Questions tagged [nietzsche]
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher and poet. Nietzsche is consistently one of the most widely-read philosophers, even among laymen; yet his work is often elliptical, even cryptic, and demands an unusual discipline with respect to reading and thinking. This contradiction may give some sense of the complexity and profundity of Nietzsche's powerful writing and explosive style. Much of his work can be understood as critique of nihilism.
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There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Are these words of Shakespeare,inspired by Marcus Aurelius, true?
This question is not about ethics. It is about our perceptions of positive and negative value. I take the original meaning of the great emperor to be that we have control only of our own thinking, and ...
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Hegelian dialectic to transcend Stoic vs Nietzsche?
I would like to apply Hegel's dialectic to the following thesis/antithesis and that you help me find sublimating synthesis ideas. Here is the thesis:
"to live a happy life, you must accept your ...
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Was Nietzsche making fun of the military mindset when he said "That which does not kill me, makes me stronger"?
A friend of mine told me that he interpreted this quote as mocking the military mindset, and that it should not be taken as indicative of what Nietzsche actually thought, so I looked it up in context, ...
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Do Kierkegaard and Nietzsche have similar ideas about being and becoming?
I have not read much of Kierkegaard's philosophy, but this quote comes in mind when comparing his philosophy to Nietzsche's in terms of being and becoming:
“To be human, is not a fact, but a task.” ...
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How would Nietzsche metaphorically apply the concept of a 'mind control parasite' to human philosophy, in relation to the will to power?
In Frederich Nietzsche's works, when he discusses a 'parasite,' he is indicating the following:
a complete lack of nobility of disposition when someone prefers to
live in dependency, at the expense ...
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Is transvaluation supposed to be some sort of intuitive aesthetic judgment akin to moral ones
Is transvaluation supposed to be some sort of intuitive aesthetic judgment akin to moral ones, and can someone be mistaken in their judgments of value?
In what sense then is transvaluation not ...
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Do ideas bring about "power"?
Do ideas bring about "power"?
Primarily, I may be thinking of a quote about hedonic pleasure, and how these bodily sensations of power "cannot be satisfied unless the agent has a desire ...
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Was Nietzsche more compassionate than the Buddha's teaching?
I was chatting to a devout Buddhist about how difficult I am finding it to want to transfer merit to people that do evil acts. They replied that merit is just not something you can even do evil with, ...
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what are some examples of a monster (nietzsche monster and the abyss)
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." (Beyond Good and Evil, 146)
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Trying to Understand Quote by Nietzsche
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also
into you." - Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil: ...
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Nietzsche on balancing service to the creation of (or becoming) the Overman and living a life of ones own choosing?
So, I have been looking into Nietzsche.
To be honest, I have thought a lot about Nietzsche for the past 2 years, and I am unsure of what to make of the nature of this need to become the Overman. My ...
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Is everyone's sense of power always predicated on diminishing that of someone else's? [closed]
Why think that everyone's sense of power always predicated on diminishing that of someone else's, and is it the case? I think the question isn't a trivial "no reason to think it".
power ...
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What did Nietzsche mean by monsters and the abyss?
What do you think Nietzsche meant by "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." (...
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Is Nietzsche's goal -- for the "overman" and "higher type" -- just 'forgetfulness'?
Is Nietzsche's goal -- for the overman and higher type of human being -- just the Buddhist concept of "forgetfulness" or dukkha?
I am asking because it makes sense in my -- somewhat -- ...
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Did Nietzsche “believe” in causality?
In Human, all too human, part 1, par. 107 (“non-responsibility and non-guilt”) Nietzsche clearly brings forth the Spinozian theory of the “innocence of becoming”.
I am a bit confused by this claim. ...
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(1) Who was Nietzsche quoting in this passage, and (2) what is it saying?
This is a quotation from section 18 of First division: First and Last Things in Nietzsches Human, All Too Human:
When the history of the rise of thought comes to be written, a new light will be ...
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What does Rawls mean by a "day of reckoning"?
The quote (I don't remember where exactly in AToJ it is):
But we must try to postpone the day of reckoning as long as possible, and try to arrange society so that it never comes.
I think it was past ...
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Master morality vs slave morality
I have read master morality vs slave morality through youtube and net. Every one has different interpretation.
Can some one summarize and explain what Nietzsche really tried to say ?
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What would it mean for the herd to be victorious over the overman?
What would it mean for the herd to be victorious over the overman? What would that amount to? I assume that the herd has its perverse plans, born out of ressentiment, for the ubermensch, and they will ...
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Is mathematics an art?
I'm thinking of art in the traditional sense as visual, musical or literary.
Mathematics certainly requires technique, and hence one can say craftmanship. But whereas the production of an art (at ...
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Duplicity and strength in humans
The background for the question is: I often struggle with feelings of a kind of resentment, and I believe that traditional morality isn't going to help with that.
Nietzsche writes, in The Birth of ...
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I am struggling to believe there is anything good in humanity: can you help?
I feel neither like a sinner nor sinned against, but I am struggling to see any good in anyone or myself. I am reminded for the 100,000th time of "mankind is a bridge", and that's what we ...
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How did Nietzsche prove his will to power?
Was Nietzsche right about the will to power? Specifically, did he (or any of his interpreters) prove (let's take Kant's system as a cut off for 'proof') that the will to power, either individually or ...
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Nietzsche's idea about conservation of human species
I am starting to get into Nietzsche's philosophy, through his book "The joyful wisdom"/"the gay science".
In the first chapter, "The Teachers of the Object of Existence", ...
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What does not kill me makes me stronger
"Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me
stronger."
-from the Maxims & Arrows section of aphorisms, in Die Götzen-Dämmerung (Twilight of the Idols) by Friedrich ...
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Interpretation of living dangerously
Continuing discussion of Master morality vs slave morality
My second question is how would you interpret when Friedrich Nietzsche say "live dangerously". Is it to live risky lives even its ...
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What is Virtue?
I have been reading Plato and re-reading Nietzsche and both of them discuss Virtue without saying what it is. In Thus Spake Zarathustra Virtue seems to come in flavours where you have to pick one or ...
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To what extent is Nietzsche an "Idealist?"
I am well aware of Nietzsche's prolonged and often prolific critiques of what he referred to as "Idealism," yet I am curious as to the extent which two of his ideas in particular, namely ...
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Is it ever alright to share a secret?
So my main concern about my philosophical question is that is it a Ethic branch of philosophy? if not to which branch does it fit?
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Can someone explain amor fati to me?
Can someone explain amor fati to me?
Does it just mean love who you presently are? That seems a bit bourgeois to me. Does it mean that there's no explanation for why anything happens? Again, that ...
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What does Nietzsche mean in this quote from The Gay Science?
I struggle to interpret this quote from Chapter 1, Book 1 of The Gay Science. If someone could explain what he is trying to say (especially with the first part), it would be much appreciated.
To ...
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Nietzsche on subconscious self-justification
What is the quotation of Nietzsche where he says that he found himself somehow subconsciously lying to himself in order to feel better about something he did?
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What was Neitzche calling "old frigid and tedious frogs"?
After the first paragraph of the first essay of On the Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche discusses how English psychologists may be motivated to study the darker side of "our inner world". Then ...
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Isn't Nietzsche's overman a replacement for God?
Nietzsche claimed that "we killed God". Thus, as Nietzsche thought, it would result in nihilism.
He also "introduced" an idea of the overman. This question is not about what the overman is. But I'm ...
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Why is Nietzsche an important philosopher?
Can someone explain to me why Nietzsche is an important philosopher? To be honest, I am interested in analytic philosophy and I want to to how much valuable the Nietzsche's ideas are from analytical ...
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Eternal recurrence and free will
In rereading Nietzsche, I had a question: Is Nietzsche a determinist? As far as I understand from reading Beyond Good and Evil, it follows that it does not, for Nietzsche himself, as I understand it, ...
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What do the "last men" mean by <<We invented happiness>>?
In his book Thus spoke Zarathustra Nietzsche talks about the worst kind of man, "the last man" who is the direct opposite of the ubermensch. Somewhere the last men use the phrase "We ...
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Was Nietzsche a strong proponent of machoism and traditional masculinity?
Was Nietzsche a strong proponent of machoism and traditional masculinity?
Some quotes from Nietzsche on those matters:
"With the growing indulgence of love matches, the very foundation of ...
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What is the difference between Nietzsche view on suffering and the Epicurean view on suffering?
Nietzsche on suffering
Here is a quote of Nietzsche, from Russell (History of Western Philosophy, Chapter 25 "Nietzsche"):
Nietzsche's ethic is not one of self-indulgence in any ordinary ...
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How do you understand Nietzsche in the aphorism 33 from "The Gay Science" : Book 'Joke, Cunning, and Revenge'?
I have a hard time understanding what Nietzsche wanted to express in this aphorism :
The Solitary One
Despised by me are following and leading.
Commanding? Even worse to me than heeding!
Who does ...
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Why does Nietzsche "love those that know not how to live"?
It is rather sad, but I read this section in Thus Spoke Zarathustra so many times. Both because I like the concept "arrows of longing" (for the overman), and find the phrase therein about also going ...
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What is the goal of the Übermensch?
I have been reading Thus spoke Zarathustra, and i understand that Man should attempt to act to be like an Overman, or a bridge to one. But i have a dilemma:
Is the Übermensch the final goal of ...
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Nietzsche's third metamorphosis: why is the Übermensch a child in spirit?
Three metamorphoses of the spirit do I designate to you: how the
spirit becometh a camel, the camel a lion, and the lion at last a
child... To create new values—that, even the lion cannot yet
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Does Nietzscean eternal return make sense in light of modern science?
Nietzsche scholars and some major continental philosophers (Deleuze) take the idea of eternal recurrence seriously. Why?
Modern science (especially chaos theory) showed that the notion of eternal ...
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What is the justification for Deleuze's 3rd synthesis of time?
In Difference and Repitition by Deleuze, he comes up with 3 syntheses of time. The first being habitus, which is the conditioning of actual experience through pre-existing material patterns for the ...
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Quote from Nietzsche on modernity and culture
I can't find a passage from one of Nietzsche's book (Thus Spoke Zarathustra?) about its opinion on modernity (the age he was contemporean of) and culture.
As far as I recall, the idea was that his ...
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What is the link with nihilism and hypocrisy?
What is the link with nihilism and hypocrisy? I know that Nietzsche mentions hypocrisy. I think to the effect that the old values helped it flourish, that it is now debased, with at least the ...
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How does fight club counter Nietzsche? [closed]
So it seems obvious to me the fight club critiques nietzsches school of thought. However, since it is a work of art I worry I may have missed all the points it makes. Can someone enlist them?
The ...
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Were Caesar's murderers more powerful than him?
Nietzsche seems to think that power is the greatest virtue
Only as image of the highest virtue came gold to the highest value.
Goldlike, beameth the glance of the bestower. Gold-lustre maketh peace
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Does Nietzsche's statement “God is dead” imply that morality ceases to exist?
I’ve always been a little confused about this. If God is dead then somehow humans lose all their morals and any human actions are permitted, right?. This doesn’t quite make a whole lot of sense to me. ...
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