THE UNITY OF SCIENCE AND ART
“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, the murderers of all murderers, console ourselves?”(1a) Nietzsche
Year 1883 was flooded with new influences, it was a time of “eruption of words” (1a) and metaphors; its word-play suggests an “eruption of feelings.” (1a)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), was born in Lutheran Religion which, after years of study and belief, he decided to abandon and replace with freelance philosophizing. He became the sceptic of the XIX century (“Cogito Ergo Sum”1a). He was very much of a “pioneer in the demolition of ancient habits of mind and moral prejudices“(1a). One of the biggest misteries that he was trying to solve was finding out what is truth. He believed that the truth is something to which you submit and you create yourself, “it is the expression of a particular kind of life and being which has, in you, ventured to assert itself.” (1a) He believed that the truth is a “concept of human’s mind” (1a), he questions, if the personal truth equals “the sole origin of the truth of the earth”(1a).
Nietzsche was a professor of Philosophy (Basel University), who wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, using a distinctive style using metaphors, irony and aphorism. (1) He discovered writings from Samos proving that Samos knew about Solar parallax way before Copernicus. The key of his studies were pre-Socratic, early Greek societies. He believes that humanity should be overcome, he is anti-racist but also anti-democratic (Social Darwinis, Social-Biological concerns, anti-Liberal views) “Nietzsche's influence remains substantial within and beyond philosophy, notably in existentialism and postmodernism.” (1)
XIX century was also dominated by Immanuel Kant who was a Prussian philosopher.Kant was the last influential philosopher of modern Europe in the classic sequence of the theory of knowledge during the Enlightenment beginning with thinkers like John Locke. Kant created a new perspective in philosophy which has continued to influence philosophy through to the 21st century. One of his most prominent works evolved around an investigation into the limitations and structure of reason itself. “He suggested that by understanding the sources and limits of human knowledge we can ask fruitful metaphysical questions. (...) He concluded that all objects about which the mind can think must conform to its manner of thought. Therefore if the mind can think only in terms of causality – which he concluded that it does – then we can know prior to experiencing them that all objects we experience must either be a cause or an effect. "(2)
However, it follows from this that "it is possible that there are objects of such nature which the mind cannot think, and so the principle of causality, for instance, cannot be applied outside of experience: hence we cannot know, for example, whether the world always existed or if it had a cause. “ (2) He also believed that everyone has a moral compass for recognizing Good and Evil. Everyone is equal and is able to see when they are good or bad regardless what rules society dictates.
Friedrich Nietzsche rejects Kant’s theory and says that there are people who have other moral values than others, superior people, he also doesn’t believe in Democracy and rejects Christian morality. He quite likes Napoleon (India and Egypt XVIII century conquer). After the defeat of Napoleon, European Culture was widely open on influences from beyond Europe (Buddhism, Hinduism).
In a book, From Bauhaus to our House, the author describes the theories and times when a new spiritual and philosophical movement Bauhaus began influencing different spheres of life. Bauhaus founder, Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was deeply influenced by Nietzsche.
Going back to Kant’s philosophy, he “believed himself to be creating a compromise between the empiricists and the rationalists. The empiricists believed that knowledge is acquired through experience alone, but the rationalists maintained that such knowledge is open to Cartesian doubt and that reason alone provides us with knowledge. Kant argues, however, that using reason without applying it to experience will only lead to illusions, while experience will be purely subjective without first being subsumed under pure reason.” (2)
He also followed his theory of Knowledge (NUMERAL, PHENUMERAL), he believed in existence of other universes, numeral worlds. He had an esthetic response to arts and faith in romantic love.
The University of Winchester Journalism Course
History and Context of Journalism, Part IV, Lecture1
1a) Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
1) http://www.blogger.com/6)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzche
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant
