NIETZSCHE – THE IDEOLOGIST OF LIFE

Abstract

Although Friedrich Nietzsche is well-known for his radical criticism of prejudicesand idols that determined the traditional philosophy to a large extent, the author tries to show theideological background of Nietzsche’s philosophy. It consists in having a one-sided concept oflife. Life is the main idol to which the Dionysian thinker paid his tribute – this is the provocativethesis of the following essay. The author will show that Nietzsche overlooked the fact that thesupposed „negative“ sides of life such as diseases or frailty are the constituent part of life, not hiscontradictory opposite, as he generalizes just the „positive“ traits as characteristic for the phenomenonof life. At least it will be drawn a parallel between Nietzsche’s philosophy of life andbioethics as a discipline which is rethinking the problems concerning the quality of life. Bioethicsis also under the influence of the vitalistic ideology because it doesn’t scrutinize the problematicaspects of life itself. Therefore we must criticize the „idol of life“.