Essay
Eastern philosophies of religion
- Institution
- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
Eastern philosophies of religion - Hinduism and Buddhism
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SECTION AQuestion 1:
Discuss similarities and differences in the postmodernist and twentieth century philosophies
of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Foucault, Arendt, and Russell as they relate to the concept
of god/God. For example, you may want to compare Nietzsche and Heidegger’s views of
God, those of Sartre and Foucault, and the ideas of Arendt and Russell in this regard.
Answer:
Nietzsche and Heidegger
Nietzsche, an atheist, made his sentiment about God very well known by his phrase: God is
dead. Nietzsche’s phrase was misinterpreted as he did not mean that God is actually dead
but rather that our idea of God was dead. He believed that with human beings following so
much of the laws of others, following so much into science and technology, trying the whole
time to understand the world as best as they wanted to, they killed God (Hendrikcs, 2016).
Heidegger on the other hand stated that God is a presence, the ultimate ground of being.
One reaches the closest to God when they reach the stage of divinity. Heidegger who
prophesised holy atheism, used the term onto-theology which expressed the idea that God
and being was thought of as being the same thing. He characterises the holy as the
essential sphere of divinity which in turn alone will afford a dimension for a God.
Nietzsche believed that with people starting to emphasise on new ideas, it could take away
all human value and possibly bring out the worst in human beings as they would find
themselves always trying to better the system. He also said that people would start to lose
their core values along with their life’s meaning. People started to realise that not everything
revolved around them, so even if there was a belief in a God, people started to become
pessimistic hence leading to a life or a world in which they felt nothing. Heidegger on the
other hand implies that the term God is meaningless for most people, which included people
who use it religiously. He makes mention that non-theological options have replaced God as
the center of value and meaning. Nietzsche said that it is not impossible for people to
change and if people start to believe and create their own values, it will inevitably allow them
to tap into their own consciousness.
Nietzsche went on to say that even though people got more and more educated, they
tended to have less and less belief in God. Nietzsche predicted Nihilism (absence of all
values), he stated that people undermine their current values and beliefs and cannot think of
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