Nietzsche's belief system

l
In order to give you an example of the Belief System Analysis method in action, I have done a Belief Map and Value Map of Nietzsche's system of thought. To download the map click here. Because it was done using the Visual Concept software, to view it you should download and install the Visual Concept viewer. To give you an idea of its structure and complexity, see the thumbprint below:



The contents of the Belief and Value Map are based on the most authoritative introduction to Nietzsche's thought - Walter Kaufmann's (1974) Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist - and my reading of his book Beyond Good and Evil. Although Nietzsche has had a bad press and made some bad judgements (such as being against democracy and equal rights!), his philosophy is generally very insightful and inspiring. His main message is to realise your true self, which is to become the kind of person that you most admire. You will know that you have succeeded when you are happy for your entire life to be infinitely repeated.

I think that the Map provides a very clear and concise summary of Nietzsche's main ideas and arguments, which validates the value of Belief and Value Maps. I should add though, that some of the beliefs and values in the map are not directly from his writings. These have been added by me in order to provide some logical justification for his beliefs so that you have a better idea of how a belief system can be constructed. It may be that an expert on Nietzsche would be able to provide justifications that are closer to how he really thought, and I will pass it on to experts for their advice and improve it.

Of course, as well as describing what a thinker's actual belief system was like, we can try to come up with an improved version that retains the key ideas but ensures a higher degree of coherent explanation of the facts. I think that Nietzsche's belief system would be very amenable to this.

Using the Notes function in Visual Concept I have also added some quotes from Nietzsche and Kaufmann that are relevant to particular beliefs, and which can give you a flavour of his style of writing, which is very entertaining. These can be accessed by passing the mouse point over the book symbols in the boxes.