Disciplines
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity | Classical Archaeology and Art History | Classical Literature and Philology | Classics | Continental Philosophy | History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology | History of Religions of Western Origin | Philosophy
Abstract
Nietzsche argued that the Greeks were in possessions of every theoretical, mathematical, logical, and technological antecedent for the development of what could be modern science. But if they had all these necessary prerequisites what else could they have needed? Not only had the ancient Greeks no religious world-view antagonistic to scientific inquiry, they also lacked the Judeo-Christian promissory ideal of salvation in a future life (after death). Subsequently, when Greek culture had been irretrievably lost, what Nietzsche regarded as the "decadent" Socratic ideal of reason ultimately and in connection with the preludes of religion and alchemy developed into modern science and its attendant ideal of progress and redemption not in the afterlife but in "the future."
Recommended Citation
Babich, Babette, "Nietzsche's Antichrist: The Birth of Modern Science out of the Spirit of Religion" (2015). Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections. 64.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/phil_babich/64
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, History of Religions of Western Origin Commons
Comments
Babette Babich, "Nietzsche's Antichrist: The Birth of Modern Science out of the Spirit of Religion," Jahrbuch fur Religionsphilosophie Bd. 13/Philosophy of Religion Annual (Freiburg Alber, 2015), pp. 134-154.