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CHAPTER 16
THE ANTI-PHILOSOPHER:
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
INSTRUCTIONS: Select the best answer according to the text.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Nietzsche said that modernity is a sickness.
2. Schopenhauer claimed that every satisfied desire only
creates new unsatisfied desires.
3. Schopenhauer characterized life as the will to live.
4. Nietzsche characterized life as the will to meaning.
5. Nietzsche was a tragic optimist.
6. Nietzsche referred to himself as an immoralist.
7. Nietzsche s Zarathustra has come to pave the way for the
return of God.
8. Nietzsche accuses modern science and philosophy of
being afraid to generalize values and codes of conduct.
9. Nietzsche thought that progress killed God.
10. Nihilism is the belief that everything comes to an end.
11. Nietzsche accused modernity of being pro-life.
12. Amor fati is Nietzsche s expression for the quiet, Stoic
acceptance of one s fate.
13. Nietzsche uses the term herd man to refer to the type of
person who cannot face life without God.
14. The overman finds meaning in others.
15. Nietzsche talks as if it will take hundreds of years before
we really understand the consequences of the death of
God.
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MULTIPLE CHOICE
16. Contemporary philosophers _____ .
a. deny that Nietzsche was a philosopher
b. have no doubt that Nietzsche was a brilliant
philosopher
c. disagree about whether Nietzsche was a philosopher
at all
d. reject Nietzsche s metaphysics but respect his ethics
17. Modernity refers to _____ .
a. the twentieth century and certain modern ideas
regarding democracy, mass literacy, and
individualism
b. the historical period of nineteenth– and twentieth-
century nation-states and certain ideas regarding
democracy, mass literacy, and individualism
c. the rejection of nineteenth- and twentieth-
century nation-states and certain ideas regarding
democracy, mass literacy, and individualism
d. the rejection of old-fashioned ideas such as
individualism, rationalism, and objectivity
18. Young Nietzsche was nicknamed _____ .
a. Hans
b. the little pastor
c. the little philosopher
d. Father Michaelucci
19. Schopenhauer argued that life is _____ .
a. good once we uncover its meaning
b. nothing but the constant will to survive
c. constantly evolving
d. meant to make us happy
20. _____ is the theory that life is disappointing and that
satisfying desires only gives rise to even more unsatisfied
ones.
a. Iconoclasm
b. Retreatism
c. Negativism
d. Pessimism
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21. Schopenhauer claimed that our only hope is _____ .
a. scientific progress
b. faith
c. detachment and withdrawal
d. to be found in meaningful relationships
22. According to Schopenhauer, life _____ .
a. follows an internal, ever-evolving order
b. is irrational and purposeless
c. was created to allow human beings to discover God
d. is governed by the will to power
23. _____ characterized the ultimate will as the will to live.
a. Nietzsche
b. Schopenhauer
c. Zarathustra
d. Nietzsche and Schopenhauer
24. Nietzsche characterized life as the will to _____ .
a. live
b. meaning
c. power
d. have no desires
25. Nietzsche combined basic concepts from _____ with
Schopenhauer s to shape his original philosophy.
a. Zarathustra
b. Darwin
c. Mill
d. Marx
26. _____ is the term Nietzsche used for the sense of vitality
that accompanies the imposition of one s values on a
meaningless world.
a. Pessimistic optimism
b. Pessimistic heroism
c. Tragic heroism
d. Tragic optimism
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27. The overall purpose of Nietzsche s writing was to _____ .
a. replace conventional morality with a higher
immoral ideal
b. encourage us to withdraw from life without regret
c. encourage us to will nothing and accept everything
d. spread the doctrine of pessimism
28. Referring to his iconoclasm, Nietzsche spoke of doing
philosophy _____ .
a. with his eyes closed
b. with a knife
c. with a hammer
d. out of spite
29. Nietzsche took the name Zarathustra from _____ .
a. Zara Salome, a woman he loved
b. Zoroaster, an ancient Persian prophet
c. the phrase za ra at hustra, meaning who
speaks like thunder
d. his father, Hans Zarathustra Nietzsche
30. According to Nietzsche, the next evolutionary type is
the _____ .
a. übermensch, or overman
b. pessimist
c. sophos
d. true believer who overcomes doubts
31. Nietzsche referred to himself as the _____ philosopher.
a. first
b. last
c. best
d. only
32. According to Nietzsche, _____ is the basis of meaning.
a. science
b. religion
c. rationality
d. taste
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33. Nietzsche sometimes adopted a form of relativism known
as _____ .
a. Nietzscheanism
b. perspectivism
c. objectivism
d. antism
34. Anti-philosophers dispute the possibility of _____ .
a. universality
b. relativism
c. perspectivism
d. antism
35. Anti-philosophers dispute the possibility of a(n)
_____ stance.
a. experimental
b. relative
c. neutral
d. perspectivist
36. Nietzsche s twofold philosophical appeal rests on two
components: _____ and _____ .
a. an aesthetic vision/the will to power
b. a rational argument/the will to power
c. the will to survive/the will to power
d. rationalistic relativism/objective perspectivism
37. Nietzsche accuses science, philosophy, and religion
of _____ .
a. well-intentioned ignorance
b. being biased
c. having a single hidden agenda
d. being overly subjective
38. According to Nietzsche, modern moral philosophers _____ .
a. are on the right track in their rejection of
Kant and Hume
b. are blind to the fact that all their philosophizing
is done for a purpose
c. were the first thinkers to sense the death of God but
lacked the nerve to express this dangerous idea
to the general public
d. are responsible for the domination of science
because of their eager acceptance of Darwinian ideas
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39. _____ consists of expressing commonplace moral
sentiments that conflict with one s behavior.
a. Reaction formation
b. Moralizing
c. Being moralistic
d. Moralistic reactionism
40. According to Nietzsche, the modern democratic
ideal _____ .
a. is toxic for inferior types, but honorable among
true overmen
b. encourages sheep-like types
c. is the only decent value to be found in Christian
morals
d. may be a weakness but it is preferable to selfishness,
which is always toxic
41. Nietzsche claimed that authentic faith in God _____ .
a. is more difficult than ever
b. refutes tragic pessimism
c. is no longer possible
d. must rest on Darwinian nihilism
42. Nietzsche announces the idea of the death of God in a
parable about _____ .
a. a hungry man with a child
b. a prophet with an empty purse
c. the death of Schopenhauer
d. a madman with a lantern
43. According to Nietzsche, the decline of Christianity began
with the discoveries of _____ .
a. Columbus and Magellan
b. Darwin and Victoria
c. Copernicus and Galileo
d. Descartes and Marx
44. Nihilism is the belief that _____ .
a. life is negative
b. if we do not learn, we will annihilate ourselves
c. God is evil
d. the universe lacks meaning and purpose
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45. According to Nietzsche, all values are _____ .
a. ultimately based on facts
b. chosen
c. worthwhile
d. inherited
46. The overman is _____ .
a. a superior human being
b. dependent on the values of his peers
c. more than human
d. most fully human
47. According to Nietzsche, the death of God is _____ .
a. the signal for the decline of the overman
b. horrible news for the overman since it robs him of a
worthy adversary
c. a glorious opportunity for the overman
d. a glorious opportunity for the herd man
48. Nietzsche distinguishes between two types of morality:
_____ and _____ .
a. master/idealistic
b. master/overman
c. slave/master
d. rational/religious
49. According to Nietzsche, the inferior individual feels
_____ for superior types.
a. affection
b. nothing
c. resentment
d. compassion
50. Nietzsche saw history as the _____ .
a. continual withering away of master morality
b. exaltation of the overman
c. unfolding of the mind of God
d. continual withering away of all morality
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51. According to Nietzsche, slave morality _____ .
a. reminds us all that we are slaves to fortune
b. is unduly pessimistic because it fails to see the great
promise of salvation in the life of Christ
c. is desirable for some people
d. creates inhibitions
52. According to Nietzsche, Greek ethics _____ .
a. are the chief source of master morality in this culture
b. are the true source of Christian ethics
c. are a chief source of slave morality
d. evolved from the Persian doctrines of Zarathustra
53. According to Nietzsche, slave morality originates
from _____ .
a. inferior genes
b. resentment
c. economic inequality
d. the need for slaves to survive
54. Nietzsche s master morality is a(n) _____ code.
a. religio-philosophical
b. heroic-ethical
c. existential-communitarian
d. aesthetic-heroic
55. Amor fati is Nietzsche s term meaning _____ .
a. fate returns
b. love of fate
c. fate is our armor (protection)
d. love is folly
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Chapter 16
THE ANTI-PHILOSOPHER: FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
1. What is meant by modernity?
2. What was Nietzsche s view of modernity? Explain.
3. What is philosophical pessimism, and what role did it play in
the formation of Nietzsche s philosophy?
4. What is an anti-philosopher? In what sense is Nietzsche an anti-
philosopher? Explain.
5. What is the will to power? What role does it play in Nietzsche s
critique of modernity? *
6. What does Nietzsche mean when he accuses modern Western
culture of being moralistic? What is a reaction formation? How are
the concepts of being moralistic and reaction formation related? *
7. What is amor fati? How does it relate to Nietzsche s overall
philosophy? Explain.
8. What is tragic optimism? What does the death of God have to
do with it?
9. Thoroughly explain what Nietzsche meant by the death of God.
How is the death of God related to nihilism and the overman? *
10. At the end of the nineteenth century, Nietzsche claimed that it
would become increasingly impossible to believe in God. Part of his
claim involved radical changes in society. What changes? Have they
continued? In our own time, does what passes for belief in God (at
least for many people) refute or confirm Nietzsche s prediction? Be
thorough and specific. And don t forget to explain what Nietzsche
meant by the death of God. *
11. What is herd morality? What produces it? What stands against
it? Which do you prefer: herd morality or the morality that opposes
it? Explain. *
12. What, if anything, does a person s reaction to Nietzsche s notion
of the herd tell us about that person?
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13. Summarize and then evaluate Nietzsche s attitude toward
education.
14. Compare Kierkegaard s crowd to Nietzsche s herd
(Chapter 16) and to Heidegger s the they (Chapter 17). Are the
crowd, the herd, and the they the same thing? Explain. *
15. Assess contemporary culture in terms of the overman/herd man
distinction. Do you think today s widespread individualism indicates
the emergence of the overman or something else? Can there be an
entire society of overmen? Explain. That is, do you think Nietzsche
would be encouraged or disheartened by our apparent lack of
inhibition and radical individualism? *
16. Is there a contradiction in claiming to be a Nietzschean?
Explain your answer carefully and thoroughly. *
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CHAPTER 16 ANSWERS