Philosophy of Life

The Crisis of the European Man: A Critique of Christianity

According to Nietzsche, Europe is in a state of decadence. The European man is a man of decadence. Skepticism and moral decay, exhaustion and the loss of resistance, crime and alcoholism, pessimism and the weakening of will are characteristic features of contemporary Europe. “Vice, mental illness, ... criminals, anarchists—all are not oppressed classes but the dregs of all classes of former society.” Both socialist and anarchist theories serve as additional evidence of the malaise afflicting modern society. Ideas of equality and justice are victories and manifestations of the instincts of the crowd, the chandals (a social group outside the caste system in India), directed against aristocracy and exceptionalism. Accordingly, the man of this society, the man of decadence, is characterized by weakness of will, a loss of life’s meaning, a waning faith in value systems, and a diminishing belief in progress—though, in Nietzsche’s view, the idea of progress itself is a false notion.

To understand the current state of Europe, Nietzsche argues, one must look deeply into its roots. Ultimately, these roots lead us back to the Greeks, and they are intertwined with the name of Socrates and the value system he established. Socrates was the first to turn attention away from nature and direct it towards humanity, emphasizing reason as the defining attribute of man. He proclaimed knowledge, temperance, virtue, and justice as the highest values, placing them above strength, courage, exceptionalism, and nobility. Nietzsche believes that Socrates himself embodies the decadence of Athens. Socrates formulated the equation: reason equals virtue, which equals happiness, fundamentally altering perceptions of human values. In proof of his correctness, he devised a dialectic that always positioned him as right in arguments, compelling his opponents to prove they were not fools, thereby rendering them in an unflattering light. Nobility and strength do not require proof; their mere existence is evidence enough. The dialectic serves as a tool of the masses in their struggle against aristocracy and nobility. Socrates, by origin, belonged to the lower strata of Athenian society, which, while important, is not the crux of the matter. The essential point is that Socrates is a product of the crisis of Athenian society, its decadence. Through Socrates, Athens attempts to confront this crisis, declaring war on base instincts, seeking to destroy them through reason and dialectic, and to demonstrate their impotence and detrimental nature for humanity—a stance Nietzsche fundamentally opposes. “To be compelled to conquer one’s instincts is a formula for decadence: while life ascends, happiness equals instinct.”

Of course, this position should not be interpreted as Nietzsche advocating for all human instincts. Indeed, both alcoholism and greed, as well as womanizing, can be deemed manifestations of instinct, yet it is unlikely that Nietzsche should be seen as a defender or proponent of these phenomena. In his view, they are manifestations of decadence, of a crisis and decay—diseases of society. Nonetheless, Nietzsche fundamentally opposes the omnipotence of reason, the reduction of humanity to mere rationality, and the dominance of the Apollonian over the Dionysian within man.

Yet, the principal cause of this decadence is not Socrates, but Christianity. Nietzsche associates the corruption of the European man with Christianity, as the Christian religion proclaims and cultivates a moral system of values that “declares a mortal war... against the higher type of man.” Nietzsche examines Christianity, as with other religions, through the lens of the values they advocate and the morality they propagate. In this light, he regards Christianity as the worst religion compared to Islam and Buddhism, as the values it espouses are the most erroneous and profoundly at odds with life, ultimately suffocating it. From its inception, Christianity has been directed against instinct, against that which enhances and elevates life, promoting its growth. One of the principal values heralded by Christianity is compassion—compassion for the weak, the castaways of life, sympathy for the small and the unsuccessful. Yet, this very compassion sustains what should be rejected, undermining the foundations of life. In Nietzsche's view, Christianity represents a rebellion of the masses in morality. Christianity killed Rome. In place of its values—strength, dignity, nobility, the will to life, the will to power—it substituted the values of the crowd, the values of chandals, which advocate humility and obedience, weakness and submission, inconspicuousness, and non-resistance to evil. It upheld and exalted that which did not contribute to growth, the accumulation of strength, the will to power, and which undermined the life instinct. Christianity divided the world into this and that, into the true and the untrue, declaring this world to be untrue, and life within it to possess value only as preparation for existence in the true world. Thus, what is significant and worthy in life is only that which prepares one for life beyond. This, of course, does not pertain to instincts or flesh but to spirit, pure spirit directed towards God, which annihilates the flesh. Such are the values of Christianity by their very nature; yet the Church has further intensified their absurdity by proclaiming priests as the higher type of man. As a result, hypocrisy and falsehood triumphed, undermining belief in God itself and contributing even more significantly to the development of decadence, giving rise to nihilism as a characteristic trait and expression of decadence. Nihilism denies all higher values, erodes belief in oneself, negates the very value of life, and culminates in extreme pessimism and disbelief. However, nihilism is not mere negation. Nietzsche also rejects Christian values—this is active nihilism. True nihilism is negation without the affirmation of something in its stead; it is pessimism devoid of any glimmer of hope; it is the conviction that everything in the world is senseless and futile, and therefore, the world itself is absurd. In this manner, humanity has killed God, often without realizing it, rendering Christian values even more deceitful, as there was no longer even a formal justification for their existence. Thus, nihilism has been pushed to its extreme, becoming the defining characteristic and expression of decadence.