what exactly do "God is ad" mean, and... — The Gay Science Q&A

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GOD IS DEAD THE GAY SCIENCE

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ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-14--Ume6q ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-normal--s54Wf ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-text--QmNJR ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-sendary--WRADg ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ ontend-pencraft-Text-module__body4--Pl3xY">Not</div></button><button tabInx="0" id="trigger727121" aria-expand="false" aria-haspopup="dialog" aria-ntrols="dialog727122" ariaLabel="View more" type="button" class="button share-actn"><div class="actn-in"><svg role="img" width="100" height="100" viewBox="0 0 100 100" fill="none" stroke-width="1.8" stroke="#000" xmlns="><g><tle></tle><circle cx="23" cy="50" r="9"></circle><circle cx="50" cy="50" r="9"></circle><circle cx="77" cy="50" r="9"></circle></g></svg></div><div translated class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-14--Ume6q ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 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ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-tail--MiH57 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-radi-12--AmQy9 social-preview-box post"><div class="social-image-box"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" /><img src=" siz="100vw" alt loadg="lazy" width="120" class="ontend-ponents-rponsive_img-module__img--Pgjj2 social-image" /></picture></div><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-directn-lumn--Rq7pk ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-y-8--exiCC ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-left-12--eE6bp"><h4 class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__size-16--fFowu ontend-pencraft-Text-module__le-height-20--p0dP8 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__weight-bold--Ps9DB ontend-pencraft-Text-module__font-text--QmNJR ontend-pencraft-Text-module__lor-primary--ud4Z0 ontend-pencraft-Text-module__ret--dW0zZ">"God is Dead" — What Nietzsche Really Meant</h4><div class="pencraft 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class><div class="available-ntent"><div dir="to" class="body markup"><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="1040" height="728" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" fetchprry="high" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a></figure></div><p>“God is ad,” surely Nietzsche’s notor soundbe ( a portfol of notor soundb). It’s a statement that has saturated society as a cultural watershed moment. But the te meang and power of Nietzsche’s dyname phrase has often been missed popular culture.</p><p><span>When you e across this statement the varyg rners of culture, is often taken as a phy formulatn of </span><a href=" rel>Morny’s</a><span> revolutn. Seen through this lens, “God is ad” is a merely a phy rtatement of somethg that had been brewg Europe centuri sce Copernic and Drt.</span></p><p>But that is not what Nietzsche was dog.</p><p><span>“God is ad” isn’t simply Nietzsche signg the ath certifite of the Christian God. </span><a href=" rel>Atheism was nothg new</a><span> his time; may have been ntroversial but was very far om the cuttg edge.</span></p><p><span>God is ad was not a statg of the obv; is a much more profound (and much more horrifyg) sentiment. When down to , this isn’t a Mornist but a </span><em>Postmornist</em><span> statement.</span></p><p>When Nietzsche says that God is ad he don’t jt mean that the Christian God is ad; God here don’t refer to the narrow relig fn but to the broar ia of the universal and transcennt tth.</p><p>A more accurate way of exprsg what he meant would be “Tth is ad”.</p><p>It don’t pack the same poetic punch but the statement “Tth is ad” ptur more of the postmorn horror that Nietzsche was really gettg at. In this article, we are gog to explore the meang of this statement pth, what Nietzsche really meant and why was so much more revolutnary and groundbreakg than a mere statement of atheism.</p><h2 class="hear-wh-anchor-widget">A Statement of Atheism?<div id="§a-statement-of-atheism" class="hear-anchor-widget offset-top"><div class="hear-anchor-widget-button-ntaer"><div href=" class="hear-anchor-widget-button"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="hear-anchor-widget-in"><path d="M10 13a5 5 0 0 0 7.54.54l3-3a5 5 0 0 0-7.07-7.07l-1.72 1.71"></path><path d="M14 11a5 5 0 0 0-7.54-.54l-3 3a5 5 0 0 0 7.07 7.07l1.71-1.71"></path></svg></div></div></div></h2><blockquote><p><em>The madman.- </em><span>Have you not heard of that madman who l a lantern the bright morng hours, ran to the market place. and cried csantly: “I seek God! I seek God!” -As many of those who did not believe God were standg around jt then, he provoked much lghter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hidg? Is he aaid of ? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated? -Th they yelled and lghed.</span></p><p>The madman jumped to their midst and pierced them wh his ey. “Whher is God?” he cried; “I will tell you … God is ad. God remas ad. And we have killed him.”</p><p><span>— </span><em>The Gay Science</em><span> §125</span></p></blockquote><p><span>In the setup of this aphorism there is somethg that should immediately jar wh an attempt to read this passage a Mornist light. The dience that the madman speaks to are not simple relig people; they are not prits or bishops or upholrs of the relig orr. This is what we’d expect of a triumphant Mornist narrative which lls the relig lud and mocks their beliefs </span><a href=" rel>as sane</a><span>.</span></p><p>On the ntrary, what we get is an dience of unbelievers who mock the madman his search for God and ask him if God is lost or hidg. It’s the same sort of nscendg attu you see wh the lik of Richard Dawks or Sam Harris; ’s the crowd that see relig belief as a childish fairytale at bt or a nefar md vis at worst.</p><p><span>In speakg to such a crowd, Nietzsche is signallg somethg important — the unterposn to the madman is not the relig believer but the mornist unbeliever. Which, if you thk about , mak sense; Nietzsche was at the cuttg edge of dangero thoughts and by the time he’s wrg at the end of the 19th-century atheism was far om the cuttg edge — remember this is already s after Darw had published </span><em>On the Orig of Speci</em><span> which was really the fal nail the Christian ff.</span></p><h2 class="hear-wh-anchor-widget">The price to be paid<div id="§the-price-to-be-paid" class="hear-anchor-widget offset-top"><div class="hear-anchor-widget-button-ntaer"><div href=" class="hear-anchor-widget-button"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="hear-anchor-widget-in"><path d="M10 13a5 5 0 0 0 7.54.54l3-3a5 5 0 0 0-7.07-7.07l-1.72 1.71"></path><path d="M14 11a5 5 0 0 0-7.54-.54l-3 3a5 5 0 0 0 7.07 7.07l1.71-1.71"></path></svg></div></div></div></h2><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="944" height="741" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt tle srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><span>Kg Lear and the Fool the Storm by William Dyce (image via </span><a href=" rel>Wikimedia</a><span>: Public Doma)</span></figptn></figure></div><p>Proceedg beyond this claratn of God’s ath, Nietzsche pats a grim rhetoril image of doom — we have murred God and there is some nsequence to be paid for this actn that we haven’t reckoned wh jt yet.</p><p>This price is the real msage of the madman. By killg God, we have exposed the vourg vacuum of nihilism. This is the warng that Nietzsche is tryg to munite to the Mornist — the ath of God prents a danger unheard of the history of culture and we ignore at our own risk.</p><p>The Mornist mdset hears the phrase “God is ad” and, like the dience of Nietzsche’s madman, they lgh and they mock. The ath of God is a trivialy. It is a non-event that we needn’t worry about. It is a great event to have put away the superstns. Now we are more telligent, now we are smarter, and, unlike our anctors, we are longer beg duped to believg silly stori.</p><p>The Mornist lghs sardonilly at the fah of the relig their holy books and proudly holds up the scientific non and all s amazg disveri as a unterargument. Science, great science, has liberated om the stupidy of the ag.</p><p><span>Needls to say, Nietzsche is not so optimistic about the Mornist project. By the time of wrg </span><em>The Gay Science</em><span> 1882, Nietzsche has progrsed beyond his earlier adulatn of the scientific worldview. He is no longer fected wh the enthiasm of science and progrs but by this time he has begun to turn his maxims and arrows on the great mammoth that was morn scientific optimism. Hence the madman’s dience beg not relig believers but mornist atheists.</span></p><h2 class="hear-wh-anchor-widget">Nietzsche Contra Scientism<div id="§nietzsche-ntra-scientism" class="hear-anchor-widget offset-top"><div class="hear-anchor-widget-button-ntaer"><div href=" class="hear-anchor-widget-button"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="hear-anchor-widget-in"><path d="M10 13a5 5 0 0 0 7.54.54l3-3a5 5 0 0 0-7.07-7.07l-1.72 1.71"></path><path d="M14 11a5 5 0 0 0-7.54-.54l-3 3a5 5 0 0 0 7.07 7.07l1.71-1.71"></path></svg></div></div></div></h2><p><span>A few years after The Gay Science and his claratn of God’s ath, Nietzsche tak aim at the place of science his book </span><em>The Genealogy of Moraly</em><span>.</span></p><p>In the third say of the Genealogy, he is explorg the topic of the “ascetic ial”. This is the ial of asceticism that Nietzsche se as unrlyg the evolutn of anised relign. The belief te realy as a transcenntal realm beyond this world is the hallmark of the ascetic ial.</p><p>In sectn 24 of this say, Nietzsche says that he has looked around for a unterial to this Ascetic ial and he has found everywhere lackg. He rponds to the suggtn that science offers a unterial, that :</p><blockquote><p><span>“has already nquered [the ascetic] ial all important rpects: all of morn </span><em>science</em><span> is supposed to bear wns to that—morn science which, as a genue philosophy of realy, clearly believ self alone, clearly posss the urage for self and the will to self, and has up to now survived well enough whout God, the beyond, and the virtu of nial. […] The tth is precisely the oppose of what is asserted here: science today has absolutely </span><em>no</em><span> belief self, let alone an ial above —and where still spir passn, love, ardor, and </span><em>sufferg</em><span> at all, is not the oppose of the ascetic ial but rather </span><em>the latt and noblt form of </em><span>.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span>This is the begng of Nietzsche’s crique of science. He is not attackg science self or scientists for he says “I approve of their work” (GM 3.23). What he </span><em>is</em><span> gog after, is the jump between science and scientism by which we mean Wtgenste’s spicn of the attu “a reactn agast the overtimatn of science” (</span><em>Culture and Value</em><span> 70).</span></p><p><span>This overtimatn of science is what Nietzsche is tacklg. He is not anti-scientific for, as we have noted, he approv of the work of scientists. But he </span><em>is</em><span> gog after the worldview that evolv around science — the iologizg of science.</span></p><p>This attu towards science ntas an ialisatn of science’s pabili. It enshr science on the lofty pestal once occupied by Christiany. Science be the new relign.</p><p>So what Nietzsche is gog after here is the atheistic science-lovg type reprented the parable of the madman by those who lgh and mock him. The ironic thg about this type om Nietzsche’s perspective is that they thk they are the oppose of the relig mdset. They thk that they are better.</p><p>When Richard Dawks lls relign a ln, go whout sayg that he is superr to the relig mdset, that his ratnal worldview is the oppose of this relig mdset. But the irony for Nietzsche is that they are not oppos but merely varyg maniftatns of the same ascetic ial.</p><p>Science, like the ascetic ial, still preach another world — the “objective” world of thgs--themselv.</p><blockquote><p><span>“The tthful man, the dac and ultimate sense prupposed by the fah science, </span><em>thereby affirms another world</em><span> than that of life, nature, and history; and sofar as he affirms this ‘other world,’ do this not mean that he has to ny s anthis, this world, </span><em>our</em><span> world? … It is still a </span><em>metaphysil fah</em><span> that unrli our fah science—and we men of knowledge of today, we godls men and anti-metaphysicians, we, too, still rive </span><em>our</em><span> flame om the fire igned by a fah lennia old, the Christian fah, which was also Plato’s, that God is tth, that tth is </span><em>dive</em><span>.—But what if this belief is beg more and more unbelievable, if nothg turns out to be dive any longer unls be error, bldns, li—if God himself turns out to be our </span><em>longt lie?” </em><span>(GM 3.24)</span></p></blockquote><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="1280" height="918" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><span>Astronomer Copernic, or Conversatns wh God by Jan Matejko (image via </span><a href=" rel>Wikimedia</a><span>: Public Doma)</span><strong> </strong></figptn></figure></div><p><span>The u of qutng this ascetic ial that unrps Christiany and science and nyg our fah is that a new problem aris “that of the </span><em>value</em><span> of tth”.</span></p><p>This value of tth is somethg that we have taken for granted but as Nietzsche not this fah is lennia old, is the Christian fah which was also Plato’s. He wants to qutn the ia of tth’s divy.</p><p><span>Explorg what this looks like is beyond the spe of this article but a taster of what Nietzsche is talkg about here is given the first sectn of </span><em>Beyond Good and Evil</em><span> where he asks why we should prefer tth to untth given that life is as reliant on untth as is on tth. Above tth Nietzsche’s value scheme we fd life and health and so rather than focsg on the tth as the hight value when lookg at a belief or a behavur we are better off askg:</span></p><blockquote><p><span>“to what extent is life-promotg, life-prervg, speci-prervg, perhaps even speci-cultivatg”</span><br /><span>—</span><em>Beyond Good and Evil</em><span> §4</span></p></blockquote><p>The bottom le is that Nietzsche se science not as the oppose of the relig mdset but as the latt maniftatn of . It is the obssn wh the universal and transcennt tth that li beneath the maniftatns of the ascetic ial.</p><p>And so when Nietzsche tells that God is ad, he is not makg a Mornist attack on the relig mdset the way that Dawks or Dent might. He is makg a Postmornist attack on the Mornist worldview’s idolisatn of science. He wants to reveal that this worldview is the u of the same tree as the relig worldview.</p><h2 class="hear-wh-anchor-widget">The Real Meang of God’s Death<div id="§the-real-meang-of-gods-ath" class="hear-anchor-widget offset-top"><div class="hear-anchor-widget-button-ntaer"><div href=" class="hear-anchor-widget-button"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="hear-anchor-widget-in"><path d="M10 13a5 5 0 0 0 7.54.54l3-3a5 5 0 0 0-7.07-7.07l-1.72 1.71"></path><path d="M14 11a5 5 0 0 0-7.54-.54l-3 3a5 5 0 0 0 7.07 7.07l1.71-1.71"></path></svg></div></div></div></h2><p><span>The te meang of God is ad is much eper than what had already bee a platu by the end of the 19th century. When he speaks about God he’s speakg of a broar fah “the Christian fah, which was also Plato’s, that God is tth, that tth is </span><em>dive</em><span>” (GM24).</span></p><p>This ath of God is a potential lamy. To kill God this broar sense is not jt to do away wh the mythos of Christiany. In throwg out the bathwater lled God, we are also stg out our epistemic certaty and the groundg of tth. We are losg solid ground and so we are threatened wh the potentially vastatg problems of nihilism and relativism. Whout God, Nietzsche asks:</p><blockquote><p><span>“Is there still any up or down? Are we not strayg as through an fe nothg? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has not bee lr? Is not night ntually closg on ?” — </span><em>The Gay Science</em><span> §125</span></p></blockquote><p>Lookg around him the age of Morny, Nietzsche se that this worry hasn’t really dawned on his ntemporari and he nclus that:</p><blockquote><p>“Lightng and thunr require time; the light of the stars requir time; eds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This ed is still more distant om them than the most distant stars” (GS 125)</p></blockquote><h2 class="hear-wh-anchor-widget">False Alarm?<div id="§false-alarm" class="hear-anchor-widget offset-top"><div class="hear-anchor-widget-button-ntaer"><div href=" class="hear-anchor-widget-button"><svg xmlns=" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="hear-anchor-widget-in"><path d="M10 13a5 5 0 0 0 7.54.54l3-3a5 5 0 0 0-7.07-7.07l-1.72 1.71"></path><path d="M14 11a5 5 0 0 0-7.54-.54l-3 3a5 5 0 0 0 7.07 7.07l1.71-1.71"></path></svg></div></div></div></h2><div class="ptned-image-ntaer"><figure><a class="image-lk is-viewable-img image2" target="_blank" href=" data-ponent-name="Image2ToDOM" rel><div class="image2-set"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" /><img src=" width="581" height="640" data-attrs="{"src":"" class="sizg-normal" alt tle srcset=" 424w, 848w, 1272w, 1456w" siz="100vw" loadg="lazy" /></picture><div class="image-lk-expand"><svg xmlns=" width="16" height="16" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="#FFFFFF" stroke-width="2" stroke-lep="round" stroke-lejo="round" class="luci luci-maximize2"><polyle pots="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyle><polyle pots="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyle><le x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></le><le x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></le></svg></div></div></a><figptn class="image-ptn"><span>Cassandra (image via </span><a href="(Stratford_Gallery)" rel>Wikimedia</a><span>: Public Doma)</span></figptn></figure></div><p><span>130 years on is worth ntemplatg whether this disaster has reached yet or whether Nietzsche’s analysis was mere alarmism. Perhaps is still too early to say. In the past we have seen terms emerge like post-tth which has </span><a href=" rel>been fed as</a><span>: “the disappearance of shared objective standards for tth”. In our warped tellectual landspe where the waters of the epistemic mons grow muddier every day is worth reflectg on the warng of the madman.</span></p><p>Nietzsche’s te heirs our time are the Postmornist thkers who have wrtled wh the problems of relativism and the value of science and for this dancg wh dangero qutns they and Postmornism self have bee boogeyman ed to sre the populatn.</p><p>On a closg note, is worth notg that spe the great dangers of the suatn, the “sequence of breakdown, stctn, , and taclysm that is now impendg,” Nietzsche is optimistic:</p><blockquote><p><span>“Ined, we philosophers and "ee spirs ... feel, when we hear the news that “the old god is ad,” as if a new dawn shone on ; our heart overflows wh gratu, amazement, premonns, expectatn. At long last the horizon appears ee to aga, even if should not be bright; at long last our · ships may venture out aga, venture out to face any danger; all the darg of the lover of knowledge is permted aga; the sea, </span><em>our </em><span>sea, li open aga; perhaps there has never yet been such an ‘open sea!’”</span><br /><span>— </span><em>The Gay Science</em><span> §343</span></p></blockquote></div></div><div class="visibily-check"></div><div class="post-footer"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flexGrow--mx4xz ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-jtify-space-between--NvIcg ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-align-center--rSd6h ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-16--TpblU ontend-pencraft-Box-module__paddg-y-16--ohCEm ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-top-tail-themed--e17yZ ontend-pencraft-Box-module__borr-bottom-tail-themed--eVwFY post-ufi"><div class="pencraft ontend-pencraft-Box-module__ret--VfQY8 ontend-pencraft-Box-module__display-flex--ZqeZt ontend-pencraft-Box-module__flex-gap-8--HFpIK"><div class="like-button-ntaer post-ufi-button style-button"><a role="button" class="post-ufi-button style-button has-label wh-borr"><svg role="img" style="height: 20px; width: 20px;" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="#000000" stroke-width="2" stroke="#000" xmlns=" class="in"><g><tle> .