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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Nietzsche's birth of tragedy
In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche describes a Dionysian satyr as a force that impregnates an Apollonian world of images giving rise to dialogue on the Hellenic stage and henceforth the Greek ...
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Did Nietzsche actually say or write, "Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed."
The quote, "Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed" is, at least on the Internet, often attributed to Nietzsche, e.g., goodreads, Simple ...
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Arguments in favor of Eternal Return?
Are there any current modern mathematical or scientific arguments in favor of eternal return?
I have read several against it here on this site.
One which I could think of is that the Universe might ...
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What was Nietzsche's Position on Darwin and his theory of Evolution by Natural Selection?
I will preface this question by saying I have not read Nietzsche extensively. The one exception is his 'Genealogy of Morals', a recent read of mine, twice actually.
I always assumed Nietzsche's ...
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Does pain tend to be more differentiated than pleasure?
Does pain tend to be more differentiated than pleasure? Which is said to be open to more interpretations and variations, pleasure or pain?
See what Sade had to say about this sort of question, quoted ...
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How would a better nihilist respond to pity from another?
How would a good nihilist respond to pity from another, given that God is dead? Even if one approves of the motive and action, that's got to be quite the head-ache for any self respecting nihilist.
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What is Nietzsche's source of immediate knowledge in Beyond Good and Evil?
In Beyond Good and Evil, Section 16, Nietzsche uses "immediate certainties" in quotation marks. Who and from where is Nietzsche quoting this, or is he using the quotations marks to speak ironically? ...
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Can 'the they self' help us understand Nietzsche's response to nihilism?
Can 'das man' or 'the they self' help us understand Nietzsche's response to nihilism? I'm asking because these are concepts I think I can intuitively grasp from within my life, quite unlike Nietzsche'...
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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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Does Nietzsche commit the genetic fallacy?
Why does Nietzsche not commit the genetic fallacy, in his genealogy of morals?
There's at least a handful of articles on this, which I didn't yet read; I make here my 1st port of call.
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What does Nietzsche mean by religion of decadence?
In The Antichrist, Nietzsche says that Christianity and Buddhism are both religions of decadence. What does this mean? Specifically, what are the hallmarks of such a religion? What are its values? ...
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The will to truth or the will to untruth
I have begun reading Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil and have been sitting with his very first section of the book, where he opens with a series of questions pertaining to the will to truth. He asks ...
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Friedrich Nietzsche - On the Genealogy of Morals - Slave Morality Imposition
Nietzsche says there is no being behind the doing and I agree with this idea. He also says the weak separated the doing from the being in order to condemn the strong for using theirs strength.
My ...
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Allegory of the cave & Nietzsche
¿What would be Nietzsche opinion on the allegory of the cavern? I am specifically thinking what would Nietzsche philosophy say about the prisoners escape. Would he see anything at all? Is there any ...
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Nietzsche - Fictions effectiveness
According to my philosophy teacher, Nietzsche says there is no one true, objective reality but plenty of fictions and those that are more effective are the ones that persist.
My teacher argues that ...
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Can Nietzsche's overman be thought of as a centripetal force?
Can Nietzsche's overman be thought of as a centripetal force?
Centripetal is an adjective describing a force that brings things
toward the center, not unlike the force of a black hole. ...
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What would Nietzsche have said about moral relativism in leftwing politics?
The concept of superman or übermensch is someone that overcomes nihilism and learns to see above what's considered right or wrong.
The latter is a leftist's trait, because right-wing mentality has ...
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What is "the Nietzschean criterion" in Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus"?
Quote:
It seems there are but two philosophical solutions [regarding killing oneself], either yes or no. This would be too easy. But allowance must be made for those who, without concluding, ...
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Is humility necessarily despicable?
The believer feels superior to the unbeliever. I will believe in
Christian humility when I see the how the believer humbles himself
before the unbeliever
Nietzche, cited in Dostoevsky, ...
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What did Friedrich Nietzsche think about mainstream education, as in public schooling?
I know that Nietzsche was a man who believed that it was up to the individual to realise his/her own potential rather than have decisions made for them by conventions (academia?) or religion, but does ...
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Was Nietzsche the first philosopher to really lay claim to 'transvaluation'?
Was Nietzsche the first philosopher to really lay claim to the concept of "transvaluation", by which I mean the re-evaluation of all values?
Who if anyone before him made that such a deliberate and ...
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help understanding famous Nietzsche quote: "With greatness — that means cynically and with innocence."
Of what is great one must either be silent or speak with greatness.
With greatness — that means cynically and with innocence.
Is there any practical wisdom to this quote?
What does it mean to ...
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Can Nietzsche's "will to power" make a person's life meaningful?
People seem to find some sort of "meaning" in Nietzsche. My question is, more specifically, can someone's "will to power" make their life meaningful, according to him? Does Nietzsche address anywhere ...
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Where is Nietzsche's Antichrist last part (Law against Christianity)?
I was looking for a sentence in the last part of Nietzsche's The Antichrist (a part called "Law against Christianity"), which comes after the chapter 62. To my surprise, the vast majority of "full-...
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Prescriptive Nietzsche
In all of his works there's always a sense (at least for me) that Nietszche says: "do that, don't do that, don't be like that, be like that".
Did he really wanted us to become better? If that's not ...
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Does holistic health have its roots in Nietzsche's philosophy?
Was the Nietzsche's work the main influential thing in how people thought about holistic health as both our mental and physical health? Could it be that it was the Nietzsche's Human all too human that ...
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Does the philosophy of "be yourself" come from the Nietzsche's philosophy?
I've recently watched the documentary about Nietzsche's life and philosophy Nietzsche: Beyond good and evil and I got that one of the main ideas in his philosophy is that people should spend their ...
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Did Nietzsche say "Wherever is the crowd is a common denominator of stench"?
I found very few occurrences of that quote attributed to Nietzsche: "Wherever is the crowd is a common denominator of stench".
I suspect this to be an Internet false positive, namely a false quote, ...
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Is the following a quote from Nietzsche?
Hello everyone on PhilStackexchange,
I am just requesting source for a line I heard from a friend who alleges that it is from Nietzsche. The line goes like 'he who leaves me is my true follower', and ...
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Heidegger's origin of the work of art and Nietzsche's Dionysian vs. Apollonian forces in art
In "Origin of the Work of Art" ( der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes), Heidegger talks about a piece of art as something that is both world and earth. These two are in a constant battle, in which they drive ...
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Various Philosopher's Perspective on the Meaning or Purpose of Life
I'm teaching a high-school philosophy club at the school I work at, but the problem is that I haven't had any real formal education in philosophy and have only a novice knowledge of the subject, which ...
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If history repeats as farce, then how can Nietzsche's madman prove the truth?
I keep wondering what "farce" really amounts to, in class terms, for Marx, rather than individual. On this question, there was the following comment
But, if we look at more class based movements, ...
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Is Nietzsche's goal to find an intrinsic good in what he does?
Is Nietzsche's goal to find an intrinsic good in what he does?
So not "amorality" for its own sake, or rewilling what you've done because of the utility, for yourself, of its consequences.
Those two ...
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What do Nietzsche's bogeymen say about the meaning of life?
What do Nietzsche's bogeymen say about the meaning of life?
Specifically, is it characteristic of his "last men" to be unconcerned whether their happiness is meaningful, or even embrace the ...
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Is the antichrist neither "good" nor "evil", or only from a perspective which rejects both terms?
Is the antichrist neither "good" nor "evil", or only from a perspective which rejects both terms? I haven't read much Nietzsche, but surely, I'm thinking, the former!
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If mankind is a bridge then why would the anti-christ need to rewill history prior to themselves?
If mankind is a bridge then why would the anti-christ need to rewill history prior to themselves? Has anyone discussed that issue?
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what ...
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Why is Nietzsche more frequently associated with Nazis than Hegel is?
Most introductory texts or lectures of Nietzsche mention the connection between his thought and Nazi ideology (supposedly due to his sister's promoting his thought as being pro-Nazi). But Nazis don't ...
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Why did Nietzsche like Julius Caesar so much?
Nietzsche seems to have a certain fascination with figures like Goethe and Julius Caesar. I was wondering why this is the case. Why, specifically, does Nietzsche look up to Caesar so much. Why does he ...
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Does Nietzsche say, and mean, that all life is unavoidably tragic?
Does Nietzsche say, and mean, that all life is unavoidably tragic?
All I know, right now, is that he had a book The Birth of Tragedy, about theater I think. And, I think, that all life is a struggle ...
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Is Plato's Callicles an example of Nietzsche's Übermensch? Is the Epicurean hedonist?
Is the hard-headed Callicles from Plato's dialogue Gorgias the type of person who exemplifies Nietzsche's Übermensch (overman)? What about the hedonistic sage of Epicureans? Is he a Übermensch?
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What is the vocabular meaning of "Will to power"?
What exactly is the vocabular meaning of "Will to power", as Nietzsche meant it?
I think it means:
Will: Noun, meaning desire, drive, desire, wish, determination.
To: infinitive marker, indicating ...
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Does Nietzsche's rejection of Socrates mean that he is a relativist about ethics?
In Twilight of Idols (passage 10 in Problem of Socrates section) Nietzsche asserts that Socrates's equating Reason, Virtue and Happiness is a sign of decadence.
Does it follow from this that ...
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Why are joy and regret indistinguishable according to Nietzsche?
I'm trying to get a better grasp on what Nietzsche is really saying when it comes to describing joy and regret as indistinguishable. Is he saying that they are indistinguishable because they rely on ...
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Is Nietzsche's thought primarily a solution on how to classify people?
I was just now doing some super light reading on Nietzsche's aristocraticism. Seems to me that a lot of human history, both intellectual and social, is an attempt to create a stronger class system. ...
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How would Nietzsche argue against classical theism?
Completely out of curiosity, how would someone like Nietzsche, let's use him as an example, argue against Aquinas's metaphysical argument for classical theism. I can't seem to find any references in ...
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Why, according to Nietzsche, is becoming a monster by fighting to overthrow monsters a bad thing? [duplicate]
Nietzsche states:
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Source: ...
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What does this quote of Nietzsche mean?
So I read this quote: "Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?" of Nietzsche and I have no idea of what he is talking about here. Can anybody ...
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Could I please request an introduction to philosophy of pessimism?
Everything from essential texts, interpretations of the absurd, eternal return, interpretations of suicide and religion, and it's influence on the arts. And, I know I am asking a lot, but I'd like to ...
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Nietzsche and What he got wrong about evolution?
It is known that Nietzsche rejected the clause of the "natural selection" and "survival of the fittest" in the theory of evolution as not as much was confirmed about the theory during his time and it ...
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Please explain perspectivism to me
I was wondering if someone could please explain Nietzsche's perspectivism to me. I used to think that it was similar to Descartes' method of thinking. That everything was subjective because everything ...
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