Nietzsche

Nietzsche challenged the late 19th century preconceptions of reason, the human condition, science, and truth with a negativity and bluntness that shook the foundations of these deep-rooted ideas. Beginning in the Enlightenment, European society began to center around the rational, believing that everything is propelled by reason. Philosophers and scientists drove this ideology into a common belief system in Europe, which science, politics, and economic institutions were designed to follow. But the assumption that society is driven by reason cemented in political or scientific proof was refuted by Nietzsche, who said that reason came into this world, not as a result of enlightened and scientific thinking, but "in an irrational manner, by accident" (Nietzsche, Daybreak). Reason, which gives society justification and purpose, did not materialize itself as a proponent of reason, but as some sort of fluke? This idea not only questions the viability of science and reason-directed activity in society, but weakens the idea of human nature. The enlightened characterization of humanity painted humans with capabilities of thought and rationale exclusive to the human population over all of earth's other creatures. However, Nietzsche suggests that reason's development in society was mere happenstance and not a natural manifestation of human nature. Could humans therefore not be as unique and specialized that centuries of philosophy and science had told them? Nietzsche not only attacked the notion of reason, but directly challenged science's association with truth. By the 19th century, science was a well-founded and well-respected institution in society, and scientific theories and discoveries were not only prominent issues discussed in society, but they led the way to "truths" society, its institutions and its people, believed in. Scientific evidence seemed to prove concrete truths, but Nietzsche instead believed that truths were not as substantial and existing as science made them out to be, but were "illusions," metaphors of human connections and interactions that have been so engraved into the minds of individuals that their abstractness and unprovable nature had been lost in science's interpretation of truths as exacting and solidifying. Suggesting that truth is in fact nothing that can be forever assumed to be true and unchanging questions the existence and belief in science as well as the foundations of society, which if not built on concrete evidence, is built on unstable and worrisome ground. Nietzsche's challenge of European society's well-implemented beliefs in reason and truth shaped society into a dangerous setting, one that is spontaneous and untrusting. This version of society is unsettling, but such a tone seems to be a common theme of Nietzsche. Amidst the industrialization and new imperialism of 19th century Europe that inflated countries' prides and superiority more than ever, Nietszche tears through society's foundations with a pessimistic drive, cautioning Europeans to regard themselves and society in a different light, one that challenged the confident 19th century mindset.