“What produces to-day our repulsion towards “man”? …it is not fear; it is rather that we have nothing more to fear from men …it is that the “tame man,” the wretched mediocre and unedifying creature, has learnt to consider himself a goal and a pinnacle, an inner meaning, an historic principle, a “higher man.” — Friedrich Nietzsche Much of Nietzsche’s work in philosophy was dedicated to exposing Western thought for its foolishness. Although his investigations ultimately led him to an extreme Nihilist position, he nonetheless made a whole lot of sense regarding man and his failures. In his phenomenal book, On the Genealogy of Morals , Nietzsche navigates through modern moral concepts that we’ve inherited, and through detail, demonstrates how we have become our own worst enemy throughout history. The quote above gives rise to many questions, one of which stresses this idea of “man” and how he holds himself as something he is not, insofar as self-awareness is concerned. Man has alw
In the Republic, Plato introduced his idea of the “Good.” He defends his interpretation of the Good as a From in itself — wholesome, pure, and that of preeminent virtue. As described in the Allegory of the Cave, the Good, for Plato, is that which resembles (or is derived from) appropriate Forms. The Forms, he argues, are not of material substance, nor are they present in our realm of existence. Rather, they are idle in another realm. The Absolute Good is a Platonic Form in the Idle Realm (I will use this term hereafter) outside of our own, and that which we presume as just and fair in our world is merely a shadow, or deliberation of the Absolute. However, given the argument of there being two realms, what can we really say about virtuous action? Ethical judgments? There is much to discuss if we are to take this theory seriously. However, I will argue that Plato’s account on ethical judgments proves to be highly plausible, given it provides a thorough investigati