Human, All Too Human : Nietzsche (1999)

Here is a great documentary on the life of Nietzsche. I've never really studied him or his life but I have heard him quoted a lot! He wasn't the first to propose the idea of a "godless" Universe, but I think he was the first to popularize it. A lot of Christian philosophy appropriates the work of Nietzsche to show that he understood the emptiness of human life without God. The problem is that I think atheists don't view his work this way. The people who made this documentary look at Nietzsche as a "liberator" so that people no longer had to be under religion - we can live without God. What I am amazed by is the idea that people are saying that he used his philosophy to cope with the issues of his own sufferings and the suffering of humanity when it was that philosophy that drove him insane.

I think the documentary also shows that psychologist Paul Vitz was right about how the lack of a father can lead to atheism. Nietzsche's father did not intentionally abandon him but instead got extremely sick, suffered for a while and then died. Young Nietzsche obviously wondered why God was punishing his father who was deeply religious. This was important in formalizing his rejection of God.

He understood what his philosophy logically led to and tried to find something replace to Christianity and give his life meaning. In the process of that search ...he went insane. Why would anyone want to follow him down that path? I think that his life would make a good biopic.




Human, All Too Human : Nietzsche (1999)