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Nietzsche And The Death Of God, Justin Remhof
Nietzsche And The Death Of God, Justin Remhof
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Nietzsche is perhaps most famous for making the striking claim that God is dead. He writes, "God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!" (GS 125).
What does this mean? Straightforwardly, it seems nonsensical. God is supposed to be eternal, and thus cannot die. Nietzsche’s claim, however, is that "God" is a fiction created by human beings. Thus, God "dies" when there is no good reason to believe that God exists.
This essay will help us understand this claim, his arguments for it, and its potential implications for contemporary religious and ethical thought.