What Philosophy Is

The Death of God

As you read the material for the next class, keep the questions below in mind. To answer these questions you will have to reflect critically on what you have read and possibly re-read important passages. Keep in mind that there are two basic kinds of information that you need to look for in the readings.

1. What are the main points or conclusions that an author accepts with respect to a particular issue?
2. What are the reasons or important considerations that lead the author to accept that conclusion?

For our purposes, it is information of the latter sort (2) that will be our primary concern since our most basic task is to evaluate the reasons that are offered to support accepting one possible conclusion about an issue, rather than another.

Although I strongly suggest that you write out brief answers to these questions, you do not have to turn in written responses. You do, however, need to be prepared to speak intelligently to these issues in the next class meeting. Also, it is reasonable to assume that the final exam’s questions will be drawn from these questions—particularly those in bold.

Readings:

• Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Death of God” (handout).

Questions:

1. According to Nietzsche, what is the origin of knowledge and logic? What purposes are these things supposed to fulfill? Is it to give us truth or something different? What does this have to do with “untruth as a condition of life”?
2. To whom does the madman announce the death of God? Why doesn’t Zarathustra tell the old saint this news? What is the “de-deification of nature” and how is this related to the death of God?
3. According to Nietzsche, why do people believe in God? What hostility does Nietzsche detect in Christianity? What purpose is the belief in God supposed to fulfill? Does Nietzsche believe this is a good or bad purpose? Does belief in God actually fulfill this purpose?

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