis that by virtue of their structural fundamentality acquired the generative potential of values (moral, political, economic, etc.). In view of that, by exposing the vitality of Nie-tzsche’s critique in his discourse on nihilism, the analysis will try to claim the conceptual centrality of nihilism in his philosophy. Furthermore, assert the possible understandability of his critique and discourse, which is mostly concentrated on the advent of European ni-hilism and its countermovement

The agonist, 2023

This essay aims to provide another perspective on how the problem of nihilism operates within Nietzsche's works by reading him against the thought of Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, one of the first philosophers to introduce the classical modern sense of nihilism. Since Nietzsche makes no mention of Jacobi, this essay reads Nietzsche's analysis of nihilism as a silent reply to the founding problem of nihilism as Jacobi conceived it, namely the crisis of piety, and against the historical backdrop from which Nietzsche first truly encountered nihilism as a phenomenon, namely the 1881 assassination of Russian Tsar Alexander II. This essay will, additionally, briefly outline the various sources (historical, literary) Nietzsche had access to and contributed to his knowledge of nihilism.

Essay, 2008

European Review, 2014

In Nietzsche, ‘European nihilism’ has at its core valuelessness, meaninglessness and senselessness. This article argues that Nietzsche is not replacing God with the nothing, but rather that he regards ‘European nihilism’ as an ‘in-between state’ that is necessary for getting beyond Christian morality. An important characteristic of a Nietzschean philosopher is his ‘will to responsibility’. One of his responsibilities consists of the creation of the values and the concepts that are needed in order to overcome the intermediate state of nihilism. For prevailing over nihilism in science, Nietzsche suggests drawing on philosophy for the creation of values and drawing on art in order to create beautiful surfaces that are based on these values. He regards science as a cultural system that rests on contingent grounds. Therefore, his work is concerned with the responsible construction of the narratives of science in such a way that they enhance agency and promote a life-affirming future.

This paper argues that Nietzsche’s central concern is the diagnosing and overcoming of nihilism. It traces the development of Nietzsche’s thought in order to show how nihilism came to be Nietzsche’s central concern. It then examines the vexing question of what exactly Nietzsche takes to be the core of nihilism. Sometimes Nietzsche treats nihilism as a belief; at other times he seems to treats it as an affective disorder. It is argued that beyond the nihilism of despair and the nihilism of disorientation identified by Bernard Reginster there must be a deeper core nihilism, which is identified as affective nihilism; the drives turned against themselves. The key evidence being that while Nietzsche identifies Christianity as being intrinsically nihilistic, the Christian suffers from neither disorientation or despair. Similarly,regarding Nietzsche’s notion of the affirmation of life, his antidote to nihilism, it remains unclear whether this is a matter of adopting some cognitive attitude, for instance affirming the eternal recurrence of life, or of adopting a form of life that does not involve the repression of our fundamental drives. Throughout the paper the question of Nietzsche’s attitude to the relation between myth, nihilism and affirmation is examined. This sheds light on both his relationship to Wagner and the ambition behind his Thus spoke Zarathustra, the work he took to be his most important.

History of European Ideas, 1989

2022

There is a debate in the literature that Iqbal's concept of Ideal Man, which he called 'Mard-e-Momin' was not only highly influenced by Nietzsche's philosophy, rather it was an Oriental adaptation or a reproduced version of Nietzsche's Ideal Man, known as 'Übermensch' often translated as 'Overman' or 'Superman'. The paper presents a comparative analysis of Nietzsche's 'Übermensch' and Iqbal's 'Mard-e-Momin' arguing that there are fundamental differences between the metaphysical, epistemological, religious, moral and methodological beliefs of Nietzsche and Iqbal with reference to Ideal Man. Using foundationalist/ anti-foundationalist approach, it is argued that Nietzsche was an anti-foundationalist; since, he rejects all foundational grounds and advocates total rejection of religion and conventional morality, which he considered to be the mainly responsible factors of nihilism. His concept of Superman emerges from antifoundationalism. Whereas, Iqbal was foundationalist for he takes Religion, the Quran and Sunnah as foundations and his Ideal man is a true representation of these foundations. These foundations, Iqbal argues, provide guidance during the journey of his life.