Why do existentialists love Nietzsche?

Question

Why do existentialists love Nietzsche?

Answer 1

Because to them, he represents a symbol of power (or self actualization) which is lacking within their philosophical ideals.

Answer 2

Nietzsche and Kierkegaard inspired the whole existential movement. The ideas presented in their philosophy are really what outlined existentialism to begin with. Things like absurdity, nihilism, and free will all make frequent appearances in his work . These are the things that typically appeal to readers of existentialism. There has been a trend since the beat generation for angsty  teens to devour the work of Sartre, Camus, Nietzsche. This kind of appreciation is often superficial and lacks a real understanding. Those who are more well read and with a more well rounded understanding of this philosophy enjoy Nietzsche because he was an amazing writer. His ideas where almost to crazy to consider, but the way in which he delivered them was      breathtaking.

Answer 3

Because he exhorted them to break the shackles of religion and tradition and strive to be more than mere cogs in the machine of the church and state.  Because he exhorted them to find within themselves the purpose and meaning of their own lives, the values they would live by, and the truth that comes from the quest for knowledge.

Answer 4

Because they find something to relate to in his writings.

But Nietzsche is not easy to understand. Some existentialists might be pretending to espouse what they have not, in actual fact, read properly or understood.

Nietzsche, although he suffered from bad headaches and was not very well understood even in his time, sometimes had the ability to take himself lightly.

"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!" he said. Or was he holding his tongue firmly in his cheek even then? Or was his opinion of those he was speaking to diminished by what they asked?

He also wrote, "The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it." I find this a commendable, convoluted way of giving an answer.

Remember, everyone puts their own meaning into ambiguity, and old Fred was hardly ever ambiguous. Perhaps that is what existentialism is - the ability to avoid ambiguity by using confusion.

Hmmm!

Answer 5

for decades and longer,in thousands of schools and colleges,people have been taught that these two- existentialists and the work of the author Nietzsche,"go together".

Be critical of both,especially including the so-called theories of existential-ism.

(see both in the work of Sir karl Popper,et al.)

Answer 6

Existentialism focuses on the idea that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives. Nietzsche focused on the human experience through his nihilism and his concept of the Ubermensch.