271: Friedrich Nietzsche and his provocative ideas

With special guest Longinus, P&C drink and review Warsteiner Dunkel, then discuss the philosophy of Nietzsche.  He's famous for his declaration of the death of God -- which is not the smirky, triumphalist statement of a modern atheist, but a lament at the loss of traditional foundations of meaning, morality, and purpose. Once you've pulled out the foundations that come along with belief in God, what do you have left?  Nietzsche is considered one of the early existentialists. He says that since our lives have no inherent meaning or any meaning imposed from outside, we need to create our own meaning.  He tries to avoid the nihilism and pessimism of Schopenhauer by building his own ideas about how to find meaning in a meaningless world. He criticizes Christianity as slave morality and urges a more aggressive form of self-assertion.  Nietzsche sees "will to power" as the essential element of who we are, and rather than suppress that, we should recognize and rejoice in it.