Who’s ready for a lesson on “Eggsalentlalism?” How about “Exatentalum?” Sound like fun? Great! Pull up a tiny chair, grab a toy, and get ready to have Nietzsche explained like you’re five with “Explain Like I’m Five: Existentialism and Friederich Nietzsche.” A web series inspired by a subreddit, “Explain Like I’m Five” has explained other complicated subjects to five year-olds, including the crisis in Syria and the volatility of the stock market. In this episode, our two presenters prime their students for a discussion on slave morality with the question “who here thinks they’re a good boy or a good girl?”
All the kids eagerly raise their hands, and after some Socratic dialogue are told that Existentialism means “there is no universal morality that governs all of us.” I’ll leave it to the philosophers out there to assess this definition. The kids don’t respond well. They hate Nietzsche. One vociferous young critic proposes tossing him on the street and stepping on him. Like good 19th century German burghers, they can’t imagine a world without rules. I imagine these kids’ parents would also like to toss Nietzsche in the street when their angels come home paraphrasing Beyond Good and Evil.
Some of the popular responses to Nietzsche among adults can also be overly emotional. First there is fear: of the supposed nihilist who proclaimed the death of God and who—thanks to the machinations of his unscrupulous and anti-Semitic sister—became erroneously associated with Nazi ideology after his death. Then there’s the enthusiastic embrace of Nietzsche’s work by unsophisticated readers who see him only as an antiestablishment romantic rebel, hellbent on undermining all authority. Some of these impressions are valid as far as they go, but they tend to stop with the style and leave out the substance.
What people tend to miss are Nietzsche’s sustained defense of a pragmatic naturalism and his tragic embrace of individual human freedom, which is not won without great personal cost. The unusual thing about Existentialism is that it’s a philosophy so broad, or so generous, it can include the anti-Christian Nietzsche, radically Christian Kierkegaard, and the Marxist Sartre. A more serious treatment of the subject—1999 three-part BBC documentary series “Human All Too Human”—also includes Martin Heidegger, who actually did truck with Nazi ideology. The series, which profiles Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre, begins with the Nietzsche doc below (this one with Portuguese subtitles).
If you’re new to Nietzsche, and not actually a five-year-old, it’s worth an hour of your time. Then maybe head on over to our collection of venerable Princeton professor Walter Kaufmann’s lectures on Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Sartre. For additional serious resources, Dr. Gregory B. Sadler has an extensive YouTube lecture series on Nietzsche, Existentialism, and other philosophical topics. And if all you want is another good chuckle at Nietzsche’s expense, check out Ricky Gervais’ take on the woefully misunderstood philosopher.
Related Content:
Existentialism with Hubert Dreyfus: Four Free Philosophy Courses
The Existential Star Wars: Sartre Meets Darth Vader
The Dead Authors Podcast: H.G. Wells Comically Revives Literary Greats with His Time Machine
Find Many Classic Works by Nietzsche in our Free eBooks Collection
Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Washington, DC. Follow him @jdmagness
But by proposing throwing Nietzsche into the street and stepping on him, the boy is actually embracing his supposedly hated philosophy — do what you want.
What a profoundly original interpretation, Lucy. Which of Nietzsche’s works do you think best exemplifies this idea and why?
hilarious idea but too bad the instructors had no idea what they were talking about
asocial behavior is not the same as existentiallism. Existentialism does not oppose the categorical imperative, for example. And the Übermensch is not the one who does as he pleases but who sees and acts in a world concisely based on his or her own — possibly strong — morals, unbiased by the societal consensus (eg. what state/school/church/yo mamma thinks is morally right). Teaching that to 5‑year olds might then not be such a good idea, they don’t have the intellectual capacities to come up with a moral system of their own.
I love the age old method of philosophers and scholars to rate them selves higher than anyone who dares to disagrees with them by inferring or stating, ‘You don’t think broadly enough…’
Amusing concept; poor execution. Maybe do more reading of Nietzsche and the existentialists before trying?
Nietzchze died insane and yes, I am going to judge his philosophy on that outcome.
Two things:
1) There’s nothing Nietzchze couldn’t teach about the raising of the wrist.
2) Neech-ee? What’s wrong with Neech-er?
Way off base in terms of your understanding of Nietzsche and Existentialism. But he would have enjoyed the spirit of your enterprise. “Man’s maturity: to have regained the seriousness that he had as a child at play.”
Great vid, but I don’t see why a “German superman” has to be depicted wearing lederhosen. A) Lederhosen are not a German thing but exclusively (and very rarely even there)worn in Bavaria. Nietzsche was not Bavarian, by the way. So please don’t reinforce very old and outdated cultural cliches onto the next generation.
Nice to know that these educators are presenting a misinterpretation of Nietzsche.
agreed. That is a terrible definition of exstentialism.
Who in the world allowed these adults to present it — should be fired or sued or both. This was done at the expense of those children and their inability to take away anything meaningful due to their developmental stage.