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Nietzsche and Morality

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Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory
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Synonyms

Dionysian; Earth; Ethics; Life; Morality; Nietzsche

Introduction

Friedrich Nietzsche developed a morality based in the earth and life in an attempt to overcome the devaluation of life by religious belief. As a grounding for his new morality, he advocates emphasizing the value of the senses of immediacy and eternalization which he associated with Dionysianism.

Nietzsche is well known for his critique of religiously based morality; however, it is less well known that he also produced a naturalistic morality grounded within life and which is completely affirmative of life. As the grounding of his affirmative morality, he identifies a “shuddering” or “shivering” moment of intoxication which he calls a “Dionysian” event, occurring as an overwhelmingly powerful compulsion originating outside consciousness to acknowledge the priority of articulate otherness. He chooses the name of the Greek god of intoxication, symposia, and festivals as a figurehead for his morality due to the...

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References

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Correspondence to Peter Durno Murray .

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Murray, P.D. (2017). Nietzsche and Morality. In: Peters, M.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-588-4_465

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