My boyfriend hates Nietzsche

I have been with my boyfriend since 2019, and since then we've talked a lot about our interests and the way we feel about various people and their ideas. He knows I love Nietzsche because of the books I've read in the past few years and the videos I watch about him and the way I like to talk about him. I read my first Nietzsche book in 2017 and began to read more a couple years later, and since then have only come to appreciate him more. My boyfriend is often watching boring shit about ancient times as he's obsessed with history, but starts making fun whenever I want to watch something about Nietzsche. I won't even start with his thoughts on Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the ideas presented in it. I've thought about it and I still don't understand why he hates him. For anyone who doesn't know who I'm talking about btw, just search "Friedrich Nietzsche" and you'll find out lol. My boyfriend is fairly religious but I've decided that this can't be the reason he hates him because I think that you can believe in God AND like the works of Nietzsche. I'm more open to the possibility of a God than not and I think Nietzsche is the greatest philosopher ever. I tried to explain to my boyfriend that it's not as simple as "he hates God" or "he is trying to denounce religion and morality", but he doesn't get it.

He thinks that he's boring and arrogant. I think Nietzsche's work goes way beyond what most people can perceive or imagine. It's so much more than what we all seem to think it is, and he is way more complex than most can even begin to understand.

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Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

I like Thus spoke Zarathustra. I don't really agree with Nietzsche's views in the context of real life though, it's good on paper. He does come off as very contemptuous and arrogant. I also worry that some people read his writings and take it on board a bit too much. He makes very good observations that I happen to mostly agree with though.

It's still one of my favourite books regardless, very rich. And yeah he actually made a begrudging case for religion even though he was very critical of it.

SW-User

@Ryannnnnn zarathustra is my absolute favourite book :)

Thanks for sharing your sentiments as you've been able to recognize the value and uniqueness of his work even if offering a critique as well. My bf on the other hand just can't tolerate him at all lol.

Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

@SW-User I think that's fair haha. His writing definitely developed me as a person in a big way and it helped frame a lot of my struggle and life in a meaningul way. I used to write little essays on paragraphs in Zarathustra for fun. It's still my fav as well.

SW-User

@Ryannnnnn same here haha

Nietzsche is that kind of writer though...he makes you look at yourself and the world around you in the most new and exciting ways. And I naturally found that some thoughts I already had were expressed and defined by him so there's that too.

He's just so inspiring

Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

@SW-User Yeah me too, first time I read Zarathustra it was like all my thoughts had been written out in some way and it just kept connecting. I'd never read something that did that for me until then. I think you have to be a little arrogant and unlikable as well to be a good philospher haha.

It helped me find purpose in my struggle, I think that and the paralels between his writings and a manga called Berserk which is very Nietzschen in themes helped me find a strange defiant motivation.

SW-User

@Ryannnnnn I completely get what you mean. Before I read Nietzsche I had a personality that wasn't afraid of struggle or adversity but reading his thoughts and his ideas has helped me form a greater understanding of who I am and what, if anything, I believe in