What is the Good of Society?
Since
St. Thomas Aquinas political viewpoints were influenced by his religion and
Friedrich Nietzsche thought of himself as an atheist, this proves that views of
philosophers can differ. One difference of views is on “What is the Good of
Society?”Using current ligature this report will introduce and compare the
views of these two philosophers.
Thomas
Aquinas (1225–1274) lived at a critical juncture of western culture when the
arrival of the Aristotelian corpus in Latin translation reopened the
question of the relation between faith and reason, calling into question
the modus vivendi that had obtained for centuries (Mclnerny, 2013). Thomas, after early
studies at Montecassino, moved on to the University of Naples, where he met
members of the new Dominican Order (Mclnerny, 2013). It was at Naples
too that Thomas had his first extended contact with the new learning (Mclnerny, 2013). When he joined the
Dominican Order he went north to study with Albertus Magnus, author of a
paraphrase of the Aristotelian corpus (Mclnerny, 2013). Thomas
completed his studies at the University of Paris, which had been formed out of
the monastic schools on the Left Bank and the cathedral school at Notre Dame (Mclnerny, 2013). In two stints as a
regent master Thomas defended the mendicant orders and, of greater historical
importance, countered both the Averroistic interpretations of Aristotle and the
Franciscan tendency to reject Greek philosophy (Mclnerny, 2013). The result was a
new modus vivendi between faith and philosophy which survived until
the rise of the new physics (Mclnerny, 2013). The Catholic Church
has over the centuries regularly and consistently reaffirmed the central
importance of Thomas's work for understanding its teachings concerning the
Christian revelation, and his close textual commentaries on Aristotle represent
a cultural resource which is now receiving increased recognition (Mclnerny, 2013).
Thomas
Aquinas gave more credit to the human intellect than Augustine did (Mannion, n.d.). Mankind did not
need divine intervention to think profound thoughts (Mannion, n.d.). One can ascertain
the Form by observation of the reality (Mannion, n.d.). We can conceive of
the exalted notions of Truth and Beauty without a celestial nudge (Mannion, n.d.). In fact, mankind
cannot truly grasp the Forms, because like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas felt the
Form was embedded in the corporeal reality and was not a free-floating entity
out there in the ether (Mannion, n.d.). Harkening back to
Aristotle, and with a little Christian pride, Thomas Aquinas believed that if a
“pagan” like Aristotle can figure all this out, Christians certainly could (Mannion, n.d.). Old Aristotle did
not have the advantage of divine assistance, pagan that he was (Mannion, n.d.).
Another
welcome contribution of Thomas Aquinas was his holistic approach to the
body-mind-spirit that makes a human being (Mannion, n.d.). There was less of
“the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” thinking in his philosophy than
in Augustine's and Plato's (Mannion, n.d.)
Aristotle
sought to develop a universal method of reasoning of which it would be possible
to learn everything there is to know about reality (Thomas Aquinas, n.d.). Thomas Aquinas
found no contradiction in applying this type of reasoning to religion (Thomas Aquinas, n.d.). While he allowed
that it was certainly possible for a person to accept religious teachings by
faith alone and that this was indeed the best method, he asserted that theology
was a science in which careful application of reason would yield observable
proof of theoretical knowledge (Thomas Aquinas, n.d.).
Aquinas
was given the name, “the angelic teacher” due to his defense of theology and
was considered a professional theologian (Thomas Aquinas, n.d.). Nevertheless, among
his writings are works easily recognizable as philosophy (Thomas Aquinas, n.d.). He also wrote
several commentaries on Aristotle who has garnered the respect and admiration
of Aristotelian scholars (Thomas Aquinas, n.d.). Thomas Aquinas
sought to make a distinction between philosophy and theology (Thomas Aquinas, n.d.):
Friedrich
Nietzsche, born October 15, 1844, was a German philosopher of the late 19th
century who challenged the foundations of Christianity and traditional morality (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). His father, Carl
Ludwig Nietzsche, was a Lutheran preacher; he died when Nietzsche was 4 years
old (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). Nietzsche and his
younger sister, Elisabeth, were raised by their mother, Franziska (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). Nietzsche attended
a private preparatory school in Naumburg and then received a classical
education at the prestigious Schulpforta School (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). After graduating in
1864, he attended the University of Bonn for two semesters (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). He transferred to
the University of Leipzig, where he studied philology, a combination of
literature, linguistics and history (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). He was strongly
influenced by the writings of philosopher Arthur
Schopenhauer. During his time in Leipzig, he began a
friendship with the composer Richard
Wagner, whose music he greatly admired (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). He was interested
in the enhancement of individual and cultural health, and believed in life,
creativity, power, and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those
situated in a world beyond (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.). Central to his
philosophy is the idea of “life-affirmation,” which involves an honest
questioning of all doctrines that drain life's expansive energies, however
socially prevalent those views might be (Fredrich Nietzsche biography, n.d.).
Nietzsche
developed the central points of his philosophy in the 1880’s (Friedrich Bessette Nietzshe, 2013). One of these was
his famous statement that "God is dead," a rejection of Christianity
as a meaningful force in contemporary life (Friedrich Bessette Nietzshe, 2013). Others were his
endorsement of self-perfection through creative drive and a "will to
power," and his concept of a "super-man" or "over-man"
(Übermensch), an individual who strives to exist beyond conventional categories
of good and evil, master and slave (Friedrich Bessette Nietzshe, 2013).
If
God is dead, then, what is truth (Borghini, n.d.)? At the outset of
modern philosophy, Descartes
had relied upon God’s existence to prove that mathematical knowledge and
knowledge derived from the senses (what we see, feel, touch, smell …) are
reliable (Borghini, n.d.). Now that God is
removed from the scene, who is to say that one’s word is more perfect than
another’s (Borghini, n.d.)?
To
Nietzsche, indeed, truth is a central idea only within the Apollonian systems
of philosophy, those that seek to find a rational solution to any philosophical
question (Borghini, n.d.). Those systems have
allowed science to step on the highest pedestal of intellectual inquiry,
without realizing that science itself isn’t but the result of the use of force
of some people over others (Borghini, n.d.). Once we come to see
that human existence is ultimately wild, ruled by instincts, passions, and
emotions, then the idea of truth becomes secondary (Borghini, n.d.). What emerges as
primary are health and strength (Borghini, n.d.).
To
Nietzsche, at the root of every creative impulse lies an instinct which is
instinctual, wild, amoral, and driven by passion; this is what he calls the
Dionysian (Borghini, n.d.). In direct
opposition to the Dionysian stands the Apollonian tendency, at play when we try
at producing a rational explanation of all that there is (Borghini, n.d.). According to
Nietzsche, Socrates and his disciples, including Plato
and Aristotle
were expression of the Apollonian: their own is the expression of a philosophy
in which reason attempts to take control over the most instinctual aspects of
the soul (Borghini, n.d.). Nietzsche saw this
attitude as reactionary, as the will of losers to control those who enjoy life
at their fullest (Borghini, n.d.).
In Ethics, Nietzsche
called himself an "immoralist"
and harshly criticized the prominent moral schemes of his day, including Christianity, Kantianism
and Utilitarianism (Mastin, 2008).
However, rather than destroying
morality, Nietzsche wanted a re-evaluation
of the values of
Judeo-Christianity, preferring the more naturalistic
source of value which he found in the vital impulses of life itself (Mastin, 2008). In his "Beyond Good and Evil"
in particular he argued that we must go beyond
the simplistic Christian idea of Good
and Evil in our consideration of
morality (Mastin, 2008).
Nietzsche saw the prevailing Christian system of faith as not only incorrect but as harmful to society, because it
effectively allowed the weak to rule the strong, stifled artistic creativity,
and, critically, suppressed the "will
to power" which he saw as the driving force of human character (Mastin, 2008).
He had an ingrained distrust of
overarching and indiscriminate rules, and strongly believed that individual
people were entitled to individual kinds of behavior and access to individual areas of knowledge (Mastin, 2008).
In the absence of God, then, all
values, truths and standards must be created
by us rather than merely handed to us by some outside agency, which Nietzsche (and the Existentialists
who later embraced this idea) as a tremendously empowering, even if not a comforting, thing (Mastin, 2008).
His solution to the vacuum left by the absence of religion was essentially to "be yourself", to be true to
oneself, to be uninhibited, to live life to the full, and to have the strength
of mind to carry through one's own project, regardless of any obstacles or concerns for other people, the
weak, etc (Mastin, 2008).
This was his major premise, and also the goal towards which he thought all Ethics should be
directed (Mastin, 2008).
However, it was not only the
values of Christianity that Nietzsche rebelled against (Mastin, 2008).
He was also critical of the tradition of secular morality; the "herd
values", as he called them, of the everyday masses of humanity; and
at least some of the traditions deriving from Ancient Greece, principally those of Socrates
and Plato (Mastin, 2008).
He posited that the original system of morality was the "master-morality", dating
back to ancient Greece, where value
arises as a contrast between good (the sort of traits found in a
Homeric hero: wealth, strength, health and power) and bad (the sort of traits conventionally associated with slaves in
ancient times: poor, weak, sick, and pathetic) (Mastin, 2008).
"Slave-morality", in
contrast, came about as a reaction
to master-morality, and is associated with the Jewish and Christian
traditions, where value emerges from the contrast between good (associated with charity, piety,
restraint, meekness and subservience) and evil (associated with cruelty, selfishness, wealth, indulgence and
aggressiveness) (Mastin, 2008).
Initially a ploy among the Jews
and Christians dominated by Rome to overturn
the values of their masters, to justify
their situation and to gain power
for themselves, Nietzsche saw the slave-morality as a hypocritical social illness that has overtaken
Europe, which can only work by condemning
others as evil, and he called on the strong of the world to break their self-imposed chains and assert their own power, health and
vitality on the world (Mastin, 2008).
References
Borghini, A. (n.d.). Fredrich Nietzsche: Philosophy
(1844-1900). Retrieved December 12, 2013, from About.com Philosophy:
http://philosophy.about.com/od/Major-Philosophers/p/Friedrich-Nietzsche-Philosophy-1844-1900.htm
Fredrich Nietzsche biography. (n.d.). Retrieved December 09, 2013, from Biography.com:
http://www.biography.com/people/friedrich-nietzsche-9423452?page=2
Friedrich Bessette Nietzshe. (2013). Retrieved November 29, 2013, from The Biograph Channel Website:
http://www.biography.com/people/friedrich-nietzsche-9423452
Mannion. (n.d.). Thomas Aquinas. Retrieved December
15, 2013, from Netplaces.com:
http://www.netplaces.com/philosophy-book/the-medieval-mind/thomas-aquinas.htm
Mastin, L. (2008). Friedriche Nietzsche. Retrieved
December 10, 2013, from The Basics of Philosophy:
http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_nietzsche.html
Mclnerny, R. &. (2013, Winter edition). Saint Thomas
Aquinas. Retrieved November 26, 2013, from Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/aquinas/
Thomas Aquinas.
(n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2013, from All About Philosophy.org:
http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/thomas-aquinas.htm
Wicks, R. (2013 Edition, Spring). Friedrich Nietzsche.
Retrieved November 26, 2013, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/
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