Assorted Thoughts and Wandering Shadowy Reflections
Modernity was born with this guy, he perfected the art of free thinking, an early book of his was Voltairian, Human, All Too Human. He kept progressing, never quite at peace.
I first read Nietzsche in 1995, and it was in an environment that demonized him, reading him was a form of rebellion.
Nietzsche for me is like a diamond, reflecting both what came before, and what came after, an example of before is Montaigne, and an after example is E.M. Cioran.
Some think he's just good for disgruntled teenagers, the truth about Nietzsche is he is thinker who was alive, his thoughts pulsate, no other philosopher is quite like him, which is why some object to him being called a philosopher in the first place.
I invite anyone who likes to, to share their thoughts, positive, negative doesn't matter, and thus enrich this page of Similar Worlds. :)
Thanks so far for your contributions to this page, i shall add here that i've not a scholarly knowledge of FWN, and i further see that scholarliness is something you can totally dispense with here. A fascinating thing is that he seems to matter both to those who admire and hate him, says something.
His message was aristrocratic, elitist, and individualistic. It was enlivened by humor and attitude, the world had some trouble adjusting, but i make it clear here he was misunderstood by those who shaped the horrors of WWII, he caught glimpses of it when he said such phrases as do not mistake me for who i'm not, and so forth, he was prophetical too.
Politics seems to overshadow his significance, i have very little affection for politics, and reading Nietzsche goes real fine and dandy with that predisposition.
Talk on peoples, and have fun, i might sleep soon though, please don't delete anything, i'd like to see what y'all had to say while snoring away. :)
I have to say that I struggle with having any appreciation for Nietzsche. Some of his ideas are appealing but, the fact is, he suffered from mental illness. Which makes me wonder how much of his work was actually the product of his psychosis.
@hippyjoe1955 You have misapprehended the meaning of [i]völkisch[/i]. It's not "folksy" like people playing banjos and doing folk arts and the like. It's not about "common folk".
"volk" has the connotation of a people in a place. Specifically one people almost as a single body connected to the land. This is where the phrase [i]Blut und Boden[/i] comes from. Blood and soil. People of one blood attacked to a common soil.
Goebbels openly and publicly made the connection between the Völkische Bewegung in Nuremberg in '27. This völkisch populist/nationalist sentiment long preceded the Nazis and preceded Nietzche. It's one of the main antecedents to Nazi ideology.
@CopperCicada Like Pherick, I applaud your perseverance in trying to educate our little wannabe hippy but, as he has shown time and time again, he has his view and no amount of reasoning, evidence and logic will sway him.
It's clear that he has never read Nietzsche and knows nothing about him or his legacy. It's clear that he scurries off to Google every time you say something to him, and tries to come up with something that contradicts your, far more knowledgeable, points.
He's a conservative Christian and was probably told by one of his pastors, or whatever, that Nietzsche was blasphemous. That's as far as his "knowledge" goes.
I came up on Nietzche. It was sort of a rite of passage. Somewhat as you describe I guess. Almost a family obligation in some sense, as modern German philosophy was a thing in my house. A nice way to practice German reading. Not a technical and formal philosopher, so not a hard read.
For me Nietzche was actually central to building my faith and spiritual core. Not in destroying it. Throwing down idealism was part of that.
@CopperCicada Was an honor .... you know your stuff very well, and as i see you appreciate Wittgenstein, i suggest to see the Derek Jarman film named after him, there's a parable close to the end i find very contemplative and moving. Be well, reserve some hope in the future for further philosophical discussion on SW.
[quote]If a person tells me he has been to the worst places I have no reason to judge him; but if he tells me it was his superior wisdom that enabled him to go there, then I know he is a fraud.[/quote]
SW-User
@CopperCicada Great, the idea of his about taking something apart and putting it back together is what i like most from him. Salute!!
He is one of the few philosophers that can bring both good and evil. He developed existentialism and a philosophy of Aryanism that brought the world to WW2 through Hitler's application.
@CopperCicada He was very much against Christianity and coupled Judaism with the later Religon. Yes he made comments that pushed up against the anti Semiticism of Germany at the time but one only needs to review his concept of the Ubermensch
@CopperCicada Yes nor can he be blamed for the appropriation of his views by a movement that didn't have any intellectual foundation to begin with which is why they did so.
He is not for disgruntled teenagers, but very few times in my life I have felt more blown away reading a book than I was when I read Zarathustra when I was sixteen.
He has influence almost every relevant thinker in the 20th century. Heidegger, Junger, Evola would not have existed without Nietzsche.
He was to western philosophy what Welles was to cinema.
SW-User
@Cierzo He was and is a creator, i still quake from that initial reading of Zarathustra, the gist of it is best caught when one is young, and it ages well. Thank you my friend for sharing your thoughts, which also causes me to want to put in Citizen Kane again .....:)
