13
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Nietzsche doesn't believe in free will nor in "non-free will". How come?
From a purely metaphysical perspective, Nietzsche is almost a hard determinist — there is causal order and free will is incompatible with it. The reason for "almost" is that he rejects as a ...
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What are some theories attacking postmodernism preserving objective truth and morality without assuming a God?
Short Answer
How can one argue against postmodernism for objective truth and morality without assuming a God?
Post-modernist claims of pure subjectivism are largely hype. It's has been joked that a ...
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11
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Are there arguments against Nietzsche's master morality?
I think there's two things to consider here. Before that, I'll just mention that as far as I understand Nietzsche "master-morality" is not all chosen over slave-morality based on a utilitarian ...
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Does Nietzsche's rejection of Socrates mean that he is a relativist about ethics?
I believe the Nietzsche's passage referred to is this one:
"Socrates' decadence is suggested not only by the admitted wantonness and anarchy of his instincts, but also by the hypertrophy of the ...
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11
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Trying to Understand Quote by Nietzsche
It's also important to remember that Nietzche's father was an ultra religious Christian and he would have no doubt been well familiar with Jesus' words from https://biblehub.com/matthew/26-52.htm "...
10
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What does Nietzsche refer to with the "backworldsmen"?
I answer with the authority of being a native German speaker and having graduated in philosophy ;)
Back-world is a bad translation here. Presumably, the translator has mistaken the term "...
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9
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What does Nietzsche mean by "blond beast?"
The "blond beast" is (probably) an actual lion
This answer is based on my readings of Nietzsche translated into English, since I do not speak German. My analysis therefore relies on the ...
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What is "the Nietzschean criterion" in Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus"?
The allusion to the expression "the Nietzschean criterion" is, I think, merely internal to the present text (The Myth of Sisyphus). It is not something we the readers are supposed to know if ...
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Trying to Understand Quote by Nietzsche
It has to be read as poetic language. It's evocative, unsettling, and striking, rather than explicit.
Fighting monsters making a hero monstrous is not an uncommon trope, for instance it can be found ...
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8
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Nietzsche doesn't believe in free will nor in "non-free will". How come?
There is a Wikipedia article collecting different material of Nietzsche on the subject: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche_and_free_will#:~:text=Nietzsche's%20analysis-,Power%20of%...
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7
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What did Nietzsche mean by monsters and the abyss?
"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."
If you engage in any kind of activity, you begin to embrace the viewpoints and facts related to the ...
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Is Plato's Callicles an example of Nietzsche's Übermensch? Is the Epicurean hedonist?
Well, in some ways Callicles comes close. One easily recognizes some of the key themes of Nietzsche's master morality there: the strong dominate the weak by nature, laws protecting the weak are unfair ...
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7
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Nietzche quoting Descartes... without source
Descartes' Meditations (1641), III.2 :
illud omne esse verum, quòd valde clare & distincte percipio.
John Veitch English translation of 1901 :
all that is very clearly and distinctly ...
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Nietzsche’s despising of the herd
The problem Nietzsche has with herd mentality is that it is unexamined. If one has examined ones own morality alongside the moral virtues of the herd, concluding that those herd moralities best suit ...
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6
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What does this quote of Nietzsche mean?
See Twilight of the Idols, or How One Philosophizes with a Hammer (Götzen-Dämmerung, oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert, August-September 1888) : The Probelm of Socrates :
"The wisest men in ...
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6
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Was Nietzsche against hedonism?
Yes, Nietzsche would be against it. The crux of Nietzsche attitude towards utilitarianism/hedonism/"English psychology" in general is the problem of suffering. Nietzsche thinks it makes sense to ...
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Did Nietszche say "all human institutions are intended to prevent mankind from feeling their life"?
The answer to the title question is: Yes (kind of)!
Well, I'd translate differently. Actually, the "quote" in that book is a very loose paraphrase:
The original in German from his Untimely ...
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6
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What are some theories attacking postmodernism preserving objective truth and morality without assuming a God?
To summarize an answer that became lengthier than I first intended:
The woke and the fascists are both trying to bring about societal change away from the status quo as they see it. In that regard, ...
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Does Nietzsche's statement “God is dead” imply that morality ceases to exist?
God is dead can be taken to mean not that there are no moral values but that moral values are determined by people, not imposed upon them by a higher authority.
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I am struggling to believe there is anything good in humanity: can you help?
It doesn’t take much to see that humans are pretty cool members of the earth’s animal kingdom. We have complex speech, we can use tools, we can grow and dye our hair and clothing fabulous colours, and ...
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What's the purpose of philosophy/knowledge?
Your general question is very broad, and different philosophers and schools of philosophy have answered these things differently. Nevertheless, I will take it from your invocation of Nietzsche that ...
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Nietzsche and the abuse of power
'Strength' for Nietzsche' is strength to choose our own values. This strength is lost, or never possessed, if we have been infected by 'slave morality' as he calls it. Slave morality prescribes what ...
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5
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What does this quote of Nietzsche mean?
Nietzsche is talking about decadence, i.e., any approach to life, such as Christian morality, that leads to the decay rather than the flourishing of human beings. At the same time, he is commenting on ...
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Why is Nietzsche more frequently associated with Nazis than Hegel is?
The actual answer rests with the words of Adolf Hitler himself. Hitler openly declared his hostility against Hegel, and Hitler openly declared that Nietzsche was his favorite philosopher. (See ...
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Could Nietzsche read English and French?
According to the Nietzsche Channel, Nietzsche read Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground in a French translation by E. Halpérine et Ch. Morice.
The Nietzsche Library at the Nietzsche Channel contains a ...
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5
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Could Nietzsche read English and French?
Frank Hubery has answered the question for Nietzsche's knowledge of French. I'd add the following extract from Nietzsche's April 1875 letter to Marie Baumgartner :
He himself confirms the ...
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5
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Was Nietzsche speaking of psychologists when he commented that even those with the best intentions can do immeasurable harm?
The quote appears in Walter Kauffman's The Portable Nietzsche, and is attributed to a letter to his sister dated March 1885. It is hard to say without the context of the letter who it refers to, if ...
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What exactly is Nietzsche’s criticism of the Thing-in-itself and is it supplanted by his Will to Power?
Two different criticisms of the thing-in-itself can be found in Nietzsche's work, a good review is Riccardi, Nietzsche’s critique of Kant’s thing in itself.
Both criticisms argue that the idea is ...
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4
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Why is Nietzsche so against Socrates?
Most philosophers - esp those who focus on Nietzsche do not believe that he disliked Socrates - see Kaufmann among many others [including me].
Kaufmann, Walter A. "Nietzsche's Admiration for Socrates....
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