Religious Disposition Flashcards
What has caused misunderstanding of the Saint?
Faith in antithetical values
How are the souls of the Saint and sinner viewed?
They have opposite moral value
What kind of religion is a suicide of reason?
Original Christianity - arose in ‘a sceptical and free spirited southern world, which believed in reason and liberalism.
What is sacrificed as a result of Christianity?
All freedom, all pride, all spiritual self confidence
What are the three key stages of the great ladder of religious cruelty?
- Sacrifice of prized possessions 2. Self-sacrifice 3. Sacrifice of God
What will we worship, once God has been sacrificed?
Stone, stupidity, Gravity, fate, nothingness
What has caused atheism?
The unintelligibility of God
How is modern philosophy atheistic?
It attempts to disprove the Cartesian model of the soul
Who has a talent for religion, and who is better suited to atheism?
Southern Europeans inherently religious, while atheism is more natural to Northern Europeans
How would renunciation of faith be regarded in the south?
As a ‘revolt against the spirit of the race’
What does Nietzsche say about Ancient Greek religion?
He claims that it was characterised by noble gratitude, but was trained with fear by the rabble
What exactly is a slave revolt?
An inversion of values - slave’s traits become good, while master’s values become evil
What best exemplifies the inversion of values?
The paradoxical formula of God on the cross
In what way did the slaves become superior to their masters?
In a spiritual sense
What is the primary cause of slave revolts?
Scepticism about suffering
What is the true origin of religion
Fear of truth - piety the ultimate form of this
Example of religious falsification
Loving others for the sake of God
What viewpoint can be contrasted with the religious neurosis?
That of the ‘most world affirming man’, who would will eternal return…
What are the 4 advantages of religion
Overcomes obstacles to ruling
Allows the ruling class to preserve themselves for higher things
Provides a route of refinement
Justifies suffering
What are the 2 primary disadvantages of religion?
Religion has bred a herd animal
It has inverted noble values
What has happened since values have been twisted?
The values of the best-formed species of human have been replaced with ‘doubt, pangs of conscience, and self-destruction’, thus fusing the higher man with unworldly asceticism.
How does religion overcome obstacles to ruling ?
It creates a bind which unites the ruler and ruled; it allows the ruling class to control the conscience of the people.
In what way does religion preserve the ruling class, allowing for a higher kind of leadership?
Rulers can retreat into solitary life, delegating power to subordinates, who will perform the ‘crude’ roles of ordinary leadership example of the Brahmins.
How is religion a route of progression?
It is a tool for ‘breeding and education’. It allows members of the rabble to overcome their origin, by practising the self-control characteristic of the ascetic ideal.
How does religion justify suffering?
It provides the lower classes with meaning and comfort. They are able to ‘bear the sight of themselves’. It beautifies their poverty.
Explain the claim that religion has ‘bred a herd animal’.
Religion venerates those who ‘suffer from life as from an illness.’ As such, it has led to the degeneration of the human race, by ‘preserving too much of what ought to perish’.
How does the ascetic ideal allow Slaves to bear suffering?
It gives meaning to their suffering, by providing outlets for their ‘resentment’ - first, aristocrats can be blamed for their suffering. Secondly, it condemns the body, instincts, desires - our suffering is our punishment for simply existing, for failing to transcend the physical world.
Which dietetic requirements characterise the religious neurosis?
Solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence
