Nietzsche's influence on Sartre's existential philosophy

Anti-Christian

Explain Nietzsche's statement in the section on "The Will to Power" that Christianity is an "impious lie" and that "we ought to declare open war against it"?

The Holy Bible teaches that one should love thy enemies. However, Nietzsche finds this to be a major problem. In addition, He believes that by saying that one should love their enemies like they love their friends, is a big lie. This is true because this is something that my parents told me growing up, though now at an older age, I see it as something stupid. Why should I love or care for someone who has done me wrong. I see it as if someone did me wrong, then forget them and let them live their lives away from me. As long as they get away from me and do not ever get near me I will not try to get involve in their lives. Yes, they did me wrong, but that does not mean that I am going to respect them or care for them, but it does not also mean that I am going to try to make their lives a living hell. I do not want to waste my time making someone else unhappy, when I can do things for myself and make myself happy. So basically, I agree that "to love their enemies like they love their friends" is a lie and I do not think it is true. This is also why Nietzsche goes against Judeo-Christianity, because they say things that people should do, when in reality no one will do them because it is not consider moral to a lot of people.

If the Judeo-Christian "ethics of love" is rejected by Nietzsche, with what does he replace it?

Nietzsche replaces the "ethics of love" with the "ethics of slaves." The ethics of slaves are what exerted vengeance and hatred toward the Jewish nation. As a result, everything became Judaized or Christianized, and the ethics of the common man began to dominate the world. Values were then brought into existence.

In effect, what are Nietzsche's "ideals" for human existence?

He believes that all humans are equal, and that there is not one person who cannot be blown up in a bag. He also gives the example of Lessing who lost his son. The son of Lessing died because "he understood the world so well that he left it at the first opportunity." This is understandable because I have heard people say that if they knew how their lives would be before they were born, they would have rather not been born. Life is not easy and not everyone can take what they are given. There are people who cannot handle bad times, or stress that life adds. It is important that people say the truth because once they start lying, things can go bad. No one wants to be lied to, once they have been lied to, it will be hard to trust that person ever again, or maybe not trust anyone. It is hard to trust people once one has been lied to, especially if they have been lied to by those they love and trusted the most. Those who lie are no longer accepted by those they lied to, and they will have to work really hard if they ever want to get their trust again, and that is if the people they lied to accepts their apologies, which they most likely will not.

What does Sartre mean when he speaks of humanity's "anguish" and its "forlornness"?

For anguish he gives us a definition that anguish is felt by a person "who involves himself and who realizes that he is not only the person he chooses to be, but also a lawmaker who is, at the same time, choosing all mankind as well as himself." He gives us the example of Abraham believing that an angel of God has ordered him to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, this shows the anguish of trying to act rightly without ever being able to secure any conclusive evidence of what is the right course of action. The second emotion, forlornness, Sartre says that it is "very distressing that God does not exist, because all possibility of finding values in a heaven of ideas disappears along with Him; there can no longer be an a priori Good, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to think it."

What does Sartre mean by the expression "existence precedes essence"?