NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH WILHELM Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900) was a German philosopher influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer,* especially by his rejection of Immanuel Kant’s* view that duties to animals are only indirect duties to humankind. Nietzsche particularly developed Schopenhauer’s critique that the Kantian view leads to a lack of compassion for animals. Nietzsche held that the ‘‘deeper minds of all ages have had pity for animals’’ and that the ‘‘sight of blind suffering is the spring of the deepest emotion.’’ From this it follows that pity for animals is a virtue , if not an imperative Nietzsche argued that ‘‘Nature’’ is an order in need of higher transformation personified by the artist, philosopher, and saint: ‘‘Finally, Nature needs the saint,’’ for ‘‘in him the ego has melted away, and the suffering of his life is, practically, no longer felt as an individual, but as the spring of the deepest sympathy and intimacy with all living creatures.’’ Moreover, nature needs to attain the ‘‘high state of man’’ so ‘‘that she may be delivered from herself. In short, the suffering* of animals and nature await moral transformation by an enlightened humanity. In Turin on 3rd January, 1889, Friedrich Nietzsche steps out of the doorway of number six, Via Carlo Alberto. Not far from him, the driver of a hansom cab is having trouble with a stubborn horse. Despite all his urging, the horse refuses to move, whereupon the driver loses his patience and takes his whip to it. Nietzsche comes up to the throng and puts an end to the brutal scene, throwing his arms around the horse’s neck, sobbing. His landlord takes him home, he lies motionless and silent for two days on a divan until he mutters the obligatory last words, and lives for another ten years, silent and demented, cared for by his mother and sisters. We do not know what happened to the horse.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 13:50:35 +0000
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