DOCSLIB.ORG

Between the Prophets and Nihilism: Nietzsche Responds to Apocalyptic Thought

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Between the Prophets and Nihilism: Nietzsche Responds to Apocalyptic Thought University of California, Irvine Between the Prophets and Nihilism: Nietzsche Responds to Apocalyptic Thought DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History by William Edward O’Mara IV Dissertation Committee: Professor Mark A. LeVine, Chair Professor John H. Smith Professor Touraj Daryaee 2017 Table of Contents Acknowledgements v Curriculum Vitae vi Abstract of the Dissertation vii Chapter One Introduction: A Prophet Against the End-Times 1 Chapter Two Friedrich Nietzsche and the Prophet Zarathushtra 6 Religion and Nietzsche, Only Partly at Odds 7 The Rôle of Myth in Human Life 13 Zarathushtra and the “Original Errors of Religion” 18 Nietzsche’s Exposure to the Historical Zarathushtra 22 The Aryan Roots of Zoroastrianism 27 A Fateful Split: The Indo-Aryans and the Iranians 32 The Iranian Religion of Zoroastrianism 35 From Zoroastrianism to Judaism, Christianity, and Beyond 43 Chapter Three The Legacies of Zoroastrianism for the West 44 The Earliest Hebrew Religion 45 The Hebrews Just Before Babylon 54 The Persians and Ending the Babylonian Captivity 61 ii Judaism in Persia’s Shadow 65 The Impact of the Gnostic Understanding of the World 75 Zoroastrianism and the Gospel of Matthew 78 Chapter Four The Secularization of Progress in the Enlightenment 82 Kant and Teleology: Naturalizing Progress 83 Living Things as “Natural Purposes”, and Nature as a System 85 Vitalism and the Moral Law 90 Progress and Perfection, in Culture and in Nature 97 Hegel and Marx – the Dialectic, Materialism, and Progress 105 Hegel’s Progressive Dialectic & the Myth of Purposive History 105 Marx and the Secularization of Hegel’s Progressive Teleology 110 Materialism, Progress, and the “Darwinians” 114 Herbert Spencer: The Siren of Progress 115 Progress and Natural Selection: Darwin and Wallace 121 Ernst Haeckel and German Materialism 127 Chapter Five Naturalism Between the Ancient Greeks and Modern Biology 135 Nietzsche Contra Progress: The Scientific Roots of Nietzsche’s Critique 136 Encountering Nietzsche’s Scientific and Philosophical Naturalism 147 Darwinism Between Idealism & Materialism, Teleology & Mechanism 151 Progress and Nature from the Greeks to the Darwinians 161 iii Greek Roots of Nietzsche’s Naturalistic & Existential Imperatives 171 Materialism & the Greeks: From Homer to Thales to Aristotle & Beyond 172 A Most Inescapable Influence: Heraclitus and Becoming 175 The Stoic Influence on Nietzsche: Conflagration & Eternal Recurrence 180 Chapter Six Overturning Eschatology: Nietzsche’s Alternative to Apocalypticism 193 “The Greatest Weight”: Willing the Eternal Recurrence of the Same 195 On the Truth of the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence 198 “The Meaning of the Earth”: Willing the Coming of Overhumanity 201 The Appearance, Meaning, and Purpose of Overhumanity 204 On the Necessary Qualities of Overhumanity 206 Closing Thoughts 211 Bibliography 213 iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to committee chair Mark LeVine, whose patience and understanding have made it possible for me to stick this out to the end. He remained calm and encouraging through near-constant financial hardship, and the need to abandon my first topic and begin a new one, and I am grateful for the faith he has shown in me as a scholar and as a human being. I would like also to express heartfelt appreciation for the close reading and comments that John Smith has given to my work over the years. His encyclopaedic knowledge of German philosophy has been a great help to me in formulating my arguments, and I have learnt much from his critiques and suggestions. And I would like to thank Touraj Daryaee for the conversations we had about Zoroastrianism, without which this project might never have been born. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to the family and friends who stuck by me through a long and difficult road to the doctorate. You all know who you are. Your love and encouragement have made me what I am, and for that gift I will ever remain grateful. Liam O’Mara IV Spring, 2017 v Curriculum Vitae William E. “Liam” O’Mara IV Academic & Work Experience 2006 Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in History Chapman University 2007-2014 Teaching Assistant University of California, Irvine 2009 Master of Arts (M.A.) in History University of California, Irvine 2009-2017 Adjunct Professor of History Chapman University 2012-2017 Adjunct Professor of History California State University, Dominguez Hills 2014-2017 Adjunct Professor of History San Diego Mesa College 2017 Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in History University of California, Irvine Teaching Fields Middle East History Modern European History Research Emphases Intellectual & Cultural History Philosophy, Religion, & Science Israel/Palestine & the Arab World Major Publications • ‘Religion in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: From Obstacle to Peace to Force for Reconciliation?’ — a book chapter in One Land, Two States, edited by Mark LeVine & Mathias Mossberg, published 2014 by University of California Press. • ‘Decolonizing the West’. Review of John Collins, Global Palestine. H-Net Reviews. July 2012. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php? id=35646 vi Abstract of the Dissertation Between the Prophets and Nihilism: Nietzsche Responds to Apocalyptic Thought by William Edward O’Mara IV Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Irvine, 2017 Professor Mark LeVine, Committee Chair The problem addressed in this study is nihilism. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche traced its origin to the long history of apocalyptic and eschatological thought in Western religions, and to the survival of the linear and universalizing aspects of their theology in modern secular thought. Nietzsche saw this unconscious legacy affecting everything from Enlightenment philosophes, to the natural and biological sciences, to politics and economics. An existential crisis in European civilization – the advent of nihilism – thus came about because of the “death of God”, i.e., the loss of unshakeable objective faith amongst Europeans in the truth of the Abrahamic faiths. I take seriously Nietzsche’s suggestion in Thus Spoke Zarathustra of a genealogical relationship between the ancient Iranians and the ancient Hebrews, which Nietzsche scholars have neglected. Exploring that historical interchange allows us to establish that Zoroastrian concepts of universal time and absolute morality entered Judaism, and thus the West, at a formative stage. I then discuss some key modern thinkers to which Nietzsche’s project responded, and vii show that apocalyptic eschatology lived on in the work of Kant, Hegel, Marx, and the Darwinians. Having established for himself that modernity was tainted at its origin by this kernel of religious dogma, Nietzsche saw no need to save modernity from itself, and thus looked beyond it, and beyond the naïve worship of reason that underpinned it. The solution to the problem of nihilism, in Nietzsche’s view, was not to overcome religion, but to transform it. What was needed was a new mythology – one consistent with the natural sciences, and one which glorified the world as it is, and not an ideal world to come. His challenging notions of Eternal Recurrence and Overhumanity were contributions to this new, life-affirming mythology. I make use of an extensive body of primary sources, ranging from the works of philosophers and scientists of the nineteenth century, to that of the ancient Greeks whom Nietzsche so admired, to the scriptural traditions of Zoroastrianism and Judaism. The work involves close reading and historical contextualization, seeking to establish contingent relationships as ideas moved and were transformed over time. viii 1.0 Introduction: A Prophet Against the End-Times In the horizon of the infinite. – We have forsaken the land and gone to sea! We have destroyed the bridge behind us – more so, we have demolished the land behind us! Now, little ship, look out! Beside you is the ocean; it is true, it does not always roar, and at times it lies there like silk and gold and dreams of goodness. But there will be hours when you realize that it is infinite and that there is nothing more awesome than infinity. Oh, the poor bird that has felt free and now strikes against the walls of this cage! Woe, when homesickness for the land overcomes you, as if there had been more freedom there – and there is no more ‘land’!1 Famous around the world for proclaiming the death of God, Friedrich Nietzsche is not commonly approached as a religious thinker. In the following pages, I will not only address Nietzsche’s explicit critique of some key features of modern religious life, but will characterise Nietzsche’s overall project as a kind of religious revival, intended to return myth to its originally life-affirming rôle by helping to restore our sense of awe and wonder about nature. Strongly influenced by the pantheist thinker Baruch Spinoza, Nietzsche comes occasionally close to similar sentiments, but ultimately he wishes to do something quite opposite what his monist predecessor sought. Rather than deifying nature, Nietzsche seeks something of how the ancient Greeks viewed nature – as a primal and unpredictable force to be feared and respected, perhaps even loved, but in 1 Friedrich Nietzsche. The Gay Science. 124. Bernard Williams (ed.). Josefine Nauckhoff (trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 119. 1 no way personified. In fact, Nietzsche flips Spinoza’s famous equation of God with nature (Deus Sive Natura) by positing instead Chaos Sive Natura, chaos or nature.2 Rather than deify the natural world in place of a metaphysical one (Nietzsche rejects that option even more forcefully), he wishes us to understand the world as unfolding chaos – utterly without plans or intrinsic meaning. All meaning that exists in the world – and this explicitly includes Nietzsche’s own mythologizing – is a human invention, applied ex post facto to a nature that is itself utterly devoid of intrinsic value beyond its very existence. Yet this is in no way a nihilistic formulation! The death of God is not, as many would have it, a celebration, but a tragic realisation.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Phil. 173: Metaethics Apr. 25, 2018 Lecture 27: Is Expressivism Nihilism? Is Relativism Nihilism? I
    Phil. 173: Metaethics Apr. 25, 2018 Lecture 27: Is Expressivism Nihilism? Is Relativism Nihilism? I. Lewis’ Argument That Quasi-Realism Is Fictionalism (and Hence a Form of Nihilism) Suppose Blackburn’s quasi-realist project has succeeded perfectly on its own terms. Then the quasi-realist can, and will, echo everything the moral realist says. Rosen’s question: So what, then, makes the quasi-realist not simply a realist? Lewis’ reply: We shouldn’t look for something the realist says that the quasi-realist will not echo. Rather, we should look for something the quasi-realist says that the realist will not echo. In particular, even though at the end of the day the quasi-realist apes everything the realist says, at the beginning of the day the quasi-realist starts by expressing his commitment to projectivism. According to Lewis, this statement of projectivism acts as a disowning preface that turns the quasi-realist’s later realist-sounding assertions into fictive assertions of the sort uttered by a moral fictionalist. It’s as if the quasi- realist started out by saying, “Let’s make believe that moral realism is true, though it isn’t.” More formally, Lewis argues as follows (see p. 319): 1. One aim of quasi-realism is (to earn the right) to say what the moral realist says. [premise] 2. To say what the moral realist says is either to be a moral realist or to make-believedly be a moral realist. [premise] 3. So, an aim of quasi-realism is either to be a moral realist or to make-believedly be a moral realist.
    [Show full text]
  • Eternal Recurrence and the Categorical Imperative Philip J
    Santa Clara University Scholar Commons Philosophy College of Arts & Sciences 3-2007 Eternal Recurrence and the Categorical Imperative Philip J. Kain Santa Clara University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/phi Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Kain, P. J. "Eternal Recurrence and the Categorical Imperative," The outheS rn Journal of Philosophy, 45 (2007): 105-116. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Kain, P. J. "Eternal Recurrence and the Categorical Imperative," The outheS rn Journal of Philosophy, 45 (2007): 105-116., which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-6962.2007.tb00044.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving. https://www.pdcnet.org/collection/ authorizedshow?id=southernjphil_2007_0045_0001_0105_0116&pdfname=southernjphil_2007_0045_0001_0109_0120.pdf&file_type=pdf This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts & Sciences at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Eternal Recurrence and the Categorical Imperative Philip J. Kain Santa Clara University I Nietzsche embraces the doctrine of eternal recurrence for the first time at Gay Science §341:1 The greatest weight.—What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself.
    [Show full text]
  • Between Dualism and Immanentism Sacramental Ontology and History
    religions Article Between Dualism and Immanentism Sacramental Ontology and History Enrico Beltramini Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, CA 94002, USA; [email protected] Abstract: How to deal with religious ideas in religious history (and in history in general) has recently become a matter of discussion. In particular, a number of authors have framed their work around the concept of ‘sacramental ontology,’ that is, a unified vision of reality in which the secular and the religious come together, although maintaining their distinction. The authors’ choices have been criticized by their fellow colleagues as a form of apologetics and a return to integralism. The aim of this article is to provide a proper context in which to locate the phenomenon of sacramental ontology. I suggest considering (1) the generation of the concept of sacramental ontology as part of the internal dialectic of the Christian intellectual world, not as a reaction to the secular; and (2) the adoption of the concept as a protection against ontological nihilism, not as an attack on scientific knowledge. Keywords: sacramental ontology; history; dualism; immanentism; nihilism Citation: Beltramini, Enrico. 2021. Between Dualism and Immanentism Sacramental Ontology and History. Religions 12: 47. https://doi.org/ 1. Introduction 10.3390rel12010047 A specter is haunting the historical enterprise, the specter of ‘sacramental ontology.’ Received: 3 December 2020 The specter of sacramental ontology is carried by a generation of Roman Catholic and Accepted: 23 December 2020 Evangelical historians as well as historical theologians who aim to restore the sacred dimen- 1 Published: 11 January 2021 sion of nature.
    [Show full text]
  • ZOROASTRIANISM Chapter Outline and Unit Summaries I. Introduction
    CHAPTER TEN: ZOROASTRIANISM Chapter Outline and Unit Summaries I. Introduction A. Zoroastrianism: One of the World’s Oldest Living Religions B. Possesses Only 250,000 Adherents, Most Living in India C. Zoroastrianism Important because of Influence of Zoroastrianism on Christianity, Islam, Middle Eastern History, and Western Philosophy II. Pre-Zoroastrian Persian Religion A. The Gathas: Hymns of Early Zoroastrianism Provide Clues to Pre- Zoroastrian Persian Religion 1. The Gathas Considered the words of Zoroaster, and are Foundation for all Later Zoroastrian Scriptures 2. The Gathas Disparage Earlier Persian Religions B. The Aryans (Noble Ones): Nomadic Inhabitants of Ancient Persia 1. The Gathas Indicate Aryans Nature Worshippers Venerating Series of Deities (also mentioned in Hindu Vedic literature) a. The Daevas: Gods of Sun, Moon, Earth, Fire, Water b. Higher Gods, Intar the God of War, Asha the God of Truth and Justice, Uruwana a Sky God c. Most Popular God: Mithra, Giver and Benefactor of Cattle, God of Light, Loyalty, Obedience d. Mithra Survives in Zoroastrianism as Judge on Judgment Day 2. Aryans Worship a Supreme High God: Ahura Mazda (The Wise Lord) 3. Aryan Prophets / Reformers: Saoshyants 97 III. The Life of Zoroaster A. Scant Sources of Information about Zoroaster 1. The Gathas Provide Some Clues 2. Greek and Roman Writers (Plato, Pliny, Plutarch) Comment B. Zoroaster (born between 1400 and 1000 B.C.E.) 1. Original Name (Zarathustra Spitama) Indicates Birth into Warrior Clan Connected to Royal Family of Ancient Persia 2. Zoroaster Becomes Priest in His Religion; the Only Founder of a World Religion to be Trained as a Priest 3.
    [Show full text]
  • As Guest, Some Pages Are Restricted
    RELIG IONS ' ANCIENT AND MODERN B EDWARD GLODD au h o The Stor o Crea t o i n . Animism . y , t r of y f P B 'AMES ALLANSON PI CTON au h o f The li ion o the anth eism. y , t or Re g f Th li fAn en China . B P s G ILES LL . D . P s e Re g ions o ci t y rofes or , rofe sor f h e iv am d o Ch inese in t U n ersit o f C bri ge. B ' E H R R ISO u at Th e l i n f An i n . L Re ig o o c e t reece y AN A N , ect rer Ne vnha m C ll Camb d a u h o of Prole omm a. t o Stud o Greek v o ege, ri ge, t r g y f Rel igion . h e R H on. AMBER AL I SYED f h ud l m f His I B t t . o t e ' a C m e o slam. y , ici o itt e ’ s C un l au h o of The S it o slam and E hics o Isla m. Maje ty s Privy o ci , t r pir f I t f M i and Fe i hism . B Dr. A. C . H ADDON L u o n ag e t s y , ect rer hnolo a Ca m d e n s gt gy t bri g U iver ity .
    [Show full text]
  • An Argument for Moral Nihilism
    Syracuse University SURFACE Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects Projects Spring 5-1-2010 An Argument for Moral Nihilism Tommy Fung Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone Part of the Other Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Fung, Tommy, "An Argument for Moral Nihilism" (2010). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 335. https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/335 This Honors Capstone Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 An Argument for Moral Nihilism What if humans were just mere animals, and that we react to certain stimuli in a certain, lawful manner, and thus change in the appropriate way. It is debatable how much free will the average person would grant to say- a dog, but the average person doesn’t doubt that humans exercise free will. What if instead it could be shown that we are no different than a robot? That we are nothing but just an input-output mechanism for our programming to determine how to react to certain stimuli? I don’t know how many people who would claim that a robot exercises free will, or could be held morally responsible for their actions. “Science is more than the mere description of events as they occur. It is an attempt to discover order, to show that certain events stand in lawful relation to other events..
    [Show full text]
  • Epicuro Y Su Escuela
    EPICURO Y SU ESCUELA MARCELINO RODRÍGUEZ DüNÍS I. SITUACIÓN HISTÓRICA En el período helenístico surgen con gran fuerza tres escuelas de filosofía: la epicúrea, la estoica y la escéptica. Entre ellas hay más coincidencias de lo que en general se cree, aunque, ciertamente, el hilo conductor que las une radica en el afán por asegurar al hombre la serenidad y tranquilidad de ánimo, difíciles de conseguir en un mundo tan sumamente complejo y turbulento como el que sigue a la conquista del Oriente por parte de Alejandro. Sería un error sostener que la filosofía helenística en conjunto ocupa una si­ tuación secundaria respecto de los grandes sistemas de Platón y Aristóteles, aun­ que es cierto que el pensamiento espiritualista sufre un duro golpe con los epicúreos y los escépticos. En el estoicismo, por el contrario, hay, a pesar de su materialis­ mo corporealista, mayor afinidad con el platonismo. Los factores que explican la escasa atención que Epicuro presta a las tesis fundamentales de Platón y Aristóteles son de muy diversa índole. Las circunstancias históricas han cambiado. Alejandro, el discípulo de Aristóteles y el conquistador del mundo conocido, había demostra­ do que el orgullo y la autocomplacencia de los griegos se basaban al fin y al cabo en un vergonzante provincianismo. Otros mundos más exuberantes se habían abierto ante las mentes atónitas e incrédulas de los nuevos conquistadores, otros dioses, otras costumbres, otros hombres. Ya nada podía ser como antes. Los moldes den­ tro de los que se había desarrollado la vida de los griegos hasta entonces ya no servían; hasta los mismos dioses de la ciudad habían dejado de existir o estaban alejados de los intereses patrios, sordos a las súplicas de los hombres que, a pesar de rendirles el culto debido, no encontraban en ellos las fuerzas necesarias para seguir ostentando la merecida supremacía personal y colectiva sobre los otros pue­ blos.
    [Show full text]
  • The Polemical Practice in Ancient Epicureanism* M
    UDK 101.1;141.5 Вестник СПбГУ. Философия и конфликтология. 2019. Т. 35. Вып. 3 The polemical practice in ancient Epicureanism* M. M. Shakhnovich St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation For citation: Shakhnovich M. M. The polemical practice in ancient Epicureanism. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies, 2019, vol. 35, issue 3, pp. 461–471. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu17.2019.306 The article explores the presentation methods of a philosophical doctrine in Greek and Ro- man Epicureanism; it is shown that for the ancient, middle, and Roman Epicureans a con- troversy with representatives of other philosophical schools was a typical way of present- ing their own views. The polemical practice, in which the basic principles of Epicureanism were expounded through the criticism of other philosophical systems, first of all, Academics and Stoics, was considered not only as the preferred way of presenting the own doctrine, but also as the most convenient rhetorical device, which had, among other things, didac- tic significance. The founder of the school, Epicurus, often included in his texts the terms used in other philosophical schools, giving them a different, often opposite, content. While presenting his teaching in the treatise “On Nature” or in letters to his followers, Epicurus pushed off the opinions of Democritus, Plato, and the Stoics, but resorted mainly to implicit criticism of his opponents, often without naming them by name. His closest students and later followers — Metrodorus, Hermarchus, Colotes, Philodemus, Lucretius, Diogenes of Oenoanda — continuing the controversy with the Academics and the Stoics, more frank- ly expressed their indignation about the “falsely understood Epicureanism” or erroneous opinions.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading of “De Rerum Natura” in the Light of Modern Physics
    Open Journal of Philosophy 2012. Vol.2, No.4, 268-271 Published Online November 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ojpp) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2012.24039 Reading of “De Rerum Natura” in the Light of Modern Physics Gualtiero Pisent Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova, Padova, Italy Email: [email protected] Received April 28th, 2012; revised May 30th, 2012; accepted June 10th, 2012 An analysis of the Lucretius atomism is given, that makes particular reference to the naturalistic argu- ments and contents of the poem. A possible comparison with the atomism of nowadays, based on quite new, both theoretical (quantum mechanics) and experimental (particle accelerators) grounds, must be treated with much care. But it seems possible and interesting to compare at least the world outlined by Lucretius, with the new world, derived by familiarity with modern theories of matter. This is the point I have tried to stress. Keywords: Science; Nature; Atomism; Vacuum; Swerve Introduction gust of wind, which lashes the sea, strikes the ships and drag- sthe clouds [I-265].” Although Lucretius theories are not fully original (being de- We shall see later on, the reasons that suggest the atomistic rived in particular from Epicurus), the poem “De rerum natura” idea, but first of all we must be aware that the assumption, al- is so wide, self consistent and miraculously integral in the form though not trivial, is nevertheless realistic. arrived up to our days, that it is worthwhile to be studied and “The clothes, left on the seaside, become wet.
    [Show full text]
  • History Religion Tokarev.Pdf
    STUDENT'S LIBRARY Sergei Tokarev History of RELIGION PROGRESS PUBLISHERS MOSCOW Translated from the Russian by Paula Garb Editorial Board of the Series: F.M. Volkov (Managing Editor), Ye.F. Gubsky (Deputy Managing Editor), V.G. Afanasyev, Taufik Ibrahim, Zafar Imam, I.S. Kon, I.M. Krivoguz, A.V. Petrovsky, Yu.N. Popov, Munis Reza, N.V. Romanovsky, V.A. Tumanov, A.G. Zdravomyslov, V.D. Zotov. BHEJIHOTEKA CTYflEHTA C. T oK apeB HCTOPMH PEJIWrHM Ha ammiucKOM H3biKe © IIOJIHTH3AaT, 1986 © Progress Publishers 1989 Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 0400000000-438 g 9 014(01)-89 ISBN 5-01-001097-6 Contents TRIBAL CULTS Chapter One ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ................................ 9 1. Paleolithic S ite s ........................................................................ 9 2. Neolithic S ites.............................................................................. 13 3. Religion in the Early Bronze and Iron Age .... 16 Chapter Two RELIGION OF THE AUSTRALIANS AND TASMANIANS............................ 18 1. The A u stralian s........................................................................ 18 2. The T asm anians........................................................................ 33 Chapter Three RELIGION IN OCEANIA ........................................................................ 35 1. The Papuans and M elanesians.................................................. 36 2. The P olynesians........................................................................ 42 Chapter Four
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzsche's Naturalism As a Critique of Morality and Freedom
    NIETZSCHE’S NATURALISM AS A CRITIQUE OF MORALITY AND FREEDOM A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Nathan W. Radcliffe December, 2012 Thesis written by Nathan W. Radcliffe B.S., University of Akron, 1998 M.A., Kent State University, 2012 Approved by Gene Pendleton____________________________________, Advisor David Odell‐Scott___________________________________, Chair, Department of Philosophy Raymond Craig_____________________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTERS I. NIETZSCHE’S NATURALISM AND ITS INFLUENCES....................................................... 8 1.1 Nietzsche’s Speculative‐Methodological Naturalism............................................ 8 1.2 Nietzsche’s Opposition to Materialism ............................................................... 15 1.3 The German Materialist Influence on Nietzsche................................................. 19 1.4 The Influence of Lange on Nietzsche .................................................................. 22 1.5 Nietzsche’s Break with Kant and Its Aftermath................................................... 25 1.6 Influences on Nietzsche’s Fatalism (Schopenhauer and Spinoza)
    [Show full text]
  • FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE NON- FICTION TWILIGHT of the IDOLS UNABRIDGED and the ANTICHRIST Read by Barnaby Edwards
    FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE NON- FICTION TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS UNABRIDGED and THE ANTICHRIST Read by Barnaby Edwards The last works completed before Nietzsche’s final years of insanity, Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist contain some of his most passionate and polemical writing. Both display his profound understanding of human nature and continue themes developed in The Genealogy of Morals, as the philosopher lashes out at the deceptiveness of modern culture and morality. Twilight of the Idols attacks European society, Christianity and the works of Socrates and Plato, which he proclaims are life-denying as they prioritise reason over instinct and the after-world over the apparent world. The Antichrist explores the history, psychology and moral precepts of Christianity, forming his final assault on organised religion. Barnaby Edwards has recorded more than 60 audiobooks. Perhaps best known for his role as a Dalek operator in the television series Doctor Who, he has provided voices for three of the BBC’s Doctor Who video games Total running time: 7:14:00 and has worked as a director, writer and actor for several related audio View our catalogue online at n-ab.com/cat dramas by Big Finish Productions. He also plays the computer L.E.M.O.N. in the comic sci-fi audio series Strangeness in Space. His audiobooks have won several awards, including the Best Original Work Audie and the Guardian’s Audiobook of the Month. 1 Twilight of the Idols 3:23 27 6. Let us finally consider what naivete it shows… 2:39 2 Apophthegms and Darts 10:35 28 The Four Great Errors 2:09 3 The Problem of Socrates 1:38 29 2.
    [Show full text]