What do you think of nietzsche

A brief review of these arguments follows a more detailed treatment is in Leiter 81— and Leiter — Against the Free Will Thesis, Nietzsche argues against both the modern attempts to vindicate free will and moral responsibility. The will no longer moves anything, hence does not explain anything either — it merely accompanies events; it can also be absent. The so-called motive : another error. Merely a surface phenomenon of consciousness — something alongside the deed that is more likely to cover up the antecedents of the deeds than to represent them….

What follows from this? There are no mental [ geistigen ] causes at all. WP , ; as he writes in Daybreak : The primeval delusion still lives on that one knows, and knows quite precisely in every case, how human action is brought about ….

We have expended so much labor on learning that external things are not as they appear to us to be — very well! Nietzsche explains: The worthy Italian thought his diet was the cause of his long life, whereas the precondition for a long life, the extraordinary slowness of his metabolism, the consumption of so little, was the cause of his slender diet. But whoever is not a carp not only does well to eat properly, but needs to.

BGE This point sets the stage for his core critique of morality. Perhaps more comfortably, less dangerously, but at the same time in a meaner style, more basely? So that morality itself was the danger of dangers? GM Pref:6; cf.

Small, soft, round, unending sand! Is that your ideal, you heralds of the sympathetic affections? He writes, for example, that: The discipline of suffering, of great suffering — do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?

That tension of the soul in unhappiness which cultivates its strength, its shudders face to face with great ruin, its inventiveness and courage in enduring, persevering, interpreting, and exploiting suffering, and whatever has been granted to it of profundity, secret, mask, spirit, cunning, greatness — was it not granted to it through suffering, through the discipline of great suffering?

BGE ; cf. Therefore: long live physics! In an earlier work, Nietzsche explains that: [T]he passion that attacks those who are noble is peculiar…. It involves the use of a rare and singular standard cold to everybody else; the discovery of values for which no scales have been invented yet; offering sacrifices on altars that are dedicated to an unknown god; a courage without any desire for honors; self-sufficiency that overflows and gives to men and things.

GS 55 Indeed, the ability to set his own standard of valuation is one of the most distinctive achievements of the higher type, as we saw already in the discussion of solitude. The proponents of these views would hold the following: i According to the Realist, there are normative facts. Schacht writes: Human life, for Nietzsche, is ultimately a part of a kind of vast game…[which] is, so to speak, the only game in town….

The nature of the game, he holds, establishes a standard for the evaluation of everything falling within its compass. The availability of this standard places evaluation on footing that is as firm as that on which the comprehension of life and the world stands. How does the IC help? Recall P : P To show that something is desirable i. The difficulty is that Nietzsche says other things which might suggest that the stronger remarks are misleading; for example: Life itself is to my mind the instinct for growth, for durability, for an accumulation of forces, for power : where the will to power is lacking there is decline.

It is my contention that all the supreme values of mankind lack this will…. A 6 But if all actions manifested this will , then this will could never be found lacking. That would, of course, be quite fortunate, since it is hardly plausible that will to power is the exclusive explanation for all human behavior There is an additional, textual worry for the argument that will to power provides an objective criterion of value lurking here as well.

We do find patterns of reaction to exceptional men that would allow us to see here a valuing rather similar to valuing on aesthetic grounds…. I am thinking of the interest and admiration which is the common attitude to remarkable men of exceptional independence of mind and strength of will….

Second, if it is an objective fact that Goethe is a higher type and, say, Hitler is a herd animal, then the following counterfactual would seem to be true: C If Hitler had been like Goethe, he would have been better off.

A 57 This reading, however, does not withstand scrutiny, as Thomas Brobjer has argued. Whereas Christianity destroys, the intention at least of the laws of Manu was to save and protect. So, for example, Nietzsche comments: Every philosophy which believes that the problem of existence is touched on, not to say solved, by a political event is a joke- and pseudo-philosophy. Many states have been founded since the world began; that is an old story.

How should a political innovation suffice to turn men once and for all into contented inhabitants of the earth? It may be that a man who sees his highest duty in serving the state really knows no higher duties; but there are men and duties existing beyond this — and one of the duties that seems, at least to me, to be higher than serving the state demands that one destroys stupidity in every form, and therefore in this form too.

That is why I am concerned with a species of man whose teleology extends somewhat beyond the welfare of a state…, and with [this kind of man] only in relation to a world which is again fairly independent of the welfare of a state, that of culture. What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?

Indeed, we do not even say enough when we say only that much. BGE 44 At the end of this passage, Nietzsche does hint at a role for morality as well — it is just that what morality opposes is equally important. Bibliography A. The Antichrist , in The Portable Nietzsche below. Cited as A. Beyond Good and Evil , trans. Kaufmann, New York: Vintage, Cited as BGE.

The Birth of Tragedy , trans. Cited as BT. The Case of Wagner , trans. Cited as CW. Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality , trans. Hollingdale, ed. Leiter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cited as D. Ecce Homo , trans. Cited as EH. The Gay Science , trans. Cited as GS. On the Genealogy of Morality , trans. Swensen, Indianapolis: Hackett, Cited as GM. Human, All-too-Human , trans.

Hollingdale, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cited as HAH. Nietzsche contra Wagner , in The Portable Nietzsche below. Cited as NCW. Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks , trans.

Cited as PTAG. Cited as PT, by page number. The Portable Nietzsche , ed. Kaufmann, New York: Viking, Cited as PN, by page number. Cited as Z. Twilight of the Idols , in The Portable Nietzsche above. Cited as TI. Untimely Meditations , trans.

Cited as U. The Will to Power , trans. Hollingdale, New York: Vintage, Cited as WP. Brobjer, Thomas, Clark, Maudemarie, Clark, Maudemarie and David Dudrick, Clark, Maudemarie and Brian Leiter, Detwiler, Bruce, Foot, Philippa, Fowles, Christopher, Gemes, Ken, and John Richardson eds. Geuss, Raymond, Hollingdale, R. Huddleston, Andrew, Hunt, Lester, Nietzsche and the Origin of Virtue , London: Routledge.

Hurka, Thomas, Perfectionism , Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hussain, Nadeem, Janaway, Christopher, Katsafanas, Paul, Leiter, Brian, Janaway ed.

Nietzsche on Morality , London: Routledge. Nietzsche on Morality , 2nd edition, London: Routledge. Leiter, Brian and Neil Sinhababu eds. Magnus, Bernd, May, Simon, Montinari, Mazzino, Nietzsche Lesen , Berlin: de Gruyter.

Nehamas, Alexander, Nussbaum, Martha, Reginster, Bernard, Riccardi, Mattia, Dries ed. Richardson, John, Richardson, John, and Brian Leiter eds. Nietzsche , Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rutherford, Donald, Schacht, Richard, Nietzsche , London: Routledge, esp. Meysenbug had been exiled from Germany for smuggling letters during the revolution of , after which she settled among the political exiles in north London, working as a tutor. Nietzsche and Meysenbug intended to found a school for free spirits in the caves beneath Sorrento.

The free spirits were to include women and nothing would be off limits in their study of culture, philosophy, aesthetics, religious scepticism and sexual freedom. Nietzsche encouraged his sister, Salis-Marschlins and Schirnhofer to apply.

Schirnhofer followed suit. Both gained their doctorates in philosophy. During this period, he wrote about the psychological dilemma of women. In The Gay Science , he notes how monstrous it is that young women are told that sex is shameful and sinful, only to be hurled into marriage and propelled by the man they are taught to worship as a god into the terror and duty of sex.

How are they expected to cope? I had no idea Nietzsche could be funny until I read his letters. As for the myths that have grown up around him, the last word surely should belong to the man himself. Yet that is the torment of every teacher … he knows that, given the circumstances and accidents, he can become a disaster as well as a blessing to mankind.

Far right, misogynist, humourless? Why Nietzsche is misunderstood. Friedrich Nietzsche with his mother. Topics Philosophy books Adolf Hitler Antisemitism features. Reuse this content. Prominent Nietzsche themes appear in his poetry and, like Nietzsche, much of his work was not appreciated during his lifetime. And those who find you, bind you to image and gesture. I would rather sense you, as the earth senses you. In my ripening, ripens what you are. In this poem , Rilke examines spirituality, and recommends that we broaden our view of what is considered pious.

Nietzsche believed that organized religions constrain people to a specific way of thinking, thereby limiting their intellectual freedom. Rilke, like Nietzsche, believed that spiritual enlightenment could never be synonymous with conformity because enlightenment comes from the unknown, something you can sense but not conform to. Instead of keeping your spiritual beliefs stagnant, try to evolve your spirituality and change it for the better when an opportunity presents itself.

It is the changing perception of God, Rilke suggests, that changes people for the better. Many critics believe Nietzsche to be a promoter of anarchism because of his hatred of government and religion but, although his work has been frequently associated with anarchists, Nietzsche denied these claims. He was merely pointing out problems in the structures of government and religion.

Although some religious scholars see Nietzsche as an enemy to be disproved, I see him as someone who exposed obvious problems in religion because he wished for people to autonomously discover their own spirituality.

His philosophy was a renouncement of his faith, not an attack on the faith of others. Although many religious individuals find his work repulsive, I believe you can appreciate Nietzsche and still find meaning in religion. Nietzsche preached individual freedom of belief, whatever that belief may be. Eliminating our sources of truth in the world will most likely lead to nihilism , which is the belief that nothing has value or meaning.

Many perceive nihilism as a negative or destructive perspective, but in contrast to the common view, Nietzsche believed nihilism is a prompting, or an opportunity that can enable us to reevaluate what gives value to our lives.

Nietzsche believed that if we destroy our previous set of beliefs, and suffer the initial existential angst of nihilism, we can discover where our true values lie. His view enables someone to experience the full depth of their character. He is asking us to consider our existing values, as well as all other possibilities. Nietzsche is not advising you to adopt a nihilistic outlook on life.

He is saying that to find your own truths in life, you must first reject the truths given to you by the herd.