As the Module 8 lecture info well summarizes about Kierkegaard’s and Nietzsche’s philosophies — or lack thereof — both have two thoughts in common: contempt for systems centered around ideological absolutes, and contempt for philosophies or ideological pursuits that then lead to systems centered around ideological absolutes (Saint Leo AVP).
When looking more closely at what Nietzsche and Kierkegaard have in common, both have issues with universal, societal based beliefs or moral codes that speak for everyone, rather than the beliefs or codes be according to each individual’s view. In fact, both Nietzsche and Kierkegaard have a pejorative view of group mentalities, with Kierkegaard referring to the “crowd” as “untruth,” and Nietzsche calling groups the “herd.” The output, according to both thinkers, is a marching orders type society where morality is a prescribed, one-size-fits-all system that crushes what Nietzsche and Kierkegaard deem as the center of human existence and social evolution: individuality (Saint Leo AVP).
Being that Kierkegaard and Nietzsche resent societal conventions or belief systems that promote unified thought or objective truth, both, in their works, give lengthy diatribes against what could be interpreted as their own spin on Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’. In this case, the prisoners are the absolutists living in the illusion, while the relativists have ‘seen the light’ because they break free from objectivity to live a more psychologically prosperous life based on subjectivity.
For Kierkegaard, breaking free from an established system means pursuing truth as a work in-progress, while also helping define the individual’s autonomy in relation to the truth. (Kierkegaard 943; Saint Leo Slide 20). Then, Nietzsche, who shares Kierkegaard’s view on individuality, takes it a step further by flat out rejecting facts altogether (Saint Leo AVP). Furthermore, by using his disdain for aristocracy to rally against what he considers power structures that force moral codes and group expression on society, Nietzsche somewhat ironically proposes individuality as its own power structure, one that he believes frees the individual from embracing any one form of morality and which leads to ‘Will to Power’ (Nietzsche 1045; Saint Leo AVP).
Outwardly, one may think that Kierkegaard and Nietzsche were equally atheist about their views on God and what constitutes ideas such as ‘faith’ and ‘goodness’. However, in their individual works they diverge on belief in God, with Kierkegaard presenting himself as sort of an agnostic Christian and Nietzsche clearly not being a fan of the Christian God.
To elaborate, Kierkegaard, who interestingly calls himself an “outsider to the faith,” prefers to chuck out philosophy and systematic theology in favor of what some people today would refer to as having a ‘lived experience’: Kierkegaard believes that Christianity is the experience itself within the individual; it is the anti-objective, and instead subjective, means to live within truth without accepting an objective understanding of it. Further, he does not see the point in chasing after objective truth because it essentially wastes time better spent living in ‘faith’ (Kierkegaard 944, 947; Saint Leo Slide 20, 30). It is similar to the old adage, “success is the journey, not the destination.”
Meanwhile, Nietzsche is not having it all with Christianity — particularly the Christian God and the resulting system. In short, and because Nietzsche does not subscribe to facts, he also does not see any duality in life. Forget about right and wrong and true versus false. Instead, Nietzsche’s perspective is, well, aptly called perspectivism (Saint Leo Slide 15, 17; Saint Leo AVP). And as his perspectivism relates to Christianity, Nietzsche’s mission — for example, in Genealogy of Morals — is to strip away morality from Christian belief and apparently expose it as “masked hatred” (Saint Leo Slide 12).
Now, imagine what a debate would have been like if the two had met…
Works Cited
Kierkegaard, Soren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript. Edited by Pojman, Louis, and Lewis Vaughn, Classics of Philosophy. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Edited by Pojman, Louis, and Lewis Vaughn, Classics of Philosophy. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Saint Leo University. Module 8 Lecture Slides. PHI-502. 2024.
Saint Leo University. Module 8 AVP. PHI-502. 2024.