Nietzsche

Multiple Choice

What branch of philosophy concerns the question of being?

• Theism

• Existentialism

• Humanism

• Existentialism deals with the problem of being, i.e., exploring the meaning, purpose, and value of our existence.

• Theism is the general belief in the existence of a diving power governing the universe.

• Humanism is a philosophical approach who take humanity and reason as the starting point for the construction of moral inquiry (as opposed to theism).

Multiple Choice

What foundational theory is thought to be the opposite of capitalism?

• Protestantism

• Communism

• Marxism

• Communism is a foundational theory describing the order and structure of a communist state; it is thought of as the 'practical manifestation' of Marxism.

• Marxism is a political theory of class relations and social transformation; was the ideological basis of communism.

• Protestantism is a branch of Christianity (protestants) founded during the Reformation period.

Multiple Choice

Who is known to coin the statement 'God is dead?'

• Thomas Hobbes

• Friedrich Nietzsche

• Karl Marx

• Søren Kierkegaard

• 'God is dead' was a statement by Friedrich Nietzsche, part of a larger sentence: "God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!"

• Nietzsche, who lived in the age after the Enlightenment, thought that the recent scientific and technological advances led to a decline in the importance of religion and God in the European world. Humans no longer felt like the only purpose on Earth was to serve God, so we no longer needed God to govern life, as philosophy and science took its place. Humanity no longer revolved around God.

Multiple Choice

After concluding "God is dead", Nietzsche had the 'crisis of nihilism.'

What was Nietzsche's the 'crisis of nihilism'?

• If God is dead, humanity will soon face doom

• Claiming God is dead is itself a test of spiritual faith

• If God does not exist, human existence has no meaning

• If God is dead, there is no proof of it

• Nietzsche's 'crisis of nihilism' was to say, because the European world before the 17th century revolved so heavily around God to derive the meaning of life, "the death of God" now meant there is no meaning of life.

• Over the years, the concept of nihilism spread and grew. Today, nihilism is a philosophy founded on the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.