Nietzsche in 60 seconds
According to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, we have “killed” God. What exactly does he mean with that? ... Hold my beer!
In the School of Athens, two ancient philosophers broached questions about the true world, seeking knowledge through reason. Later on, their conclusions were used by scholastic philosophers in order to formulate theories about the outer world and God, laying the foundations of western philosophy.
However, early modern philosophers marked the end of this by applying methodological doubt. Previously drawn conclusions were discarded by scepticism. Only one fundamentum absolutum remained: cogito ergo sum. Consciousness is all we have if we want to explore the true world.
Somewhat later, contemporary philosophers came to the conclusion that even our consciousness is not what it seems. Our Ego is moderated by unconscious instincts and internalised morality. It may be certain that I think, but not what I think. What, then, is left to say about the true world?
For Nietzsche, this canon of philosophical drawbacks led to the conclusion that the true world is a fable. We entered the stage of nihilism, in which there is no fundamental truth, neither a teleology of history. Being on our own means that no transcendental justification of our values exists. In that sense, God has died.
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