Comparing Collective Morality from the Perspective of Nietzsche's Superhuman and Kierkegaard's Knight of Faith

Document Type : .

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Administrative Sciences Economics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

A radical thinker, Nietzsche proposes that slave morality is crystallized in the superhuman being through criticism of slave morality. According to Nietzsche, the superhuman is a self-revolving wheel that, by stepping behind the slave morality, realizes the values related to the slave morality, which include components such as singularity and self-discipline. As an individualistic anti-philosopher, Kierkegaard tries to free man from the clutches of rigid moral and social systems, like Nietzsche. The findings indicate that in terms of comparing and adapting the views of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, which was done by using the comparative method, it can be said that despite the similarity of Nietzsche's and Kierkegaard's views on the necessity of emancipation and liberation of singularity. The singularity of man from the clutches of morality, society, and culture, Kierkegaard tries to revive existence (the unique and unrepeatable being of man), passion, agency, and efficacy of man, unlike Nietzsche, who is a naturalistic and earthly thinker, from the perspective and position of faith.
Keywords: Superhuman, morality, leap of faith, the last man
 
Introduction
As a radical and critical thinker, Nietzsche proposes slave morality by introducing master morality. In Nietzsche's master morality and superhuman, man becomes the creator of his values. Nietzsche's superhuman is a hard-working, risk-taking, adventurous, and noble person who throws his passion far beyond his reach. According to Nietzsche, Christianity and the modern world are two sides of the same coin because both of them suppress the passionate and active spirit of a person by clinging to slave morality. Just like Nietzsche, Kierkegaard is concerned about the liberating man from the clutches of anti-individualism systems, and by criticizing moral and social life, which is synonymous with the loss of human singularity, he tries to put forward a new type of man under the title of the knight of faith. The typical approach of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard can be summed up in the fact that both thinkers are trying to strengthen human agency and promote human singularity as a special and unique value by honoring the character of human activity. It is necessary to mention that Nietzsche tries to transition from slave morality to the end of man by proposing the concept of the superhuman, which is an earthly and temporal concept, while Kierkegaard tries to transition from the moral sphere from a religious perspective. In this essay, it is attempted to analyze Nietzsche's and Kierkegaard's opinions and ideas about concepts such as morality, superhuman, and leap of faith. The superhuman and the knight of faith should be examined and evaluated as the mediators of morality.
 
Materials
One of the leading and fundamental goals of this research is to show as well as to rely on and emphasize the typical approach of Nietzsche and Kierkegaard in their opposition to totalism and collective morality, and as a result, giving importance to singularity, singularity, and human agency. Also, one of the other goals of the research is to focus on the points of difference between Nietzsche's and Kierkegaard's views. In this research, it was emphasized that although Nietzsche and Kierkegaard try to remove the singularity and unique and unrepeatable existence of man. However, the fact is that Kierkegaard is trying to revive the singularity of man from a religious point of view, but Nietzsche, from a naturalistic and earthly point of view, tries to recover and re-examine the singularity of human beings.
 
Methodology
In this study, Nietzsche's and Kierkegaard's opinions and thoughts on morality were analyzed using a descriptive-analytical research method. Next, the similarities and differences between their thoughts on morality were discussed via the comparative method.
 
Results
The present study aims to do a comparative research of Nietzsche's and Kierkegaard's views via the critique of modern morality, which is the intersection of their standpoints. To this end, Nietzsche's views on the concept of the superhuman were analyzed. It was pointed out that Nietzsche proposed the master morality by breaking the foundation of the slave morality. The abstraction of the idea of the superhuman and the master morality as an alternative to the ultimate human being is one of Nietzsche's other initiatives in the fight against slavery morality. In this article, after describing Nietzsche's view on morality, Kierkegaard's views on morality were mentioned; it was emphasized that Kierkegaard rejects the moral sphere due to the loss of singularity of man and calls for the ascension of human evolution to the leap of faith. The leap of faith is the stage where the moral sphere is suspended, and a person regains his singularity. Finally, in the comparison between Nietzsche's superhuman and Kierkegaard's knight of faith, it was pointed out that although Nietzsche and Kierkegaard have a common opinion in criticizing modern morality. However, the fact is that Nietzsche is a naturalistic thinker, and this is the case that Kierkegaard, like Nietzsche, wants to restore singularity and human agency. However, Kierkegaard, based on a leap of faith, tries to revive human singularity and agency, while Nietzsche's superhuman is only a ritual that attempts to confront slave morality by relying on himself.
 
Discussion and Conclusion
A critical thinker, Nietzsche tries to recover the lost singularity of man by criticizing the collectivism prevailing in modernist morality. Just like Nietzsche, Kierkegaard is a supporter of human singularity and a staunch opponent of modern collectivist morality. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that Nietzsche goes against modern morality by appealing to the knight of faith; however, Nietzsche deals with modern morality from an earthly perspective.

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Main Subjects


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