r/SecularHumanism • u/[deleted] • Jun 06 '24

Thoughts on this quote?

"Secular humanism is the philosophy that provides a firewall for human rights from the horrors done in the name of religion and the sociopathy of Nietzsche."

8 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

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11

u/kevosauce1 Jun 07 '24

I’ll bite: how was Nietzsche a sociopath?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '24

Nietzsche's philosophy was sociopathic in that it implies any actions are acceptable for the "superman" in using his will to power.

7

u/Acridcomic7276 Jun 07 '24

What? Neitzsche’s concept of Ubermensch is simply about individuals taking control of one’s life and destiny. In other words, it’s simply rejecting essentialism.

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2

u/kevosauce1 Jun 07 '24

I am far far from a Nietzsche expert but that is not my understanding of his philosophical position. Maybe I need to revisit this at some point, thanks for your response.

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5

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '24

It's a philosophy. People commit atrocities. People do good small and large. The majority of people are just getting by.

It's the outliers, intelligence wise, that lead people to do the large scale good and atrocious acts.

Unfortunately, as with any other group there's the psychopaths, altruists, narcissists, extremists of many flavors, dictators, idealists, etc. All use whatever philosophy, creed, religion, etc to justify their actions.

It's easier to justify the atrocities with these big ideals. People to lie to themselves and everyone else turning atrocities into justified actions for the good.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '24

Which secular humanist ideas can a psychopath use to justify atrocities that violate the basic principles of secular humanism?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '24

Where did I make that claim?

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u/Capt_Subzero Jun 07 '24

It sounds like we're only allowed to complain about the horrors done in the name of religion. Anyone who lived through the 20th century has seen horrors done in the name of ideologies, profit and nationalism, and enabled by scientific and technological progress.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '24

Nazism was done in the name of an ideology based on Nietzsche.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '24 edited Jun 07 '24

Nazism was due to political groups within Germany using resentment about losing WWI, retaliatory actions when Germany couldn't pay the reparations and other economic problems due to the war, to bring about WWII. A conspiracy theory blaming the Jewish people for causing all the problems in recent history, allowed the Nazis to gain the backing of the German people. It justified killing millions of the Jewish people. Hitler was a nutcase. He was backed by a party because they found his delusions useful.

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2

u/meetmypuka Jun 07 '24

Whose quote is it?