Friedrich Nietzsche and Mahatma Gandhi, two mammoth political figures of their time, attack the current trend of society. Their individual philosophies and concepts suggest a fundamental problem: if civilization is so diseased, can we overcome this state of society and the sickness that plagues the minds of the masses in order to advance? Gandhi and Nietzsche attain to answer the same proposition of sickness within civilization, and although the topic of unrest among both may be dissimilar, they have parallel means of finding a cure to such an illness as the one that plagues society. Nietzsche’s vision of spiritual health correlates directly with Gandhi’s image of industrialism and the self-sufficiency. This correlation prevails by highlighting the apparent sickness that is ubiquitous in both of the novels.
Nietzsche sees our past as replete with decadence and spiritual decay. Oftentimes the values that we blindly accept have a contemptible origin; such is the case with the foundations of good and bad. The definition of good was judged so by "the good" themselves, that is to say, the noble the powerful, high stationed and high minded, who felt and established themselves and their actions as good (Nietzsche 25-26). These words, coined by the nobility, are prevalent within our thoughts and did not arise from the actions of man; rather it arose with a direct connection to power and wealth. The value of good, bad, wealth, and poverty are deeply rooted in the core of civilization and therefore convey the advanced state of sickness in society by expressing a weakness of mind amongst the public.
A disruption of values arises as a powerful factor in the creation of Gandhi’s theory pertaining to spiritual sickness and the gener...
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...mind and domination by external stimuli, where the values of society are contaminated in both of the author’s viewpoints by the status of the individual. The final breaking point of both authors copes with the subject of self sufficiency and the role of professional occupations in weakening the minds of individuals within civilization. Although separate problems arise in both works, Gandhi and Nietzsche have a similar conclusion. They see the cure for society as lying in revolution; a complete shift in the direction of government and thought. For both authors, their revolutionary finales include an upheaval of values, spiritual strength, and an actual transition in the standing governmental position.
Works Cited
Gandhi. The Penguin Reader. New York: Penguin Book Inc., 1996.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. On the Genealogy of Morals. New York: Random House Inc., 1989.
Hermann Hesse’s novel “Siddhartha” is one of spiritual renewal and self discovery. The novel revolves around the life of one man named Siddhartha, who leaves his home and all earthly possessions in an attempt to find spiritual enlightenment. The novel contains many themes, including the relationship between wisdom and knowledge, spirituality, man’s relationship to the natural world, time, love, and satisfaction. To portray these themes, Hesse employs many different rhetorical devices, particularly diction, symbolism, and point of view. These devices allow us, as a reader, to reevaluate our lives and seek fulfillment in the same way that Siddhartha did.
We have grown weary of man. Nietzsche wants something better, to believe in human ability once again. Nietzsche’s weariness is based almost entirely in the culmination of ressentiment, the dissolution of Nietzsche’s concept of morality and the prevailing priestly morality. Nietzsche wants to move beyond simple concepts of good and evil, abandon the assessment of individuals through ressentiment, and restore men to their former wonderful ability.
Friedrich Nietzsche certainly serves as a model for the single best critic of religion. At the other end of this spectrum, Jonathan Edwards emerges as his archrival in terms of religious discourse. Nietzsche argues that Christianity’s stance toward all that is sensual is that grounded in hostility, out to tame all that rests on nature, or is natural, akin to Nietzsche’s position in the world and his views. Taking this into account, Edwards’s views on Christianity should be observed in context targeted at those who agree with his idea, that G-d is great and beyond the capacity of human reason.
Friederich Nietzsche suggests an answer to these problems. In Beyond Good and Evil, one of his attempts to sum up his thought--indeed, throughout his philosophical work, as far as I can tell, Nietzsche describe...
The novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a timeless story about one man’s journey of finding peace in his way of life and thoughts. Siddharta is a young Brahmin’s son, who is dissatisfied with his worship and in turn sets out to find the lifestyle that is right for him. Siddhartha is faced with many external, physical conflicts, yet that is not the most prominent type of conflict in the story. Hesse builds excitement and suspense through Siddhartha’s internal journey to create an emotional response usually associated with external conflict.
Mahatma Gandhi and Thomas Aquinas were two of the most influential philosophers of their respective times. Aquinas’s theological ideas on politics, ethics, and natural law have influenced have been a great influence western civilization and he is also held in high regard within the Catholic faith tradition, being honored as a saint. Gandhi was an influential leader in the movement for India’s freedom from British rule. He preached a philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience and is held as the inspiration for civil rights leaders and non-violent activists around the world. Both philosophers sought to instruct others on how to live a virtuous life and help contribute towards the common good of all people. However, Aquinas and Gandhi hold different views on how their shared goal is to be met. When comparing the two philosophies, one finds that Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy of natural law is superior to Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha since it allows individuals and countries a way to justifiably defend themselves against those who wish to do them harm.
Nietzsche starts by laying out the famous example of the madman screaming, “God is dead.” The madman exclaims that humanity doesn’t understand what it has done. They have killed god and they don’t seem to mind, they can’t see the consequences yet. He states that he thinks he has come too early and that this is just the beginning of the problem. This passage introduces the idea of a loss of religious fate in humanity. The madman has a negative outlook on this event, questioning what is next to come. Historically religion se...
Dalton, Dennis. “Mahatma Gandhi Selected Political Writings.” Indianapolis, Indiana. 1996. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 125. Text
Diener, Sam. "A Pacifist Critique of Gandhi." 1 September 2006. PeaceWork Magazine. 10 March 2014 .
After the British empire separated itself from India, inner-country religious problems began to arise. The Muslims and Hindus of the liberated India released their pent up anger on each other and combusted into civil war right after they won the peaceful war against Great Britain. This war distressed Gandhi, who has insight into the unity of mankind, and encouraged him to go on a hunger strike until the brutality ceased. While on his near-death bed, he is approached by a Hindu who “killed a child” because the Muslims “killed [his] son,” and in response, Gandhi said that the way out of his “Hell is to “Find a [Muslim] child, a child whose mother and father have been killed and raise him as your own,” therefore the man would be able to see the equality in all religions. Throughout his entire life, Gandhi, though a Hindu, never prosecuted anyone for their religion and was able to see through everyone’s eyes as fellow brother’s and sisters, not enemies. This ability to empathize and recognize the general unity of the human population allowed Gandhi insight into the human
This is an essay about Mahatma Gandhi and his beliefs about the world, and his belief compared to what I believe and think about the world and how it works. I will be covering the points of non-violence, gods and higher power beliefs and the true behavior of people and what Gandhi and I believe about these points. Also the Hindu beliefs of Satya, Ahimsa, and Brahmacharya.
According to Mahatma Gandhi, the education at schools were pretentious and created an atmosphere of anxiety, superiority in living which clashed with his ideology of self-restraint eventually such an education can only handicap the spirit of service and public work. In his opinion liberty in learning was superior than literary
Nietzsche was a man who questioned the morality of his time. He dug deep in to what good really meant, and if there was a difference between bad and evil. He sought to look at the world by stepping back and looking at it with out the predisposition of what morality was/is. He looked at what he called slave and noble morality. He looked passed what was on the surface, and gave us many things to digest and discuss. In this paper I will discuss how Nietzsche’s writing can be seen as favoritism towards the noble morality by touching on how he believes the noble morality and slave morality came about, then I will talk about his “birds of prey and lambs” example which shows his fondness of the bird of prey, and I will end with my interpretation
Anderson, Amy. "Profiles in Greatness - Gandhi." Success 12 Feb. 2013: 1-4. Success. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Mahatma Gandhi, a nationalist and spiritual leader was perceptive and objectively so, perhaps most eminently when he instructed his zealots, “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win” (Mahatma). Gandhi has a remarkable sagacity at a young age and strengthened it throughout the succession of his life. Although the aforementioned quote merely previews the extent of his intellect, it effectively summarizes his political approach. After becoming a member of the Indian National Congress Gandhi had the potential to become a most influential leader for the Indian people, and he did. Gandhi committed his political title towards fighting against the unlawful oppression of British rule. His method of fighting, however, was a politically innovative, mental type of fight. As a firm believer in the value of Pacifism, Gandhi developed the theory of non-violent civil protest and vowed to prevent his followers from succumbing to the allure of bloodshed. The irenic nature of Gandhi’s leadership won him the admiration of many Indian people, and is now considered to have political genius prestigious enough to be studied today (Mahatma 2). In some instances, studying Gandhi’s political strategy demonstrates the benefits of an actively participating governed majority. In today’s society, many people tend to make uneducated political decisions and sometimes even refrain from making one completely. In a variety of circumstances, related to any category of politics, from the election of a new president to the enactment of new laws, a group of Americans remain unrepresented because of their refusal to exercise their right to vote. A topic such as gun control would be a fitting example of a subject that while put ...