Man’s Identity According to Nietszche, In Comparison to Marx’s and Society’s Definition Friedrich Nietzsche wrote The Anti-Christ as a response to his own outrage concerning man’s Christian-influenced values on life. Nietzsche saw Christianity as the leading cause of the problems with mankind. All the teachings of Christianity were contrary to the ways in which Nietzsche felt man should act and behave. His focus in The Anti-Christ is on this fact that Christianity is the root of all that is wrong with the world. His perspective on what defines an individual, particularly an ideal individual, differs greatly from that of Christian society’s definition. Also, in contrast, Nietzsche’s idea of what makes up a man’s identity disagrees with that of Karl Marx’s. While Nietzsche saw the ideal man as one who is secure, independent, and constantly questioning that which he believes to be true, Marx’s ideal man is a member of the laboring proletariat class. Even though these two men both agree that the world is a place of constant conflict, their types of conflicts are very different. Marx sees the world on a large scale, and focuses on the conflicts between social classes. For Nietzsche, life is a constant series of internal conflicts within each person. Each man also sees the world as a place of continuous change. Again, Marx sees the need for change on a societal level and Nietzsche seeks change on an individual level. Their primary enemies that threaten their ideal situations are very different as well. Marx’s main opponent is capitalism and Nietzsche’s biggest threat is Christianity. This opposite style of viewing the world and society causes these two men to have very different criteria for what defines a person and makes up an ideal individual.For Nietzsche, Christianity is seen as the basis for all of Europe’s cultural values. This society gives each pe...
