Marinetti Vs Nietzsche

Marinetti’s The Futurist Manifesto and Nietzsche’s What is Done Out of Love Always Takes Place Between Good and Evil can both be viewed as commentaries on the cultural decadence of Western Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although they seem outwardly contrasting, both contain strong similarities. Marinetti’s tone towards Europe’s progress is passionate and hopeful, whereas Nietzsche takes a more nihilistic stance on the topic. Despite different approaches, they both seem to draw that decadence is rooted in remaining in the past’s traditions. To Marinetti, decadence is society’s declination from remaining comfortable with the past’s traditions instead of moving forward, while Nietzsche’s definition is new philosophers’ submission

Marinetti opens The Futurist Manifesto with a vivid description of him and his friends pursuing wild beasts and adventure, referring to Europe’s advancements. He trades in “old canals” for “famished automobiles” (F. Manifesto). He is fascinated with transportation because it encourages moving away from traditional ways of life. With new transportation, one can travel to new destinations and exponentially expand their knowledge. New technology, specifically transportation, and also can be seen as a symbol of moving people away from the past in the 19th and 20th centuries. New technology is impressive beyond anything from the past, leading Marinetti to want to continue advancing this technology and prosperity by

Nietzsche prefaces this claim by explaining “the Christian faith from the beginning is sacrifice” (Beyond Good and Evil 33). He illustrates that Christianity commands one to give up multiple unnecessary things, and requires “solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence” seemingly so that they may devote themselves to false things such as the hopes of an afterlife (Beyond Good and Evil 34). His claims invoke the idea that Christianity is the main perpetrator of regression because these rules prevent an individual from establishing new philosophies and ideas, contributing to the conformity of society. Restraint from natural instincts and inhibits their education. Instead of encouraging thought, Christianity teaches the “narrowing of perspectives”, which results in the amount of leaders that rise above the many to be almost nonexistent (53). Nietzsche insists this is the greatest problem in Europe, and coins it the phenomenon, “herding animal morality” (Beyond Good and Evil 62). When the masses are content and accustomed to following the rules Christianity advocates, the new age philosophers may feel that their views are wrong or foolish and attempt to conform to these beliefs, instead of pursuing their own ideas. Mediocrity then develops into declension. To break out of this animalistic state, Nietzsche calls for new