Nietzsche: the greatest philosopher who ever lived

[Twilight Hue]

Nietasche said that the "death of God" would lead to nihilism.
Dostoevsky said it would lead to Totalitarianism.
Both men turned out to be right.

How bizzare.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

No doubt he wrote a lot that I disagree with. I said he is the greatest philosopher who ever lived because I think he managed to convey some of the most powerful, life-affirming ideas with the written word better than anyone else. And BTW, I just noticed you have quotes from Nietzsche's Zarathustra in your signature.

That line has always deeply resonated within me, because I myself loathe and detest so much but have great passion towards a few things, and because I don't care much for settling when I know there is better.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

It was me who called him that. Really, I think anyone who claims to love Nietzsche hasn't read much of Nietzsche, just as someone who claims to not like Nietzsche hasn't read much of Nietzsche. He wrote wonderful and passionate pose about life, but he also wrote scathing hate towards just about everybody. Personally, I'd prefer Stoic philosophy as it tends to come with the life affirming views of Nietzsche without all the baggage (or something about how evil and bad women are every few pages).
But, yet interestingly, Nietzsche's social reputation apparently didn't match up to his writings, and he was known for being quite the gentleman, sensitive towards women, and he had a public break down upon seeing a horse being beaten. Not so much what could easily be thought given his thoughts regarding morality and lambs and birds of prey.

It sounded somewhat like you just called Nietzsche an internet troll, albeit one who could actually write...lol

 

[Shadow Wolf]

It sounded somewhat like you just called Nietzsche an internet troll, albeit one who could actually write...lol

I think it just depends on the day and my mood as to how I refer to Nietzsche. Some days his words are some of the best out there. On other days he's the Ubertroll who puts all internet trolls to shame.

 

[shunyadragon]

Nietzsche said that the "death of God" would lead to nihilism.
Dostoevsky said it would lead to Totalitarianism.
Both men turned out to be right.

Careful how you quote Nietzsche. Let's see the citation to support the bold.

 

[Yerda]

It was me who called him that. Really, I think anyone who claims to love Nietzsche hasn't read much of Nietzsche, just as someone who claims to not like Nietzsche hasn't read much of Nietzsche. He wrote wonderful and passionate pose about life, but he also wrote scathing hate towards just about everybody. Personally, I'd prefer Stoic philosophy as it tends to come with the life affirming views of Nietzsche without all the baggage (or something about how evil and bad women are every few pages).
But, yet interestingly, Nietzsche's social reputation apparently didn't match up to his writings, and he was known for being quite the gentleman, sensitive towards women, and he had a public break down upon seeing a horse being beaten. Not so much what could easily be thought given his thoughts regarding morality and lambs and birds of prey.

I've tried to read Beyond Good and Evil a few times now. I can't say I've found the prose to be beautiful and life-affirming but I usually give up after a few pages, scratching my head and wondering if he's toying with the reader.

I recently found Stoicism through Massimo Pigliucci's twitter account (I know I'm really deep...) and it's definitely causing some sparks to fly in the old head-jelly.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

I've tried to read Beyond Good and Evil a few times now. I can't say I've found the prose to be beautiful and life-affirming but I usually give up after a few pages, scratching my head and wondering if he's toying with the reader.

I recently found Stoicism through Massimo Pigliucci's twitter account (I know I'm really deep...) and it's definitely causing some sparks to fly in the old head-jelly.

I have not read Beyond Good and Evil yet, but I have read portions of it, and I believe it is less accessible to someone new to philosophy than some of his other books. I am finishing up the Genealogy of Morals, which will be my fourth work of his that I have read. I recommend reading either Twilight of the Idols or the Antichrist or the Genealogy of Morals, and then reading Zarathustra. I will likely be re-reading Zarathustra several times, as I found a large part of it to be extremely powerful and thought provoking, and worth reading again, and other parts to be incomprehensible, especially the poetry.

 

[The Anointed]

I "discovered" Nietzsche's works a few months ago, and have been reading him as much as I can. As it happened, I discovered him at a time when I was going through a bit of depression and anxiety. Nothing too serious, just a "funk" I suppose. Reading Nietzsche fired me up about life again and brought me out of anxiety and depression unlike anything else ever could have. He had has some of the most profound insights about life that I have ever read. Whether a Christian, atheist, liberal, conservative, etc, there will likely be something in his works that provokes you to strong disagreement, or strong agreement, but it's impossible to read Nietzsche without having some strong reaction, which is why I recommend him for everyone. And his wisdom, and insights about embracing life are written better than any other writer I have read. Like this (Aphorism 341 from The Gay Science, Book IV):

The Heaviest Burden. What if a demon crept after you into your loneliest loneliness some day or night, and said to you: "This life, as you live it at present, and have lived it, you must live it once more, and also innumerable times; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and every sigh, and all the unspeakably small and great in thy life must come to you again, and all in the same series and sequence - and similarly this spider and this moonlight among the trees, and similarly this moment, and I myself. The eternal sand-glass of existence will ever be turned once more, and you with it, you speck of dust!" - Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth, and curse the demon that so spoke? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment in which you would answer him: "You are a God, and never did I hear anything so divine!" If that thought acquired power over you as you are, it would transform you, and perhaps crush you; the question with regard to all and everything: "Do you want this once more, and also for innumerable times?" would lie as the heaviest burden upon your activity! Or, how would you have to become favourably inclined to yourself and to life, so as to long for nothing more ardently than for this last eternal sanctioning and sealing?

WOW. It's passages like this that never cease to amaze and inspire me. No other writer that I know of has managed to convey such power, determination, and optimism.

Apparently you have never read the 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' the King of the wise.

Oh thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin
Beset the road I was to wander in,
Though wilt not with evil round
Enmesh, and then impute my fall to sin.

Oh thou, who man of baser earth didst make
And even with paradise devise the snake:
For all the sin wherewith the face of man
Is blackened---MAN'S FORGIVENESS GIVE---AND TAKE.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

scratching my head and wondering if he's toying with the reader.

Nietzsche definitely does that. Though his later and final works are excluded due the onset of severe illness and considerably poorer quality (parts would be downright embarrassing for someone of his professional and academic status had he not succumbed to illness), calling him an Anti-Christ is somewhat accurate. Though he was concerned with society having a bad outcome given the death of god, at the center of his writings is a savage intellectual barrage that forces the reader to go on the defensive (especially so and triply so for the religious reader, especially Christians). But, in the end, throughout his collective works he show a more humorous side, a way of being playful with words, and a bombardment that you can't always be serious, and nor should you.
And like a switch his prose that shower praise can turn into a scathing rain of acid, so the reader is definitely kept on alert. Especially considering if you agree with his criticisms, just give it time (or pages, rather) and eventually his scopes will get to you.

 

[ajay0]

Nietzche's philosophy was just a psychological reaction to Christianity, which he put under the domain of 'slave morality'.

I don't consider him the greatest philosopher ever, though his writings may have provided some relief to people looking for a philosophical framework in life that promoted a vigorous outlook rather than a defeatist one.

Nietzche was not enlightened, and did not properly comprehend enlightenment, as he had not travelled to the east or met enlightened masters.

I consider Nisargadatta Maharaj an enlightened master and superior philosopher to Nietzche.

 

[KelseyR]

I "discovered" Nietzsche's works a few months ago, and have been reading him as much as I can. As it happened, I discovered him at a time when I was going through a bit of depression and anxiety. Nothing too serious, just a "funk" I suppose. Reading Nietzsche fired me up about life again and brought me out of anxiety and depression unlike anything else ever could have. He had has some of the most profound insights about life that I have ever read. Whether a Christian, atheist, liberal, conservative, etc, there will likely be something in his works that provokes you to strong disagreement, or strong agreement, but it's impossible to read Nietzsche without having some strong reaction, which is why I recommend him for everyone. And his wisdom, and insights about embracing life are written better than any other writer I have read. Like this (Aphorism 341 from The Gay Science, Book IV):

The Heaviest Burden. What if a demon crept after you into your loneliest loneliness some day or night, and said to you: "This life, as you live it at present, and have lived it, you must live it once more, and also innumerable times; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and every sigh, and all the unspeakably small and great in thy life must come to you again, and all in the same series and sequence - and similarly this spider and this moonlight among the trees, and similarly this moment, and I myself. The eternal sand-glass of existence will ever be turned once more, and you with it, you speck of dust!" - Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth, and curse the demon that so spoke? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment in which you would answer him: "You are a God, and never did I hear anything so divine!" If that thought acquired power over you as you are, it would transform you, and perhaps crush you; the question with regard to all and everything: "Do you want this once more, and also for innumerable times?" would lie as the heaviest burden upon your activity! Or, how would you have to become favourably inclined to yourself and to life, so as to long for nothing more ardently than for this last eternal sanctioning and sealing?

WOW. It's passages like this that never cease to amaze and inspire me. No other writer that I know of has managed to convey such power, determination, and optimism.

 

[KelseyR]

I give Nietzsche two thumbs down for his thoughts on the 'eternal return'. He did resurrect ancient understanding on the matter, which is consistent with the age of enlightenment- yet what he says is overly verbose and highly misleading drivel.

The modern understanding of 'recurrence' is radically different. Did Nietzsche instigate all of these improvements? This is perhaps arguable, but the fact of the matter is that his lack of expertise coupled to his deplorable lifestyle greatly disservices the investigation. All people can talk about- even today, is what that idiot Nietzsche said hundreds of years ago.

 

[whirlingmerc]

I give Nietzsche two thumbs down for his thoughts on the 'eternal return'. He did resurrect ancient understanding on the matter, which is consistent with the age of enlightenment- yet what he says is overly verbose and highly misleading drivel.

The modern understanding of 'recurrence' is radically different. Did Nietzsche instigate all of these improvements? This is perhaps arguable, but the fact of the matter is that his lack of expertise coupled to his deplorable lifestyle greatly disservices the investigation. All people can talk about- even today, is what that idiot Nietzsche said hundreds of years ago.

Since Nietzsche was part of the inspiration for the still of WWII I hardly would call him the greatest philosopher who ever lived.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Nietzsche definitely does that. Though his later and final works are excluded due the onset of severe illness and considerably poorer quality (parts would be downright embarrassing for someone of his professional and academic status had he not succumbed to illness), calling him an Anti-Christ is somewhat accurate. Though he was concerned with society having a bad outcome given the death of god, at the center of his writings is a savage intellectual barrage that forces the reader to go on the defensive (especially so and triply so for the religious reader, especially Christians). But, in the end, throughout his collective works he show a more humorous side, a way of being playful with words, and a bombardment that you can't always be serious, and nor should you.
And like a switch his prose that shower praise can turn into a scathing rain of acid, so the reader is definitely kept on alert. Especially considering if you agree with his criticisms, just give it time (or pages, rather) and eventually his scopes will get to you.

Many of his works are humorous, such as portions of Ecce Homo in which he entitles the chapters "Why I am So Wise", "Why I am so Clever", "Why I Write Such Excellent Books", etc. He certainly did become a bit of a megalomaniac in his later years, when he described his writing as "soaring above" the writings of other authors, and stating that his books are the greatest gifts to mankind. However, he may not be incorrect. I believe that many of his works are some of the greatest gifts to mankind because of their rich content. There are often many hidden, yet profound ideas in his works that are subtle and difficult to discover.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Many of his works are humorous, such as portions of Ecce Homo in which he entitles the chapters "Why I am So Wise", "Why I am so Clever", "Why I Write Such Excellent Books", etc. He certainly did become a bit of a megalomaniac in his later years, when he described his writing as "soaring above" the writings of other authors, and stating that his books are the greatest gifts to mankind. However, he may not be incorrect. I believe that many of his works are some of the greatest gifts to mankind because of their rich content. There are often many hidden, yet profound ideas in his works that are subtle and difficult to discover.

Nietzsche's later works also feature **** poor quality of work, such as when he erroneously claimed Christians as filthy for apparently not bathing in Europe after they closed the public bathhouses. They also tend to go off on tangents and aren't as solid as his pre-illness works. Im just glad the Will to Power isnt really considered canon or his.

 

[Rational Agnostic]

Nietzsche's later works also feature **** poor quality of work, such as when he erroneously claimed Christians as filthy for apparently not bathing in Europe after they closed the public bathhouses. They also tend to go off on tangents and aren't as solid as his pre-illness works. Im just glad the Will to Power isnt really considered canon or his.

Ahh, yes I recall reading the claim about not bathing. I laughed at that one. In the AntiChrist, he also claims that the entire New Testament is useless garbage except for Pilate's line "What is truth?" I tend to disagree with this as well. Nevertheless, he still makes many valid points, even in his later works.