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Thoughts on Nietzsche, The Big Three and various

authors that create a way of thought













January 24, 2014
By: Amalia Fernndez-Salvador
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Abstract

Every human being has a way of thinking. This primarily happens due to the situation of
our present day society. Not having an own thought, demonstrates that your knowledge is
just basic, and that is how societies tend to separate into groups. The more intellectual
the person is, the more respectable that person is seen by society. Therefore people will
have more probability to listen to that respective person. The problem resides in societal
organization. Various different philosophers such as Nietzsche, Aristotle, Plato, Rousseau
will be treated and examined in this manifesto, but as well writers such as Antoine de St.
Exupery and Gibran Jalil Gibran. Therefore, I will present my own personal philosophy
about the matters that rule our world nowadays and the question concerning society and
its organization.
















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Index Page

Title Page ..1
Abstract .2
Chapter 1 .. 4-6
Chapter 2 .. 7
Bibliography 8















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Chapter 1:
Suicides in society are common. In countries were the economy goes well, and everything
is working out perfectly, people still decide to take away their lives. Why does that happen?
Society asks for too much from the individual, but doesnt take the individuals role as importantly
as it should; it diminishes it. Various philosophers through history have taken this possibility of the
world turning into a crude, helpless world. Rousseau talks about freedom and his own perspective
on the matter, The Big Three show the importance of knowledge; the principle we have lost
throughout the times, and Nietzsche depicts future modern society so well, that reflections on
present-day life can only be reached.
Some philosophers have presented some different little ideas that can help to a whole
philosophy, such as the Swiss philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his book Emilie, reason why
he got exiled, he mentions some ideals that I believe have to be brought to attention. Rousseau
mentions the crudity of the realities that we are brought to believe such as the concept of
freedom. He states explicitly in this book Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. How
can that be possible if we are not using slavery anymore? Well, as I look around me I agree grandly
with this statement. Nevertheless, Rousseau, as a philosopher concerned about politics and
governance, didnt look at it the way I will. There is another characteristic of his books is how his
characters are, and what they search out for in real life, which I think I agree with. In mile (1762)
he describes the education of a free being who is encouraged to develop through self-expression,
the natural nobility and liberty of the spirit. Therefore Rousseau has constructed some of the
parts that I believe humans should concentrate on, but as well I might disregard some of his ideas
as well.
I then inquired in the Big Three because of basic concepts, which although very obvious,
they are of utter importance. Plato, as he venerates almost everything that Socrates mentioned,
he also talks about knowledge as something very important. Nevertheless, his thoughts are
important to analyze, and therefore I took away to important quotes which I believe should be
analyzed thoroughly. The first quote that I have read and thought about for a long time but agreed
completely, is the obvious importance that knowledge has for some people, especially Plato and
Socrates. And is the discovery of the nature of knowledge so small a matter as just now said? Is it
not one which would task the powers of men perfect in every way? Here, there are some
questions that are been asked, which has revolved around various heads, but in my opinion, I do
not really care about it. Where does knowledge come from? Yet, this quote has another portion of
it, is that I believe is over-exaggerated yet valuable to some extent. The idea that the power of
men should be exerted in not violence but in searching for abstract thinking involving the mind is a
mixture of modern thought. Nowadays, those that do not have some extent of knowledge, or
understanding of things that happen around the world, are separated from society, because they
are portrayed as not able to understand other people, and that is how society organizes itself.
Another quote which I wanted to focus on is the idea that Plato presents again concerning
knowledge. Now he who knows perceives what he knows, and, as far as I can see at present,
knowledge is perception. This quote is significant because it is the idea of higher knowledge, in
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my opinion. Nevertheless, this quote also brings subjectivity to the subject of knowledge, it all
depends on your own perception of things, and maybe you understand something completely
differently than the others.
The other philosopher from the Big Three that I wanted to focus on is Aristotle. He has
another focus on knowledge, by basing himself in science to know what is real and what is not, but
he didnt want to follow what Socrates and Plato believed. The Law of Excluded Middle in logic
states the necessity that either an assertion or its negation must be true, and this entails that
there is no profound indeterminacy in the realm of reality. Although our knowledge of an
assertion may sometimes fall short of what we need in order to decide whether it is true or false,
we can be sure that either it or its negation is true. This statement uses absolute logic, which is
what Aristotle always intended to do, which proves the scientist fragment of his whole philosophy.
His philosophy is therefore exact. This idea that he presents is one that for there for something to
exist, the opposite must also exist so you have a point of reference, and that is what it makes
something real. Since every being is a composite whose form and matter have been brought
together by some cause, and since there cannot be infinitely many such causes, he concluded that
everything that happens is ultimately attributable to a single universal cause, itself eternal and
immutable. This quote talks about basic ideas that Aristotle came up with. Yet, the approach
itself has a concrete methodology, which is the way that every idea should take place.
Finally I am going to present the basic ideas, of two of the writings that I have read
throughout my life and from which I have taken various important things from. First of all comes
the various writings from the eastern novelist; Gibran Jalil Gibran. In his books, the writings
themselves are philosophical although he does not consider himself that way. He questions the
correct way that every person should behave, but the three stories I have read also present
characters that are so controversial, and differently viewed in a society that likes to label
everything. The first story is called the prophet, and it talks about a man that has this role of
prophesizing, which for him it is his only destiny. Because his ideas are not accepted or he is not
really well seen he then makes his point that he will not be part of society because he is different.
It doesnt mean that he is not intelligent, but society breaks him in some way. The other stories
present characters that are always different or not from a high societal statute, but, these people
are able to be even more understanding of what surrounds us. I have taken various conclusions
about this type of thinking.
Another book that I am going to focus on is Le petit prince, by the writer Antoine de
Saint-Exupery. This book is one that opened me to philosophy in some way. I received it when I
learned to read, that is, when I was 6 years old. I have read it every year since, and different
perspectives have come up with this book. The whole idea is about a young man, meeting a kid,
that has come from another planet and that tells this man, what his duties are. When I was a kid,
this was a fairytale story in my mind, but as I grew up, everything had more meaning. First of all
the giant trees that grow in the planet, of which the little prince has to take care of, represents
various things for me. There are boundaries that are set for liberties. When someone exceeds the
liberty to grow and develop, then there are two solutions; either you destroy what is around you
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or they cut you off, and that was the Princes job. He also voyages and meets this king that lived in
the planet. This represents the need for attention that some people need, but also the idea that
without people, a king is not a king. Various reflections have been made by me about this book,
most of which I have seen in present day society.
To conclude the whole points of view, I am going to present the philosopher which has
influenced me greatly. Nietzsche, with his pessimistic views which I believe are crudely realistic has
changed or supported various of my observations about life. He has various ideals but I will focus
on some that I believe are the most important to concentrate on. First of all Nietzsche presents
the ideal that God is Dead. Nietzsche is an atheist but this philosophy has made me go farther
than just the literal meaning, but also what would this mean for humanity. In Thus Spoke
Zaratustra(2010), Nietzsche presents the solution to this problem with the concept of the
overman he is rejected by most of the people, because they do not want the overman, because
it would be too difficult to maintain this person, and this person will be off course better than the
human. This is a way that Nietzsche demonstrates the selfishness that humans have as part of us
naturally. We only think about ourselves all the time.Another concept that I believe is one of the
most important is the fact that nothing is said to be true in Nietzsche. It all depends on your own
thought. You might agree with him as you might as well not, because the branch that Nietzsche
comes from is existentialism, and in this poque, what is taken in account is the individual which I
think it should be inculcated in everybody. Therefore, Nietzsche with his main concepts has
convinced me of various other things but those are the ones that I am going to focus the most on.













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Chapter 2:
My own philosophy involves overall pessimism, which I couldnt possibly try to inculcate
and promote to another person but, it is what it is. It is an effect on my perspective of life, society
and humans as well as death. The world by itself has become a place in which an individual cannot
feel true freedom, and every little aspect of life is ruled by money.
I believe that nowadays life is ruled by money. Everything, every person is based on this
currency, on this object which actually has no valor at all. I think that one of the main reasons why
morals have become more and more little and insignificant is because money has become our
primordial goal. Businessmen when they are working, because they only want to achieve personal
winnings and triumph, the person itself mistreats the people around him/her, and might lie or
cheat to achieve the ultimate goal which is just more money.
Nietzsche referred to the idea that God is Dead. There are a lot of ideas that can be
taken out from it. Nietzsche probably was looking forward to the idea of increasing secularism in
the world, but something that makes you think is, that if there is no God, then where do our
morals go? This question has two solutions for human kind living in a society. There is the first
possibility of living a life in which humans as individuals, decide in mutual agreement that the
morals are those presented and should be followed. More or less, like laws, but not for them to be
broken but as pillars of creating characters. The thing is humans in our society are so filled with
greed that this idea is absolutely impossible, so they follow the other path. They follow the path
were everyone has a set of morals which are so filled with mediocrity that these values do not
stand as pillars but they can be bend whenever the person wants, as long as it is excused.
Another aspect that is true, which Rousseau has mentioned, is the aspect that there is no
true freedom in present-day society. Again, money rules our life. The only liberty a human has is to
make money. But there are restrictions from this ability because of what class culture are you
placed in, and who are your parents. Nevertheless, that is the only liberty that society has placed
on us, because the rest is ruled by the government or everything that is on top of us. Our time is
not our liberty anymore, because society pushes you to spend at least 10 hours making money in
some way, and the rest of your time has to be spending that money earned, either by eating, or
buying worthless material things.
The thing that is completely disgusting about society is the fact that structures are
breaking as money takes more importance in our life, and we dont have personal real
relationships. For example, the rate of divorces has grown higher, most of the time because of
things that go in between relationships, such as work probably.
The question then rests, what do we do with our morals, with our society?


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Bibliography
JalilGibran,J. (1988) The Prophet/ The madman/ The homeless person.Akal Bolsillo: Madrid.
Jones, R. (2008) Romanticism. Retrieved on January 09, 2014 from:
http://www.philosopher.org.uk/rom.htm
Nietzsche, F. (2010) Thus Spoke Zarathustra.Longseller: Buenos Aires.
n.n(2010)Aristotle: Reality and Knowledge. Retrieved on January 09, 2014 from:
http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/2p.htm
Plato. (n.d.)Theaetetus. Retrieved on January 09, 2014 from:
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/theatu.html
St. Exupry, A. (2001) Le petit prince. EtoileFilante: Geneve.