Contemporary Philosophy: Nietzsche, Marx, and existentialism
This domain covers three bodies of thought the exam treats together because they all contest the Enlightenment subject: Nietzsche's genealogy of morality, Marx's critique of political economy, and existentialist analyses of freedom and existence. Precision about each author's target matters more than broad labels such as "irrationalism" or "materialism".
Nietzsche
Nietzsche explains morality historically rather than as a timeless truth. In the genealogical account, master valuation (good/bad) is reversed by slave morality (good/evil), which arises from ressentiment and invents the fiction of the free, responsible subject so that the weak can judge the strong. "Will to power" names the drive to interpret and grow, not simply domination. Nihilism is the devaluation of the highest values; the Übermensch and the eternal recurrence are tests of whether one can affirm existence without transcendent justification.
Marx
Historical materialism holds that the mode of production shapes the social formation; law, politics and ideas belong to the superstructure and are not simply "caused" in a mechanical way. Workers are alienated from the product, the process, their species-being and each other under wage labour. Ideology makes sectional interests appear universal; surplus value is extracted in production, not in exchange. Class struggle is the motor of history; communism is a movement abolishing the present state of things, not an ideal to be imposed.
Existentialism
Sartre's "existence precedes essence" means there is no fixed human nature: we are condemned to be free and responsible for what we make of ourselves. Bad faith (mauvaise foi) is the flight into a role or an excuse. Heidegger's Dasein is thrown, projected and being-toward-death, and authenticity comes from owning that finitude. Camus begins from the absurd and demands revolt without consolation.
Worked example
Explaining the slave revolt: it is not a moral improvement but a revaluation. The weak cannot match the strong, so they reinterpret incapacity as virtue, suffering as merit, and the strong as evil. The reasoning is genealogical: the meaning of "good" depends on who is doing the valuing and from what position.
Traps
- Reading Nietzsche as a Nazi or as a defender of cruelty for its own sake.
- Reducing Marx to economic determinism, or confusing alienation with low wages.
- Treating Sartrean freedom as freedom to do anything rather than freedom of choice and responsibility.