Carl Lindman

Prof. Richard Viladesau

Faith & Critical Reason
17 May 2010
Nietzschian Nihilism in The Antichrist
In Friedrich Nietzsches The Antichrist, the German philosopher presents a number of
themes noteworthy to a theological discussion. In it, Nietzsche condemns much of modern
society: He dismisses the philosophers and theologians, claiming their fields incongruous with
reality. He strongly condemns all religions, particularly Christianity, and the myth (in his view)
of God. Nietzsche also describes his concept of the Ubermensch a new race of superhumans
who would essentially care for nothing but their own well being and, through evolution, would
come to dominate the world. All of these themes combine to form the basis of what is called
nihilism.
Though many philosophers have espoused nihilism, Nietzsche is perhaps the most wellknown of them, and his account of it is the most widely promoted. In most basic terms, nihilism
is the belief in nothing. That is, a nihilist believes that nothing in reality has any meaning,
purpose or real value beyond what we arbitrarily assign to it. It is closely related to existentialism
in that a nihilist only recognizes existence and absolutely nothing beyond that existence; the
world simply is, and nothing that is part of it has any explanation or reason. In order to be
consistent, a nihilist must not place meaning on even the most basic parts of life that we take for
granted. For example, morality, intellect, and reason are all meaningless in the eyes of Nietzsche,

because there is no external force to grant them meaning. Indeed, that final point is the key to
nihilism: atheism. Without a God, nothing can have meaning. That is, if there is no greater power
by which to judge this reality, then nothing in this reality can have any sort of intrinsic value,
since there is no standard for determining value. According to Nietzsche, the only value anything
possesses is what humanity assigns to it, and those values are absolutely and completely
arbitrary; we have no authority to judge what is meaningful, valuable, or reasonable. A greater
power (God) that is omniscient of reality and realitys ultimate purpose is the only being with the
authority to determine meaning and value. However, in Nietzsches view, God cannot exist, and
thus there can be no meaning to reality.
Somewhat contradictorily, though, Nietzsche does seem to believe in evolution.
According to him, pity is the ultimate weakness and one of the worst vices of Christianity. Pity
opposes the natural evolution of the human species and thus prevents its growth to a higher form.
Nietzsche envisions a race of Ubermenschen who will be true nihilists: They will lack pity for
the weak and lead humanity to a higher stage of evolution. The Ubermensch will focus only on
the real world (because to them, of course, there is no greater presence) and only on what
benefits his or herself. It seems that the Ubermensch may be Nietzsches Antichrist, or
Antichristian; rather than focusing on a later life or a metaphysical power, as a Christian does,
the Ubermensch cares only for the current reality and what sensibly exists.
However, these ideas all possess one glaring contradiction: If nothing has meaning, and
nothing is good or bad or important at all, why should one think nihilism to be beneficial or
superior to any other belief? This is the great nihilistic paradox. Nietzsche first denounces all
beliefs and claims that nothing has any value at all nothing is any more valuable than another
thing then, in the same breath, attempts to convince you that nihilism somehow does have more

value than any other belief system. He tries to claim that the Ubermensch are superior to other
humans and will improve the human race, yet if there is no objective meaning to the world, how
can he make such a claim? If there is no meaning to anything, then there is no meaning to
nihilism or the Ubermensch either. To a nihilist, no belief, person, or idea is greater or more
correct than any other, thus, ironically, the nihilist cannot truly be correct himself.
Despite the ironic paradox that nihilism contains, it is a legitimate belief and makes
logical sense. It is true that if God or some sort of higher power does not exist, there can be no
meaning to our existence. However, one can think of a number of reasons to reject the belief.
First and most obviously, one can simply believe in God. Nihilism will always have its
contraposition to disprove it: If God does exist, then reality does have meaning. Thus, if one
simply has belief in a greater authority to provide a standard by which to judge our world,
nihilism can be easily denied. One could expand upon this and say that if a person believes in
anything then the person must also reject nihilism. For an example of this, we might turn to
Emmanuel Kants What Is Enlightenment? In the essay, Kant presents his famous moral
argument for God: As humans, we have a moral imperative for good morality exists so there
must be a God through which it can be judged what is moral and immoral. In other words, for
there to be any sort of legitimate morality, there must be a standard to determine what that
morality consists of that standard is God. Therefore, if one believes in the existence of higher
morality that is beyond arbitrary human decisions, nihilism must be rejected. The argument
applies to other beliefs as well: intellect, reason, etc. cannot be legitimate without a God.
From a personal standpoint, I feel as if nihilism is simply too depressing to faithfully
adopt. Nietzsche gives us no motivation to continue living; our values are what keep us living,
and without them, we have no reason to live at all. It does seem that Nietzsche realizes this point,

though, as his Ubermensch appear to have some values: themselves and their well-being. A
Nietzschian nihilist would simply do the things that make his or herself feel good or happy,
while still realizing that those feelings are meaningless. The philosophy may be sufficient for
some, but I could not live a life that I know has no meaning. Having rejected nihilism, I could
not be an atheist either, because, in my view, the only logical, legitimate form of atheism is
nihilism. Any atheist who puts value on any moral code or set of beliefs is contradicting himself
and a major hypocrite. Atheism without nihilism simply does not make logical sense. The moral
atheists are truly the worst kind of hypocrites, although, granted, I would rather associate with
one of them than a nihilist. In any case, I do believe in morality and I believe that God granted
me a conscience that allows me to identify what is moral and immoral while also retaining my
free will. Believing that, I could not be a nihilist. Though I do recognize the legitimacy of
nihilism, I cannot comprehend what would motivate a person to support it. Even if one is selfish
and only wants the best for themselves, faith is still the more beneficial choice; whether God
truly does exist or is simply a manufactured idea, faith in Him allows the person a more
fulfilling, happier, and better life. A selfish, uncaring person can still realize that there is hope
and joy offered by faith that is not available from anything else, and he would be wise to utilize
it, no matter if God exists or, as Nietzsche claims, God is dead.