I’ve always been a little confused about this. If God is dead then somehow humans lose all their morals and any human actions are permitted, right?. This doesn’t quite make a whole lot of sense to me. Plenty of atheists still have morals? Aren’t morals innate?
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4"If God is dead then somehow humans lose all their morals" is not a necessary statement.– FrankMar 2 at 18:56
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1Does this answer your question? How can one rebut the argument that atheism is inherently immoral?– David GudemanMar 2 at 20:04
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1Either OP is asking about Nietzsche's views on morality and it's clear he simply never considered morality came from God In the first place (but rather from churches), as is made clear in the answer to the question about Beyond Good and Evil linked above. Or OP is speaking about morality outside of Nietzsche and the question makes no sense.– armandMar 3 at 2:18
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@RandomGuy yep, 4chan people tried to troll us but we made them cry 😢 What part of my (our?) politely formulated comments offended you that hard?– armandMar 3 at 3:28
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1@MarinoKlisovich - A year of teaching elementary school, or a couple years of raising infant children would lay to rest the "moral nature" of children idea! Children must be taught moral behavior, or they can be very cruel. A child without the advantage of moral discipline is like building a ship without a keel, it will eventually shipwreck. But as you say, some adults teach bad conduct (deprogram) and the child is twice cursed.– user64825Mar 7 at 0:21
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4 Answers
No.
"God is dead" does not imply that morality does not exist. It implies that there is no one universal transcendental morality. Rather there are many little moralities (just as for postmodernists there is no one grand narrative of history, there are many narratives that can exist side by side). Powerful and healthy people should invent their own morals. Also, morality is not set in stone, it can change, evolve or die.
According to Nietzsche, Christianity is an example of a morality that died, but people still have not caught up to the fact.
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@Dennis Kozevnikoff - Nietzsche died, insane. Christian morality lives on in the lives of countless multitudes of people around the globe! Those people "have caught on" to the fact that it is grounded on a Solid Rock, in the midst of a very adverse world: one with a confused sense of right and wrong.– user64825Mar 20 at 21:57
God is dead can be taken to mean not that there are no moral values but that moral values are determined by people, not imposed upon them by a higher authority.
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What can I read to determine if this is the Authoritative answer to the question? ;-) Maybe a green checkmark would help. Mar 5 at 13:32
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Notice that Nietzsche's comment is a statement in a work of "fiction." There is no factual evidence that God is really dead! We are considering the proposition of a philosopher who went insane in later life, and deciding morality by reading fiction is very shaky ground.– user64825Mar 20 at 21:48
Morals are subjective and are “dead” regardless of whether god exists. If god existed, why would morals suddenly be objective? Why should we follow what god considers moral? Nietzsche is arguably “correct” about his conclusion of nihilism but the premise is unnecessary
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So what he said didn't need to be said, it was already the case. (Note that I didn't say it is 'true'.) I think God sent us out of the Garden of Eden to figure out these things for ourselves. Religion took the following history book to be prescriptive. Mar 5 at 13:35
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@Geoffrey Thomas - I posted a new answer and erased the old one. Does this satisfy the SE requirements? Or should I write this as another Answer? And have you delete this Answer below?– user64825Mar 20 at 21:41
According to my understanding, the statement "God is dead." marks the death of authority-based, externally imposed morality as we see in religious domain. This brings on the field the need for another morality--now internally based--that comes from our heart. Otherwise we will loose all our moral compass and fall into hell of animal life of immorality.
This new internally based morality is totally subjective and cannot be measured by external behavior. To some degree it can but ultimately we are the whiteness of our actions and accusations that come from our heart (in case we commit an moral offense).
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1This is similar to what was said in "Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" about people being able to sense for themselves what is best to do in a situation. If someone doesn't trust that sense in themselves, they need to seek help. If they don't trust it in others, they need to live far away from everyone. Mar 5 at 13:28
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By the way, animals are not immoral. Humans are vastly worse than animals could ever be in some cases. Mar 5 at 13:40
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1@ScottRowe yes, all children have a keen sense of morality in their awareness. Unfortunately most of them loose it during their adolescence because they are forced to accept the external values of their family and tradition to fit in their family system and society in general. Healing is needed to regain our innate moral compass. Mar 5 at 13:40
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@Marino Klisovich - Teaching in children's school would change your opinion quite fast! Children can be quite cruel without being taught. "Innate moral compass" as is stated, is often in conflict with "conscience." (Which a rabbi noted was a God-given part of man's psyche.) History has shown a Transcendent Source of Moral standards is mandatory because man's moral compasses are skewed by the ironworks of mortality.– user64825Mar 20 at 22:05