Example research essay topic: Feelings Of Guilt Members Of Society - 1,338 words

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Mans Identity According to Nietzsche, In Comparison to Marx's and Society's Definition Friedrich Nietzsche wrote The Anti-Christ as a response to his own outrage concerning mans Christian-influenced values on life. Nietzsche saw Christianity as the leading cause of the problems with mankind. All the teachings of Christianity were contrary to the ways in which Nietzsche felt man should act and behave. His focus in The Anti-Christ is on this fact that Christianity is the root of all that is wrong with the world. His perspective on what defines an individual, particularly an ideal individual, differs greatly from that of Christian society's definition.

Also, in contrast, Nietzsche's idea of what makes up a mans identity disagrees with that of Karl Marx's. While Nietzsche saw the ideal man as one who is secure, independent, and constantly questioning that which he believes to be true, Marx's ideal man is a member of the laboring proletariat class. Even though these two men both agree that the world is a place of constant conflict, their types of conflicts are very different. Marx sees the world on a large scale, and focuses on the conflicts between social classes.

For Nietzsche, life is a constant series of internal conflicts within each person. Each man also sees the world as a place of continuous change. Again, Marx sees the need for change on a societal level and Nietzsche seeks change on an individual level. Their primary enemies that threaten their ideal situations are very different as well. Marx's main opponent is capitalism and Nietzsche's biggest threat is Christianity. This opposite style of viewing the world and society causes these two men to have very different criteria for what defines a person and makes up an ideal individual.

For Nietzsche, Christianity is seen as the basis for all of Europe's cultural values. This society gives each person the same definition of right and wrong, with the expectation that every individual will comply. Members of society are expected to fit into the mold and act accordingly. When a persons actions go against society's norms, the person is punished and looked down upon by the society. Such tools as the conscience and guilt are used by Christian society to force people into following its values and rules. Those at the head of Christian society, particularly Paul, who developed and created their own definitions of good and evil in the beginning expect other individuals in the future to follow a code of morals that is not personalized.

Therefore these members of society have difficulty following along with the majority's morals and are then made to feel guilty and evil for having different ideas of what morality is. In society, particularly Christian society, the idea of an individual is nonexistent to Nietzsche. Each person is not allowed his own idea of right and wrong and is expected to follow certain truths that he himself did not discover, but only accepted as being the truth. Nietzsche saw truth as an individual discovery or belief that a person must find alone. This internal truth can only be found if one throws away all prior preconceived notions about morality. By realizing that man is of this world and a part of nature, a person can focus on this life.

Since Christianity's teachings focus heavily on the afterlife and what is yet to come, the importance of life on earth is ignored. Through pity and the idea that all are equal, man is weakened and dragged down. Like Darwin, Nietzsche believed in survival of the fittest and that the strong will outlast the weak. Christianity teaches to protect and love the weak, forcing the strong to weaken and therefore become less of a threat to those that are weak. A society that brings down its strong members to a level that is close to that of its weaker members is more easily controlled. Individuality is lost because all members meekly accept the values of society in order to escape the feelings of guilt and disassociation that follow a separation from the norm.

The feelings of guilt and isolation are powerful aspects of the Christian religion that not only keep its members in line, but keep them from discovering their own truths and therefore their own individuality. Like Nietzsche, Marx saw a need for change in the present and acknowledged that life was a series of conflicts whose outcomes would bring about this change. However, he saw individuality as defined by what economic class a person belonged to. Capitalism to Marx symbolizes the same types of problems with the world, as does Christianity to Nietzsche.

However, Marx's definition of individualism is exactly what Nietzsche sees as the problem with the world. In Nietzsches mind, Marx's philosophy is just as bad as Christianity. The Socialist rabble who undermine the workers instinct his feelings of contentment with his little state of being who make him envious, who teach him re vengefulness Injustice never lies in unequal rights, it lies in the claim to equal rights What is bad? everything that proceeds from weakness (Nietzsche, 191) Unlike Marx, Nietzsche felt that man should accept suffering as a part of life and to be content with his place in that life. In his Communist Manifesto, Marx tries to do exactly what Nietzsche sees as the problem with society and with Christianity. Marx wants to make all people of the world into one large working proletariat class and to put everyone on an even plane.

His idea of the best way to correct the worlds problems is the exact thing that Nietzsche sees as being the worlds problem. A mans life should not be spent pitying himself and others, while miserably drifting through daily life dwelling on what could or might be. Men should live life according to his natural Dionysian instincts, and ignore society's labeling of these values as evil. By finding a balance between Dionysian instincts and reason, man can destroy all ideas of morality and focus on finding his own true values. With this balance, the leaders of society could evaluate their present society and prompt its improvement.

Nietzsche's philosophy was dependent on the ranking of society and also on the fact that people of different places in life will have different truths to realize. The higher nobility (this nobility being based upon intellect and not economics) would go higher in success while the masses (again, dependent on intellectual factors) would further degenerate. Marx felt quite opposite in the sense that the proletariat was oppressed by the bourgeois and would eventually overpower them. This would lead to one large class of proletariat where all are the same and everyone is viewed equally. To Nietzsche, this would result in one large mess of people in equal amounts of misery. His idea of what makes an individual is in direct opposition to Marx's ideas.

For Marx and Nietzsche, the world and what is important in it are complete opposites. One man chooses to look at the internal differentiation of each man from the norm of society, while the other seeks to achieve one body of equal people through economic equivalence. They both saw that the world is full of constant conflict and change, and desired for a means of finding some type of solution. While Marx sees a certain and precise method of rectifying the worlds problems through the elimination of economic classes, Nietzsche is much more complex. His work is full of contradictions and unanswered questions. Nowhere does Nietzsche give guidance or assistance to his audience in picturing what his idea of a perfect society would be like.

Perhaps he did not have a perfect picture in his head, and simply accepted the world for what it is. He sees all people as unique individuals, so therefore there is nothing he can say to them to give them guidance in their search for truth. What he does do, however, is let people know that there are truths to be found but only they can decide what these truths are.

Research essay sample on Feelings Of Guilt Members Of Society