Nietszche

In "Beyond Good and Evil", Nietzsche examines the current problems of philosophy and his predictions of what philosophy should be in the future. Nietzsche starts his book by analyzing the errors of philosophers to date, Nietzsche calls these errors "prejudices". Nietzsche calls these errors "prejudice" because it is views that are based on previous assumptions. Friedrich Nietzsche identifies a few of these prejudices, but I will examine closely only two of them: atomism and "immediate certainties".

One of the prejudices that Nietzsche attacks in "Beyond Good and Evil" is the idea of dogmatic atomism. Materialistic atomism is a theory that originated in Ancient Greece. According to atomism, the universe is composed of basic, indestructible, indivisible material elements – atoms. Nietzsche in paragraph twelve argues that the dogmatic atomism is based on belief in illusive concept of the atom. Nietzsche uses Copernicus argument in parallel with Boscovich to prove the point. Copernicus argues that a belief in our senses gives us an illusion about the universe around us. According to our senses, the Earth stay still and the Sun and the stars revolve around it. Copernicus proved that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The Boscovich proves that the idea of the atom as a fundamental particle of the universe is an illusion. According to Boscovich, the atom is a "center of force" and therefore is not a particle. Boscovich develops his concept of atom as a non-material and dynamic. Boscovich argument breaks the concept of atom as being the "substance" and "matter" from which the universe is made of (210). So the concept of the atom is wrong. Even though the concept of the atom itself is destroyed the people's "atomistic need" is still alive.

Nietzsche's task is uncovering atomistic prejudice and goes deeper than disproving of concept of atom. According to Nietzsche the "atomistic need" still live "dangerous afterlife in places where no one suspects" (210). There are two kinds of people that have "atomistic needs" - the tendency to think atomically; the faith in existence of the basic core of everything. The first kind is scientists. Scientists are driven by their "atomistic need" to uncover the fundamental building blocks of the universe. The second kind is Christian. Christian "atomistic need" is expressed in their belief in "soul atomism". "Soul atomism" is the faith in the soul "as something indestructible, eternal, indivisible" (210). Therefore the soul is immortal and continues to live even when the body dyes; in afterlife. Nietzsche argues against the dogmatic atomism with the idea to eradicate the notion of the indestructible and eternal soul. Destruction of concept of eternal soul would allow to overcome "atomistic need" prejudice.

Although the philosopher is very concern that the scientists or the "clumsy naturalists" by overcoming the "atomistic need" would reject not only the concept of immortal soul, but the soul at all (210). According to Nietzsche this would be a mistake. Nietzsche's point is to redefine the soul concept as a "mortal soul" (210). The new concept of mortal soul, the spirit in Nietzsche interpretation is something that makes us human. Soul according to Nietzsche is a subjective force and social drive. Soul is representing our individuality and personality. Soul is responsible for constructing our emotions, inclinations and artistic power. Therefore according to Nietzsche the new concept of the soul should belong to an area of scientific valuation and research.

Furthermore, Nietzsche questions another prejudice - "immediate certainty". For some philosophers knowledge "means knowing things entirely" (213). So knowledge is a system built upon some absolute, unquestionable "truth-in-itself". In order to build a system on knowledge, philosophers must find these absolute facts or "immediate certainties". "Immediate certainties" are the truth that are not rely on anything else to be true. Nietzsche attacks this prejudice and claims that "immediate certainties" are impossible to find. According to him there is always the possibility to doubt and question these "immediate certainties". To prove his point, Nietzsche turns to Descartes' famous "I think, therefore I am" argument. Descartes' method was based