Nietzsche and the Fulcrum of History

This essay will first give background on the philosophical milieu in which Nietzsche wrote, focusing heavily on the then-prevailing thoughts regarding Time. Based on a close reading of Nietzsche's texts, specifically Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Gay Science, and The Will to Power, I argue that the death of God should be understood as a temporal and embodied fulcrum within Time, which allows for non-dialectical progress. Friedrich Nietzsche's thinking fundamentally altered the trajectory of continental philosophy in a way only a few others have. Nietzsche's philosophical paradigm is based on a few central tenets, including his idiosyncratic conception of the death of God and his categorization of temporality. This essay seeks to situate Nietzsche's conception of the death of God within his temporal system, arguing that Nietzsche's framework is most potent when the two are properly considered as intimately connected.