Friedrich Nietzsche's Views on the Meaning of Life Essay Example

Frederich Nietzsche was a philosopher who lived from 1844 to 1900. He believed in non-dualism, meaning that there are things between the good and bad. In addition, he followed the idea of nihilism. Nihilism was the idea that life has no meaning and is full of suffering. But, Nietzsche twisted that idea and stated that life indeed has no meaning but, we don’t have to suffer. In his book, The Gay Science, Nietzsche stated his beliefs that life has no meaning because God is dead as, without God, we have no purpose and direction for life. He suggests that instead of looking for purpose, we should create our own meanings and accept our lives for what it is. 

Nietzsche thinks that there is no meaning to life. Nietzsche says, “ The  “The overall character of the world is, for all eternity- chaos,... In the sense that it lacks order, articulation, form, beauty, wisdom…” ( Neitzsche 133) Neitzzsche compares our purpose to the way we put values on things in our world. If we describe something in a certain way, then that is the way it is. He is comparing the way we give our world beauty to the way that we give ourselves purpose.  

Nietzsche didn’t believe in God and claimed that God is dead to explain his thought. Without God, we have no purpose for life. Nietzsche explains this through the story of the Madman. The story of the Madman is about a man that started shouting about looking for God in the marketplace, no one believed in God there so they laughed at him. Nietzsche writes that the madmen then said,“ Where has God gone? He cried. I’ll tell you where-We’ve killed him…Now, where is it going? Where are we moving? … Backwards, sideways, forwards, in every direction. Is there still an above and a below?... God is dead!” ( Neitzsche 141) God is not actually dead but rather the idea of God does not exist. In some religions, God gives  purpose and morals. The Madman is not literally searching for God but he is searching for the tings that come with God (purpose and morals) which is why this parable is related to his philosophy of no meaning to life. God gave us purpose to living things and provided morals for what is right and wrong. But, without God, we have no sense of direction, there is no such thing as good or bad and we don’t know where to go without a pathway for life. Neitzsche thinks that we shoudn’t be giving purpose to things. 

In the Gay Science, Nietzsche uses the idea of herd instinct to explain the way people function in life. He describes, “Morality is the herd instinct.” ( Nietzsche 138) The herd instinct is described as behaviors or actions that are shared, the follow what others do.  Nietzsche compares this concept to morality, that we follow the rules given to us and act a certain way because other people do, not taking our individual thoughts into consideration.  Nietzsche states that instead, we should create our own meaning to life. Nietzsche explains, “ We however want to become who we are … those who give themselves the law, those who create themselves!...we must be physicists so that we can be creators in this sense-...” (Nietzsche 147). Nietzsche is telling us that instead of trying to be a function of something else or trying to belong to a certain thing, we should create our own meaning in life. We should do this by becoming ourselves and making our own rules for ourselves. We shouldn't follow what others act or say. Not only should we create our own meaning, Nietzsche adds that we should also accept your life for what it is. Nietzsche suggests, “ Amor fati ( love of fate): let that be my love from now on! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly.” ( Neitzsche 143) In this quote, Neitzsche is explaining the concept of Amor Fati, which is to love your fate. To love your fate means that we should accept what happens in our life, we shouldn't be ashamed of the bad things that happen. We should love our life the way it is, no matter what happens. This applies to Neitzsches philosophy of life having no meaning  because instead of searching for a meaning to life, we should crete meaning for our individual lives and love your life as it is. 

In conclusion, this is show Nietzsche believes that life has no meaning because God is dead as, without God, we have no purpose and direction for life. He suggests that instead of looking for purpose, we should create our own meanings and accept the good and the bad in our lives.