Friedrich Nietzsche
Open discussion for FN...
I would like to hear your opinions on him, agreements or disagreements...
Why do you like him(or not?)...
Have you noticed that every disturbed young man in film or reality is reading Nietzsche...
Why is he linked with fascists and Hitler?
And many other questions someone would like to get answered are more than welcome...
i disagree with him for the most part. to sound like a genius, he made effort to appeal to humanity's most extreme emotions{in this case, hate, despair, cynicism, ethnocentrism, egoetism, cruelty etc}, and succeeded, as being seen as a genius. ofcourse, no such genius would be complete without an extremely revolutionary vision for the future, and in his books{specially ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA} he delivered.
he was probably just a manipuative and resourceful dumass. reguardless, merely because its so stereotypically PHILOSOPHICAL{a bit like the non realist philosophers of old, who didnt try to use logic at all} its enjoying to read his books as representative of a passionate mind{or as i think, made to look passionate, since cynicism and pation dont mix too well in the type of philosophy of existance that neitche has}, kinda like harry potter novels, when u know it isnt true, but like it ayway, cause its escapist.
I don't see him that way...
There are few levels of reading N...
His ideas can not be understood without knowing his life...
The way I see him is that he thought our every thought, suffered every our suffering, and everything that happened after his death he saw clearly...
And his main idea is very simple, as everything great is simple: be more than man. That we must achieve...Be more than envious and greedy, vulgar and barbarous, murderer, thief, stupid horde
I tried to do some research a little deeper into what he was trying to say, and I can see where he is coming from, yes, but I dont think he saw the right things.
I dont see much of "being more than man" in him. I actually see him as the opposite, where there is no real "right" and "wrong" and every action is naturally balanced out with an eye for an eye mentality.
Nietzsche:
1. Was a proponent of ancient Greek heroism/excellence.
2. Resented modern commerical man's reduced moral stature and scope of action.
3. Thought that since the "illusion" of God was dead, man's duty to himself as man is to overcome himself in an ongoing act of creative self-destruction/regeneration.
4. This man would be the superman, the one, through who's superior natual and moral capacities, lesser men are emboldened to take up the heroic enterprise.
IMHO, Nietzsche is one of the few post-Hegelians worth paying attention to. If I wasn't Christian, I would venture to say that his vision is the only morally consistent and compelling one - a beautiful, albeit terrifying Homeric epiphany of pitiless self-becoming.
Originally posted by argesilen
There are few levels of reading N...
...as with anyone.
With most of the great masters of literary craft, you find what you're looking for, or morph it to meet your own views. This can't always happen, but we do it subconsciously all the time. It's why Hitler can read Nietzsche and justify genocide, but you and I see it much differently. Or why we have thousands of different off-shoots of Christianity.
...
I picked up a friends copy of "Why I Am So Wise" and began browsing. Before the intro was over, I was convinced he was both an egotistical jerk, and a visionary whose words had subtlety beyond their initial sense. He won me over though in only about 15 pages...I think I'll have to pick it up for myself sometime soon.
....I'm about midway through "Thus Spoke Zarathustra".
Most people have the Ubermensch concept kinda wrong, and he also seems to be quoted out of context a lot. The book itself is actually quite fascinating. Part poetry, part philosophy, part narrative. He can work an extended metaphor as eloquently as anyone....not bonus points in philosophy, but something.
No one is going to agree with everything he says, mainly because he talks about a LOT of different topics. And there's some sections I absolutely hate (the sections on women are particularly archaic). But the central idea revolves around what exactly makes up the characteristics of the Ubermensch, and it's an interesting study. Mainly (and again, I run the risk of paraphrasing and simplifying, which is dangerous at best with Nietzsche) the Ubermensch is a person who is a total master of that which is one's own self, to the point where social convention and popular thought are as nothing to him/her. There are many other tenets of the Ubermensch, but that seems to be the common thread between them....and it is a noble one. Social duty is shunned in favor of being true to oneself.
It is an easy concept to understand, but startling when one fully grasps the implications of becoming such a person. Nietzsche captures it all very well.
...entire sections can be discarded, ignored, or refuted easily enough...and it's easy to see why he caused so much controversy and philosophical backlash. But I can't help but enjoy it, and feel like I'm gaining something worthwhile out of it beyond mere aesthetic pleasure (which can be its own noble end sometimes).