What did Kierkegaard and Nietzsche have in common?

Abstract. Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche both felt that life is irrational. They were problem thinkers who chose not to follow the systematic approach to philosophy as their predecessors did. In this regard, they stood on common ground.

Does Nietzsche agree with Kierkegaard?

There's no evidence that Nietzsche read Kierkegaard; the latter had not been translated into German. However, there is strong evidence that Nietzsche knew of Kierkegaard through the secondary literature; furthermore, Georges Brandes was a clear link between the two of them.

How do Kierkegaard and Nietzsche differ?

Kierkegaard's religiousness emphasizes faith that is in its tension with doubt. The truth in subjectivity is not something that simply exists for all time, but must be wrestled and eventually submitted to. Nietzsche prefers to make truth submit to the will of greatness.

What would Kierkegaard think of Nietzsche?

Kierkegaard agrees that life can be absurd and that meaning could be hard to come by. As opposed to Nietzsche, who said the death of God caused this, Søren argued that, in the present age, meaning is sucked out of concepts by abstraction and a tendency to view things with too much rationality.

What is the individual according to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche?

Kierkegaard's knight of faith and Nietzsche's Übermensch are representative of people who exhibit freedom, in that they define the nature of their own existence. Nietzsche's idealized individual invents his own values and creates the very terms they excel under.

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche | Giants of Existentialism

How are Nietzsche and Kierkegaard similar?

Abstract. Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche both felt that life is irrational. They were problem thinkers who chose not to follow the systematic approach to philosophy as their predecessors did. In this regard, they stood on common ground.

What did Kierkegaard and Nietzsche contribute to existentialism?

Kierkegaard and Nietzsche provided the basic foundations of 19^th century Existentialism. It is a philosophy that emphasises the existence of the individual as a free and responsible agent determining their own development.

What did Nietzsche believe?

In his works, Nietzsche questioned the basis of good and evil. He believed that heaven was an unreal place or “the world of ideas”. His ideas of atheism were demonstrated in works such as “God is dead”. He argued that the development of science and emergence of a secular world were leading to the death of Christianity.

Why is Nietzsche the father of existentialism?

Nietzsche's contribution to existentialism was the idea that men must accept that they are part of a material world, regardless of what else might exist. As part of this world, men must live as if there is nothing else beyond life. A failure to live, to take risks, is a failure to realize human potential.

Was Kierkegaard a nihilist?

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855): The nineteenth century Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard—who many academics regard among the first existentialist philosophers—wrote about nihilism, calling it “leveling.” Kierkegaard felt that leveling was not a positive thing, because the problem of nihilism was that it meant ...

How did existentialism begin?

The roots of existentialism as a philosophy began with the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Kierkegaard was intensely interested in man's relationship with God, and its ultimate impossibility. Man is finite and individual, whereas God is infinite and absolute, so the two can never truly meet.

Who did Kierkegaard influence?

Jerry Fodor has written that Kierkegaard was "a master and way out of the league that the rest of us [philosophers] play in". Kierkegaard has also had a considerable influence on 20th-century literature. Figures deeply influenced by his work include Walker Percy, W. H. Auden, Franz Kafka, David Lodge, and John Updike.

Is Kierkegaard an existentialist?

For his emphasis on individual existence—particularly religious existence—as a constant process of becoming and for his invocation of the associated concepts of authenticity, commitment, responsibility, anxiety, and dread, Søren Kierkegaard is generally considered the father of existentialism.

What did Kierkegaard say about God?

Kierkegaard believed that Christianity was not a doctrine to be taught, but rather a life to be lived. He considered that many Christians who were relying totally on external proofs of God were missing out a true Christian experience, which is precisely the relationship one individual can have with God.

Was Nietzsche a nihilist or existentialist?

Among philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche is most often associated with nihilism. For Nietzsche, there is no objective order or structure in the world except what we give it. Penetrating the façades buttressing convictions, the nihilist discovers that all values are baseless and that reason is impotent.

Was Nietzsche a nihilist?

Nietzsche could be categorized as a nihilist in the descriptive sense that he believed that there was no longer any real substance to traditional social, political, moral, and religious values. He denied that those values had any objective validity or that they imposed any binding obligations upon us.

Is existentialism a nihilist?

For Camus, the entire purpose of Existential philosophy is to overcome absurdity, or, more accurately, for man to triumph over the absurdity of existence. So Existentialism is the opposite of nihilism: the nihilist says "There is no god, no heaven or hell, so screw it: there can be no right or wrong.

Who did Nietzsche admire?

Nietzsche was also an admirer and frequent reader of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Among the German poets, he greatly admired and mentioned in his works Friedrich Hölderlin and Heinrich Heine.

What is Nietzsche most known for?

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is known for his writings on good and evil, the end of religion in modern society and the concept of a "super-man."

What is Nietzsche's view on morality?

For Nietzsche, a morality is inseparable from the culture that values it, meaning that each culture's language, codes, practices, narratives, and institutions are informed by the struggle between these two moral structures.

Who founded existentialism?

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) as an Existentialist Philosopher. Kierkegaard was many things: philosopher, religious writer, satirist, psychologist, journalist, literary critic and generally considered the 'father' of existentialism.

What is the main idea of existentialism?

Existentialism is the philosophical belief we are each responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives. Our individual purpose and meaning is not given to us by Gods, governments, teachers or other authorities.

Who gave definition of existentialism?

The term Existentialism is coined by the Danish theologian and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

Did Dostoevsky read Kierkegaard?

Although Dostoevsky wrote after Kierkegaard, it is him that defined existentialist philosophy the best. Kaufmann declares "It is as if Kierkegaard had stepped right out of Dostoevsky's pen”, adding that “part one of Notes from Underground is the best overture for existentialism ever written”.