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Nietzsche's Recipe For The Good Life Essay

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Friedrich Nietzsche’s rejection of prior conservative accounts—preservations and adaptations of the Christian meaning of life— for the meaning of life marked the beginning of radicalism in searching for philosophical meaning. A need to find universal meaning, Nietzsche claims, is for the weak. Instead, the German philosopher calls for man to reject these universal worldviews and to embrace one’s own meaning in life. To craft a personal meaning of life - rather than blindly accepting the tenants of Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam - is, to Nietzsche, the way towards a good life. His recommendation is to become the novelist, screenwriter, director, or poet of one’s own life. I agree with Nietzsche’s call for man to look to artists for the good …show more content…

While the argument could be made that adopting Nietzsche’s recipe for the good life is also a copy of someone else’s meaning of life, Nietzsche brilliantly describes how one should find meaning, and not, importantly, what that meaning will be. Thus, one must choose for himself what life is to be, and so long as life is a) individual and b) chosen (rather than discovered in a religious delirium), then one is able, but not guaranteed, to live a happy life. I believe that Nietzsche’s requirement that this meaning takes physics under consideration to be an admonishment against religious worldviews. An individually chosen life provides one with the best shot at being happy, and while I am not certain, I believe that Nietzsche would agree that following this path is not a guarantee at happiness, but rather, is the best chance one has. One could individually choose to be a serial killer of philosophy professors, but that does not make that life happy. Furthermore, a billionaire could choose a noble life of helping the poor and giving away his wealth, but even still he could be

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