Page 20 - GALIET CRUX, NUX OR LUX: Nietzsche IV

In fact, in Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche suggests that all his criticisms of Christianity do not pertain to Christianity per se, but to Platonic ideals within Christianity. For Nietzsche, Christianity becomes a sort of Trojan horse: it inculcates Platonic ideals that equate virtue with truth, goodness and beauty. For Plato, the “Good Life” lies in the harmony reached between pure reason and justice. Notice that for Socrates justice is one of the main thrusts of Book I of the Republic. Polemarchus suggests that “to give back what is owed to each is just” (Socrates counters with that to return a weapon to a friend who had gone mad is not just). Thrasymachus then offers “justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger.” Socrates dismisses this argument by saying that rulers are fallible and therefore liable to make decisions that are not in the best interest of their subjects. According to Socrates, “right living,” “dutiful service to others,” and doing that which is “appropriate” is the just. Glaucon argues that justice is neither a virtue nor injustice a vice. Socrates responds by creating an ideal, virtuous city. At the end of his creation, Socrates concludes that the four classical virtues are wisdom, temperance, courage and justice. A person, according to Socrates, must have his tri-partite soul in harmony: highest (reason), lowest (desire) and middle (emotion). Therefore, this world of becoming is not a place to look for a foundation of moral virtue. Nietzsche thinks otherwise. He thinks that the “illuminated” world is the physical world akin to Plato’s Cavern. Consequently, his anti-metaphysical claim has
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