Nietzche is dated. The book is dated. Written by Henri Louis Mencken in the early part of 20th century, the book feels like a product of a bygone era.
The Nietzsche philosophy had regular sexist, racist undertones but the author doesn't question them, as the book is from another era when casual racism and misogyny were rampant.
Nietzsche is a good read for those who still want find a reason to question the existence of religion. If not then the book will appear a bit dated and feel stale.
Nietzsche of course has his place in the development of human thought.
Nietzsche’s questioned as to why all ideals, whether explicitly religious or not, presumes an afterlife that is better than the ‘here and now’.
In Nietzsche’s eyes, such a fabrication negates us from seeing the beauty of life on Earth.
He condemned attempts to deny actual truth in the name of false realities, instead of accepting the real as it is.
Nietzsche accuses all the grand scientific, metaphysical and religious systems, of having systematically ‘despised’ the body and the senses in the interests of reason and rationality.
Hence Nietzsche says: “I entreat you, my brothers, remain true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of extraterrestrial hopes.”
Nietzsche came under the sway of Schopenhauer when young and he imbibed much of the what the eternal pessimist expounded. If Schopenhauer proclaimed on Will to Live , Nietzsche borrowed his ideas and padded it up in his Will to Power.
Schopenhauer explained that the universe and everything in it is driven by a primordial will to live, which results in a desire in all living creatures to avoid death and to procreate. For Schopenhauer, this will is the most fundamental aspect of reality – more fundamental even than being.
Schopenhauer’s negation of the will was a saying "no" to life and to the world, which he judged to be a scene of pain and evil.
Schopenhauer saw this world as the product of a malignant Will.
Schopenhauer renounced life, he said the world is Hell, don’t seek happiness in it.
Nietzsche on the other hand affirmed life and espoused earthly values. He rejected Platonic/Christian ideals of the “other world” being more real than this one, and argued forcefully for living fully here.
Nietzsche's formula for greatness in a human being was ‘Amor fati’.
That is “ to want nothing to be other than as it is, neither in the future, nor in the past, nor in all eternity. Not merely to endure what happens of necessity, still less to hide it from oneself – but to love it…“
