2. Sample Types of Essay Questions on
Nietzsche
1. Nietzsche argued that morality such as that expressed by Kantians,
utilitarians, and Christians is a slave morality designed to protect the weak
from the strong, assertive, and expressive. It is a morality of mediocrity, of
the herd. How does Nietzsche make this argument? What do you think are
its strengths and weaknesses?
2. How and why does Nietzsche argue that the "good" should be about what
is noble, aristocratic, creative, and heroic as exemplified in figures like the
German poet Goethe, Mozart, Caesar, and Napoleon?
3. Why was the notion of the bourgeois individual important to Nietzsche’s
views on ethics and society? How is this related to his critique of the
notion of the notion of humans as rational, autonomous moral agents as
expressed by Kantians and utilitarians?
4. Explain in detail what Nietsche meant when he wrote, "Fear is the mother
of morals" (Sect. 201, Beyond Good and Evil).
5. Why are democracy and socialism both so problematic for Nietzsche? Do
you think his critique is on target?
6. Explain in detail what Nietzsche meant by the revaluation of all values.
3. Sample Types of Essay Questions on
Nietzsche
7. What accounts of the origin of our moral beliefs does Nietzsche reject?
What account of
the origin of morality does he consider to be the true one?
8. What, according to Nietzsche, is the fundamental transformation that has
taken place
during the historical evolution of our moral beliefs?
9. What, according to Nietzsche, is required in order to instil in us a sense of
personal responsibility?
10. Why is it, according to Nietzsche, that the utility and purpose of our
contemporary human practices and institutions cannot be discovered in
their historical origins?
11. What is the Christian ascetic ideal, according to Nietzsche, and what effect
has it had on art and music? How did it produce this effect?
12. Why, according to Nietzsche, can modern natural science not provide a
new foundation for human morality?
4. Key terms which may help in an
essay:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Will to power;
Dionysian and Apollonian;
Master and slave morality;
Herd mentality;
Übermensch - Overman, Superman;
“Noble", nobility.
5. About Nietzsche
• October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900;
• German philosopher, poet, cultural critic and
classical philologist (history);
• He wrote critical texts on religion, morality,
contemporary culture, philosophy and
science, displaying a fondness for metaphor,
irony and aphorism (original thought).
6.
7. About Nietzsche
• Classical philologist before turning to
philosophy;
• Central to his philosophy is the idea of "lifeaffirmation", which involves questioning of all
doctrines that drain life's expansive energies;
• Radical questioning of the value and
objectivity of truth have resulted in much
commentary and interpretation.
8.
9. About Nietzsche
• 1869, at the age of 24 he was appointed to
the Chair of Classical Philology at the
University of Basel (the youngest individual to
have held this position), but resigned in the
summer of 1879 due to health problems that
plagued him most of his life.
10.
11. About Nietzsche
• 1889 he suffered a collapse and a complete loss
of his mental faculties;
• Atypical general paralysis attributed to tertiary
syphilis, but this diagnosis has since come into
question;
• His sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, acted as
curator and editor of Nietzsche's manuscripts
during his illness;
• Married to a prominent German nationalist and
anti-Semite, Bernhard Förster.
12.
13.
14. About Nietzsche
• She reworked some of Nietzsche's unpublished
writings to fit her husband's ideology, often in ways
contrary to Nietzsche's actual opinions which were
strongly and explicitly opposed to anti-Semitism and
nationalism;
• Through Förster-Nietzsche's editions, Nietzsche's name
became associated with German militarism and
Nazism, but twentieth century scholars have worked
hard to counteract the abuse of Nietzsche's philosophy
by this ideology and rediscover the actual writings of
Nietzsche unedited by his sister;
15. Nietzsche Quotes na Aphorisms
• That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
• To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
• He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
• Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from
striving to possess it.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not
become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss
will gaze back into you.
16. Nietzsche Quotes na Aphorisms
• Nietzsche on Women:
• Woman was God's second mistake.
• Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more
frequent.
Nietzsche on Truth:
• Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another
and to us; nowhere do they touch upon absolute truth.
• All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation
prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
17. Nietzsche Quotes na Aphorisms
•
Nietzsche on Arts:
•
And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should
call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.
•
Without music, life would be a mistake.
•
Nietzsche on God:
•
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.
•
A subject for a great poet would be God's boredom after the seventh day of creation.
•
After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.
•
Whoever feels predestined to see and not to believe will find all believers too noisy and pushy: he
guards against them.
•
All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.
