Few philosophers are as widely quoted and as widely misunderstood as Friedrich Nietzsche.<\/p>\n
Although he’s often assumed to be anti-Semitic because of the obsession with his idea of the “übermensch” (superior man), he was actually a vocal critic<\/a><\/strong> of anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n Additionally, his nihilistic philosophies, which argue that the world has no underlying truth, make him difficult to understand.<\/p>\n All the same, because he had to write in short bursts due to migraines and other illnesses, many of Nietzsche’s sayings are easily quotable.<\/p>\n In this post, we’ll look at the real meaning of one of Nietzsche’s most famous aphorisms: “When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The word “abyss” means a deep, almost endless cavern or hole. The literal meaning of this phrase, then, is to stare into endless darkness. <\/strong><\/p>\n To understand the actual meaning of the phrase, it helps to know the full sentence: “When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.”<\/strong><\/p>\n In plain English, you might rephrase this as “When you confront evil, make sure it doesn’t influence you.” <\/strong><\/p>\n For example, if a politician is investigating corruption, they may begin to see it everywhere and may themselves become corrupt as a result. <\/strong><\/p>\n In a more extended use, the phrase can be used to mean the effect that study of anything at all can have on your mind. <\/strong><\/p>\n Endlessly seeking out the truth in an “abyss” can lead you to unpleasant truths, after all. <\/strong><\/p>\n In short, then, “staring into the abyss” means to deeply contemplate something foreign to yourself, and which may have consequences on your concept of your own self.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n An abyss is a canyon or other large hole so deep that it seems to be endless.<\/p>\n Staring is the act of looking for a long time. It could also imply a very severe kind of focus, rather than a casual glance.<\/p>\n Taken literally, then, this phrase is saying that someone is looking very hard into a nearly bottomless canyon.<\/p>\n If you see this phrase, though, it’s unlikely to be literal.<\/p>\n To figure out its more likely meaning, we will need to take a detour through 1800s German philosophy and the work of Friedrich Nietzsche<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher active in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n To gain a real understanding of Nietzsche’s thought, you would probably need to take several university-level courses into modern philosophy.<\/p>\n This article isn’t going to manage that, so we’ll make do with a very basic explanation of the core of his philosophical ideas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Probably the single most important idea in Nietzschean philosophy is that truth is what you make of it, and that interpretation is essential to getting to the bottom of reality.<\/p>\n As Nietzsche himself put it, “there are no facts, only interpretations.”<\/p>\n Another core idea is a criticism of traditional religion and traditional moral values. Additionally, he was strongly opposed to nationalism and centralized forms of government.<\/p>\n These ideas led to such cheerful phrases in Nietzsche’s writings as “God is dead” and “Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen.”<\/p>\n Although Nietzsche’s philosophy seems pretty depressing, he comes through these dark places to end with the idea of an “affirmation of life,” where for a human being to affirm or hold up themselves carries more meaning<\/em> precisely because of the general lack of meaning the universe has by default.<\/p>\n In short, you can think of Nietzsche as saying: “So what if the universe is meaningless? That just means we can give it our own meaning.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Digressions<\/strong><\/a> aside, to really tease out Nietzsche’s meaning of “stare into the abyss” we need to look at the original use of the phrase.<\/p>\n That original use took place in Beyond Good and Evil<\/em>, a book of philosophical aphorisms or short sayings:<\/p>\n He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The first part of this aphorism immediately makes the meaning of the second part clearer.<\/p>\n The saying as a whole is essentially a warning: If you’re going to confront evil, make sure you don’t adopt evil methods yourself.<\/p>\n A great example is Russia’s communist revolution of the early 1900s. What began as a fight against the violent Tsarist government quickly led to the fighters themselves becoming violent fascists.<\/p>\n With this in mind<\/a>, we can interpret “stare into the abyss” as meaning something like “confront evil” or at least “contemplate evil.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nWhat does the phrase “stare into the abyss” mean?<\/h2>\n
What do the words in this phrase mean?<\/h2>\n
A very brief introduction to Friedrich Nietzsche<\/h2>\n
Some core ideas of Nietzsche’s philosophy<\/h3>\n
Beyond Good and Evil and staring into an abyss<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Examples<\/h3>\n