NIETZ SCHE N N N N N S C H Z I E E T NIETZSCHE NIETZSCHE tragic trajectory of the prophet of a dying civilization a god demon angel of light genius madman prophet human all too human ID: 769400
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NIETZSCHE? N!? N? N? N N !!! ? !!! ?S C H Z? I E? E T NIETZSCHE?
NIETZSCHE !tragic trajectory of the prophet of a dying civilization a god, demon, angel of light, genius, madman, prophet, human- all too human…? tortured soul : god-seeker, god-killer ?Kaufmann, Reinhardt [KR], Barrett, Bornedal…
philosophy as autobiographyunion of biography and output as an integral whole (Goethe, Hegel…)philosophy as autobiography : Nietzsche calls Goethe’s Letters to Eckermann “the best German book” Thus Spake Zarathustra , Ecce Homo,… [Augustine, Goethe, Nietzsche…]
useful referencesThe Existential Revolt, Kurt F. Reinhardt, (Frederick Ungar, 2nd Ed.,1960) [ KR ]Irrational Man, William Barrett [WB]The Surface and the Abyss, Peter BornedalWalter Kaufmann : many works [WK] Beyond Good and Evil , Nietzsche, (tr. Hollingdale, Penguin Classics) [BGE]
brief biography (1844-1900) Oct. 1844: Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche born in Röken , Prussian Saxony, into a committed Lutheran family 1849: Carl Ludwig Nietzsche dies of brain tumor; the Nietzsches leave Roken and move to Naumburg 1864: Nietzsche enters Bonn University as a student of Theology and Philology 1865: transfers to Leipzig University; abandons his study of Theology; encounters the works of Arthur Schopenhauer1869: Appointed Chair of Classical Philology at Basel; awarded his Doctorate from Leipzig without examination1872: Publishes his first book, The Birth of Tragedy 1879: resigns his post at Basel1889: Mental followed by physical collapse Aug. 25, 1900: F. W. Nietzsche dies
major works The Birth of Tragedy (1872 ) [BT]Human All Too Human (1878) [HH]The Joyful Wisdom (1882) [JW]Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-85) [TSZ]The Will To Power (1883-85) [WP] Beyond Good and Evil (1886) [BGE] On The Genealogy of Morals (1887) [GM]The Anti-Christ (1888) [AC] Ecce Homo (1888) [EH] Twilight of The Idols (1889) [TI]
Beyond Good & Evil (1886)Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future
Twilight Of The Idols(1889) How One Philosophizes with a Hammer!
ECCE HOMO / behold The Man (1889)
ECCE HOMO Why I am so wise Why I am so prudent Why I am writing such excellent books Why I am a Fate War strategy : to attack only matters that are victorious; …only where he stands alone without any allies; never to attack persons, but to use them only as a “huge magnifying glass” to make visible some creeping but as yet intangible crisis. Self-evaluation : …contradicted as no one has dared contradict, nevertheless the opposite of a spirit of negation…the bearer of glad tidings …a Yea-sayer with whom the hope of the human race has been restored… [KR, 112]
The Man (wielding the hammer) A man of spiritual depth needs friends, unless he still has God as a friend. But I have neither God nor friends. (letter to sister, 1886) For thus it has always been and thus it will always be : one cannot aid a cause more effectively than by persecuting it , by hunting it with all hounds …This I have done. ( KR,62) All alone with myself , I am in danger of losing myself in a forest…I need help. I need disciples; I also need a teacher, a master . I should find it sweet to obey…If only I could find someone capable of clarifying for me the value of our moral ideas…But I find no one; no disciples, to say nothing of teachers. (KR,106) Nice, France-- Sunday morning incident : Not every truth is for everyone; if I had troubled the heart of this young girl, I should have felt disconsolate. Florence astronomer item : I wish this man had not read my books. He is too good. My influence on him could be very disastrous . (KR,106)
To the Unknown God Once more before I part from here And turn my glance toward the future I raise my hands in solitudeTo thee, to whom I flee,To whom, in the depth of my heart, I have solemnly dedicated altars…I am His, even though to this hourI have remained in the impious crowd.I am His---and I feel the snares Which drag me down, fighting,And, whithersoever I flee,Force me into His service… I wish to know thee God unknown,Thou who seizest my innermost soul,Thou who roarest through my life like a storm… Unspeakably terrible Thou art!Thou huntsman behind the clouds!... Thou, God unknown!...Speak, at last! What does Thou ask of me, Thou thief of the great highways?...Thou wantest me---all of me? (KR, 63-4)
DEOCIDEWithout the Christian faith…you will be to yourself a monster and a chaos. [Pascal] (Nietzsche underlined these words, 1885) (KR,106)If there were gods, how could I bear it not to be a god? Therefore, there are no gods! [TSZ, 2) (KR,101)I believe in the ancient Germanic saying: . all the gods must die. [BT] (KR,115)The ‘ mad-man’: “ Have you not heard…” [JW, #125]
DEOCIDEGOD IS DEAD. God remains dead. And WE have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must WE ourselves not BECOME GODS simply to appear worthy of it? ( The Gay Science [JW], Section 125, tr. WK )
love/hateThus the cycle began, and it goes on, but where will it end? After having run the full course, whither are we to turn?...Perhaps we will have to make a new start with faith? Perhaps a Catholic faith? ( to Lou Andreas- Salome) [KR, 94] Christ-the only christian : “…a new way of life that was to bring peace and harmony to the human soul, so that the pacified soul might then effect the transfiguration of all things. “ ( The Anti-Christ )I call Christianity the One great Curse , the one immortal mark of shame of the human race. (The Anti- Christ )I hope I shall never show myself ungrateful to Christianity, for I owe to it the best experiences of my childhood. ( letter to Peter Gast )Can anyone imagine anything that equals in miraculously enchanting force the symbol of the ‘Holy Cross’? Nothing equals in impressive strength that paradox of a ‘Crucified God’… of a God crucifying Himself for the salvation of men… this sign and symbol…triumphs eternally over any other ideal. (GM, #1) [KR,111]
the last days (13/11/88 – 25/08/1900)hallucinations of dual presence of Dionysus and Christgradual loss of identity : signed letters on costly papers: to Strindberg (Nietzsche Caesar); to the Pope , the papal secretary of state, and the King of Italy (The Crucified ); to others (Dionysos ) incident with an abused horse: transformed into the dual deityPiano improvisation and singing : sublime, wonderfully visionary and unspeakably horrible things about himself as the successor of the defunct God asylum in Jena, January,1889 ; assigned to mother, March, 1890 ; 1897 death of mother , assigned to sister until his death. [KR,112-3]
the Hammer (context)Enlightenment, Counter-Enlightenment Contra Hegel Pascal (Aug)Kierkegaard, Dostoevskyrescuing the individual from the herdback to excellence Ideology and its dehumanizationthe leveling effect
anti-Enlightenmentscholarship/ science devoid of vitality : death of emaciated Reason :: will-to-powerreligion and whitewashed sepulchers : death of Godconformism disguised as Progress : exposing all ISM’s (anti-ideology)
anti-ideology Platonism (Descartes) Christianism (Kierkegaard’s ‘Christendom’ ) Kantianism, Utilitarianism, Socialism, Feminism… (Nietzscheanism ?!!!...)
state of the art confrontationFreud’s Civilization and its Discontents a pale shadow/tame reverberation of Nietzsche’s head-on promethean confrontation with the civilization of his day. (Tsunami / no garden- variety flood )
The last thing I would promise would be to improve mankind. I erect no new idols; let the old idols learn what it means to have legs of clay. To overthrow idols (my word for ‘ideals’) – that rather is my business. [Ecce Homo]
weapons / assaultRevaluation (transvaluation) of values A return to meaning from the morass of slogans If what is mean, mediocre, hypocritical, reductive = what is currently on sale as TRUTH, then the only appropriate response is to value UNTRUTH (life).If REASON = deadly , lifeless, academic, abstraction then rescue DESIRE (life)
truth/untruthThe falseness of a judgment is to us not necessarily an objection to a judgment… The question is to what extent it is life advancing, life-preserving, species-preserving, perhaps even species-breeding …[BGE,#4]
…revaluating…If LOVE is a warm feeling, then SELFISHNESS has been highly underrated If COMMUNITY means soporific conformity, then long live ISOLATION and SOLITUDEIf HUMILITY means hypocritical ressentiment , then long live PRIDEIf PLEASURE is HAPPINESS, for God’s (RIP) sake, bring on SUFFERING
Will to Powerreplacing supremacy of Reason A living thing desires above all to vent its strength –life as such is will to power . [BGE, #13]
the thirst for Life Abundant :Masters versus Slaves yea-sayers / nay-sayersexcellence / mediocritymasters / slaves (herd) noble / mean, servile, slavish, hypocriticalforthright / occultmisunderstood, persecuted / popular, fashionable, successfulchallenges society / benign humanism
the search for authentic humanity:the ubermensch Society should not exist for the sake of society but only as foundation and scaffolding upon which a select species of being is able to raise itself to its higher task and in general to a higher existence.[BGE, #258)
the overman/ new humanitySociety should not exist for the sake of society but only as foundation and scaffolding upon which a select species of being is able to raise itself to its higher task and in general to a higher existence.[BGE, #258)
the overmanA people is a detour of nature to get to six or seven great men – Yes: and then to get around them.[BGE, #126]
Man in himself, the absolute man, possesses neither dignity, nor rights, nor duties… The majority of men have no right to existence… (notes from The Will To Power )
The last thing I would promise would be to ‘improve’ mankind.
…more WMD’s in his arsenalSurvival of the unfittest Eternal recurrence Leveling ---ressentiment (powerless resentment), conformism, mediocrity Benign liberalism/ democracySimplify / falsify
simplify / falsifyThe falseness of a judgment is to us not necessarily an objection to a judgment… The question is to what extent it is life advancing, life-preserving, species-preserving, perhaps even species-breeding… without granting as true the fictions of logic, without measuring reality against the purely invented world… without a continual falsification of the world… mankind could not live. [BGE,#4]
simplify- falsifyDescartes’ I think, I am (the rational “I”) Kant’s TUofA (the ‘puppeteer’ ) Augustine’s memory (abyss)/ understanding (existential)/ will (love-desire-delight)Berdyaev : freedom NOT free-will
beyond categorizationthe simplify/falsify syndrome : Nietzsche himself and the main objects of his attack : three colossi : Plato (Whitehead), Christ, and DemocracyNietzsche’s perspectivism : beyond garden-variety relativism…
food for thoughtReflect in Nietzschean terms :What has he demolished? (survivors ?) Any predecessors?
…You have committed one of the greatest stupidities—for yourself and for me! Your association with an anti-Semitic chief expresses a foreignness to my whole way of life which fills me again and again with ire or melancholy. [...] It is a matter of honor with me to be absolutely clear and unequivocal in relation to anti-Semitism, namely, opposed to it, as I am in my writings… My disgust with this party (which would like the benefit of my name only too well!) is as pronounced as possible --- and that I am unable to do anything against it, that the name of Zarathustra is used in every Anti-Semitic Correspondence Sheet, has almost made me sick several times. (Letter to his sister, Christmas 1887)