Brian Fratto
Nietzsche/Murdoch Blog
In
Nietzsche’s “Morality as Anti-Nature, he discusses his beliefs and opinions in
regards to religion, and its effects on people. Nietzsche argues that, since
religion enforces a moral code that punishes people for giving into impulses, it
asks us to condemn our passions. Instead
of avoiding and fearing our vices, Nietzsche believes that we should “spiritualize
them”, and as a result achieve certain virtues. “The spiritualization of sensuality is called
love: it represents the great triumph over Christianity. “ Similarly, in Iris
Murdoch’s “Morality and Religion”, she states that “If there is to be morality,
there cannot altogether be an end to evil.
Discord is essential to goodness.”
I
agree with both Nietzsche’s and Murdoch’s claims that by learning from and “spiritualizing”
the evil that is in our lives we can learn to be more moral people. However, I
do not think that religion has as large of a negative impact on human life as Nietzsche
claims. Religion inspires people to be perfect, but by no means expects them to
be. I believe that many moral codes from religion offer good insight on how to
live a moral and ethical life, even if they are not followed exactly. Thus, personally
agree more with Murdoch’s point of view in regards to Morality and Religion
over Nietzsche’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment