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. :)
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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.
SW-User
@CopperCicada Excellently put, after reading some Lev Shestov i can totally see how Nietzsche can help build up rather than tear down faith.
@SW-User Yes ... how then if we actually discussed what he WROTE rather than how others appropriated what he wrote for his own ends. The Nietzsche-was-a-Nazi argument isn't a argument. It's the end of all argument.
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@Abrienda That argument is like a thing one has to get through if one wants to really talk about stuff, for one thing, an uncomfortable thing, in the light of Nietzsche's ethics, i should probably crawl into a cave and never utter another sound, its so unsparing.
@SW-User What made me ask you to start this post was his terrifyingly accurate insight that the God-centered universe that created Western civilization in the first place had been killed, why he thought that had happened and what he thought would replace it.
SW-User
@Abrienda That is much more interesting than the politcal clap trap lol ..... i see his God is Dead pronouncement as prognosticating universal symptoms, the world at large was ready to receive an unfiltered statement, the modern malaise. Apologetics in Christendom had a revival with it too.
As for what replaces it, we come up with the answer, and looking at the world now, either some have been woefully silent, or we're getting what we asked for, collectively.
@SW-User Since one of Nietzche's big things is philosophical genealogy, I suspect he'd understand himself in the context of the crisis of modernism. I don't know if he self-identified in such a context, but it would make sense. Less *proclaiming* that God is (should be) dead, more *noting/observing* that God is dead (has been killed).
@SW-User Yes and I have only just started studying Christian Apologetics. The God is dead statement was not Nietzsche celebrating but rather reporting what he thought had taken place. The disaster of WW1 and the atheist Nazi,Fascist and above all Communist regimes that followed confimed what he believed had happened.
@SW-User Well. Most people I know would claim reading Nietzche to be an affront against God. So I think it's a minority of individuals who would have space for Nietzche building a spiritual core.
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@CopperCicada We know roughly the same sort of people then :)
He can, in tone sound like Luther, a call to arms, a rallying vibe despite the particular points he's making, which is critical, as Luther was for example to the Letter of James who said good works was important, and Luther was all like no, good works isn't enough, faith alone, but Nietzsche was a works kind of guy .....:)
@CopperCicada If you live in Saudi Arabia for a while you will know what it is like to live in a God-centered universe. I am not making a comment about Islam but about the "reality" of a God who is not an abstraction,where stepping on a coin will get people seriously upset with you because coins have the name of God inscribed on them. It was that certainty which I believe Nietzsche observed had died in the West and sadly for me he was right.
SW-User
@Abrienda The people who believe like that, that kind of belief is dead, it is that which is dead, in simple plain language without any explanatory diversions, Nietzsche spoke to that by his pronouncement. Authentic belief imo, exists though......:)
@SW-User One of the cool things about some of these modern German philosophers is that their underbellies are profoundly spiritual. I feel that in Heidegger and Wittgenstein. I remember before his death John Paul II reading Heidegger. I asked my dad about that. WTF gives. He said if you take Heidegger to his limits you are back to God. Same with Wittgenstein. I remember reading about his life. Roman Catholic? What? But there too, I can see following his investigations and exercises and after pulling the barn down finding God.
@CopperCicada Existentialism can make it all get real for a person, it makes it all subjective, both Heidegger and Wittgenstein put value in Kierkegaard, and that guy surely was a powerful voice for believers.
SW-User
@Abrienda Thanks for encouraging me to post and ... we are both responsible for all the chit chat going on here, it's highly interesting for me, if i was a better communicator, you'd be as pleased as i am, thank you again :)
@SW-User For me Wittgenstein is the most contemplative.
Well. Good thread. Thanks.
[i]note to self: this is why you shouldn't discuss philosophy on SW[/i]
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@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!!
