We live in a time of post-truth.
So who better to help guide us than Friedrich
Nietzsche, the philosopher of nihilism, where
But Nietzsche, contrary to popular opinion,
did not set out to celebrate nihilism.
Rather, he sought to diagnose it, to find
out if there was a cure.
For Nietzsche, the search for Truth, with
a capital T, was a fundamentally Christian
search.
But in his famous essay On the Genealogy of
Morality, he concluded that Truth would take
the final logical step against itself, by
discovering that God does not exist.
When Nietzsche famously declared that “God
is dead,” he meant that the old transcendental
values that religion provided no longer offered
a common foundation upon which everyone could
agree.
And with no basis for Truth, everyone could
declare their own truths.
Nietzsche thought that the news that “God
is dead” had come too early for his time.
Well, here we are.
So did he see a way to navigate a post-Truth world?
The people Nietzsche was most interested in
talking to were those he considered to be
still living under what he called the “Shadows
of God,” those who know that God is dead,
but go on living as if he were still alive.
That didn’t include everyone – Nietzsche
was quite happy to contend with the fact that
the majority of people could continue to live
as if God were still alive.
But for those who know he is dead, there is
no turning back.
Turning back is to fall into the nihilism
Nietzsche was denouncing.
Take Richard Spencer, the alt-right leader
who claims to have been “red-pilled” by
Nietzsche.
He admits that he does not believe in God,
but he affirms Christian values anyway, as
part of his inheritance as a white American.
That’s nihilistic, not to say racist – precisely
what Nietzsche was fighting against.
The same can be said of “alternative facts”
that posit the existence of an alternative
truth.
Such a truth no longer exists, which is why
Nietzsche recommended that we observe the
world from as many perspectives as possible.
To behave as though it does
is simply to retreat into a nihilistic affirmation
of our own values.
Instead we must go forward.
We must find new sources of legitimacy.
Already, mainstream media are fighting back.
After Donald Trump’s election last year,
digital newspaper subscriptions exploded.
Universities have a role to play, too, by
engaging more with the public.
And democracy has a role to play: Nietzsche
thought that ultimately it would give rise
to a new cultural elite, because all life
needs an aesthetic justification.
God is dead, and we must step out of his shadows
into a new light.
