Zain's Guide to Overthinking Everything

  Notes on the Basics of Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th-century German philosopher, is known for his radical and thought-provoking ideas that continue to influence modern philosophy. In this blog post, we will explore the fundamental concepts of Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche constructed a genealogy for morality that is upheld in modern society. The initial form of morality was set by a warrior aristocracy and other ruling castes of ancient civilizations. Aristocratic values of good and bad coincided with their relationship to lower classes. Thus the moral values were that of strength and power. He believed that those who lacked power and authority resented those who held it, leading to a moral inversion. This inversion resulted in a society where once-weak qualities became virtues, and attributes of strength and pride were deemed immoral. This is known as the “Slave Revolt in Morality”. He believed that those who were historically powerless i.e slaves, such as the Jews a...

      Buddhism and Platonism      While Buddhism and Platonism are two philosophies that emerged around the same period, they fundamentally disagree on the concepts of the self, human nature, and the reality of existence. Buddhism posits that everything, including humans, is impermanent and constantly changing. Whilst the Platonic view is the opposite as it asserts that there is an eternal and unchanging self beyond the physical world.       Due to everything being in a state of flux, this would entail that there is no atman or greater permanent soul or self either. In Hinduism, the atman is associated with the Brahman or God and since Buddhism does not affirm the atman, there would be no God either. Included in this belief is that the self is composed of five aggregates: form, sense, perception, consciousness, and mental formations. The form refers to one’s body, sense refers to one’s ability to feel sensations, perception is the abilit...