There are many philosophical quotations that explore many facets of existence. Two quotes are examined in the report that follows. "Those old philosophers were heartless: Philosophizing was always a form of vampirism," begins the first quotation (Nietzsche 1974, pg. 5). The second quote is from Karl Marx, who said, "The point is to transform the world; the philosophers have just interpreted it in various ways" (Marx, 1972, p. 2). An study of the quotations reveals that Marx's quotation provides philosophers some latitude by implying that they understand the world with the purpose of altering it, in contrast to Nietzsche's quotation, which believes philosophy to be purely built on sensualism as opposed to idealism.
Nietzsche’s Quote
Nietzsche seems to indicate that the ancient philosophers reasoned with their minds as opposed to their hearts. The idea is that the old philosophers feared the senses. In light of Nietzsche’s statement, all individuals are at present sensualists who represent the current and the future of philosophy, not according to theory, but in practice (Nietzsche, 1974).On the contrary, those ancient philosophers feared that the sense experience would push them out of their universe to a cold territory and dangerous place in which they feared that they would lose their philosophizing virtues. A condition of philosophy was that by being inconsiderate to the aspects of life, a legit philosopher would deny the sense that is inherent in life. Presently, people should not base our judgments based on the old philosophies, which might be outrightly false. Moreover, people should not fall into the trap of such cold ideas, succumb to the seduction of the old theories, consume their perspectives of the sense experience, or believe them or their heart’s as well (Nietzsche, 1974). The earlier philosophers idealize every aspect of their perspectives including the representation of spiritualization. Overall, all philosophical idealism has been before something akin to a malady. For example in the case of Plato, his philosophy demonstrates the practicality of threatening healthfulness and the fear of incredibly powerful senses. Maybe Nietzsche seems to be implying that the people in the contemporary universe are healthy enough not to need Plato’s idealism.
In Nietzsche’s thoughts, the old philosophies characterize with Spinozism, lifelessness, death and empty words. In contrast, he considers that the onset of a self-meditated philosophy of life distinguishes with strength, vigor, health and growth (Nietzsche, 1974). For Nietzsche, these attributes are not metaphors; his opinion differs from the idealism of the old philosophers because it bases on the body and not the mind. His reasoning is that the body needs liberation from the abstractions, cobwebs, words, and skeletons of the mind. He rejects the idealist concept of the old philosophers, which bases on the mind and considers it (the mind) as ill-equipped and sick to a successful life while the body experiences various forces in contention.
Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
The second quote of our essay is found in Karl Marx’s Contemporary Philosophy. The current quote is the eleventh quote in the Theses on Feuerbach. The quote seemingly connects with the previously described quote of the heartlessness of the old philosophers (Marx, 1972). The current essay examines philosophy from a Marxist perspective. As part of orientation, there is a need to go deeper than the popular Feuerbach's thesis that the Philosophers only interpret the world with the intention of changing it. Of course, Marx seems not to be scoring interpretation but instead emphasizing that analysis culminates in transformative acts. The question that arises is how the connection between understanding and change result.
In considering the two aspects of understanding the globe (theory aspect) and transforming it (practice) as comparatively distinct, the most direct way to link them is to reason that one needs to interpret the universe in an attempt to change it. The implication is that an individual needs to be aware of three things: the thing that is being changed, why the change is indeed required, and how to implement the change). Therefore, the three interlinked elements are descriptive, normative and instrumental. However, this conception would clearly be dissatisfactory to Marx (Marx, 1972). In separating the understanding and change moments, there arises an obvious possibility that the universe will not be amenable to the form of change, which is envisaged. Thus, a more dialectical mediation of Marx thesis is that one needs to interpret the universe in an attempt to establish the manner in which it is itself transforming or likely to turn such that an individual's practices can be directed consequently.
In my opinion, through observation, it is possible to interpret how one thinks, but philosophizing about it is somewhat pointless because it alters nothing. I think Marx is merely attempting to state here that knowledge only goes far. Accordingly, Nietzsche quoted that the old philosophers were heartless and that philosophizing was a species of vampirism. In contrast, according to Marx, generations of thinkers have gained knowledge from one another and themselves and therefore, concerning individual change it gets down to how one reason and perceives the world. All persons experience one reality, but every person (similarly to Marx) has his or her world. In this manner, the quotes differ because Nietzsche disregarded the idea of the mind and idealism. Based on the Marx’s quote, whenever philosophers interpret things, they use the reason of what they know and say they know. However, this seems ridiculous. The quantity to know is unlimited, and people often attempt to compare that to the limitlessness of the mind. The reason is limited, and once people acknowledge this on an international scale, change will arise. Marx's statement seems to make more sense although my interpretation of his idea is what I think I know which might not be the truth.
To sum up, the two quotes are distinct based on the fact that Nietzsche’s quote restricts philosophy to sensualism as opposed to idealism while Marx’s quote acknowledges that philosophy depends on one's intention to change the meaning.
The idea of the mind should not be wished away because of following one's heart. The implication of Marx’s quote is that merely understanding the universe is not adequate since the world and its components should not be perceived as transcending time and static. Rather, they should be looked at as entailing regularly altering net of interconnections, which are influenced by tendencies and also with the capability of staying through conscious intermediations or "haphazard" events of the masses. The whole idea of Marx’s quote is that there is a need to comprehend which course history can take and consciously select the most positive circumstance as far as one’s life goes.
References
Marx, K. (1972). The marx-engels reader (Vol. 4). New York: Norton.
Nietzsche, F. (1974). The Gay Science: with a prelude in rhymes and an appendix of songs, trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Random House, 335, 259.
