[Stanfield]

Maybe I am an untermensch but his ideas and how they are applicable in daily life. I mean Schopenhaueer and Diogenes are cool. Can someone explain to me what is so great about Nietzshe?

[robreke]

(07-19-2017 11:45 AM)Stanfield Wrote:  

Maybe I am an untermensch but his ideas and how they are applicable in daily life. I mean Schopenhaueer and Diogenes are cool. Can someone explain to me what is so great about Nietzshe?

Nietzsche had incredible insight and was a genius. He saw the decline of Christianity in Europe. He recognized something else would have to fill the vacuum left by the fact that "God is dead" as he so famously wrote. Christianity was, more or less, the governing bedrock of European ideals, culture and governments for over 1500 years when he wrote these things. He saw that coming to an end.

He accurately predicted the rise of idealogies which would fill this vacuum and lead to the death of untold amounts of people and the disruption of entire populations. In short, he saw the specter of both hard left and hard right ideologies rising. Twenty years before the Russian revolution, he predicted communism and, in a sense, the great wars that rocked Europe in the 20th century as a result of God being dead. This by itself is remarkable. Indeed, countless millions upon millions were slaughtered in the name of Communism in the 1900s ( many times more than were killed in the Holocaust) We also, obviously, have the deaths caused by the world wars and the Holocaust.

[RatInTheWoods]

This hard assed old bastard is one of my faves. Well worth a study and a read.

[thebassist]

Honestly it's hard to know where to begin if you really want to dissect Nietzsche's greatness.

What stands out the most to me is his incredible, instinctive grasp for human psychology: this is reflected in the astuteness of his cultural analysis as Robreke points out, but I personally value the almost classical sense of urgency that he imparts upon his reader, urging us to transcend our limited, animal natures, our lazy, corrupt cultures and make something truly great out of our lives, the way that he so deeply understands so many of our own fears and insecurities that we think of only in our quietest, most thoughtful moments.

I will include some extracts for reference:

From On the Utility and Liability of History for Life

Quote:

History pertains to the living person in three respects: it pertains to him as one who acts and strives, as one who preserves and venerates, and as one who suffers and is in need of liberation [monumental, antiquarian and critical history]. Above all, history pertains to the active and powerful human being, to the person who is involved in great struggle and who needs exemplars, teachers and comforters, but is unable to find them among his contemporaries and in the present age

That the great moments in the struggles of individuals form links in one single chain; that they combine to form a mountain range of humankind through the millenia; that for me the highest point of such a long-past moment is still alive, bright and great- this is the fundamental thought in the belief in humanity that expresses itself in the demand for a monumental history

Precisely this demand that what is great be eternal sparks the most terrible struggle, however. For every other living human being cries out: "No! The monumental shall not come into being"- this is the watchword of those who oppose it.

Dull habit, the trivial and the common, fill every nook and cranny of the world, gather like a dense, earthly fog around everything the path that greatness must travel to attain immortality, so as to obstruct, deceive, smother and suffocate it..

And yet again and again a few awaken who, viewing past greatness and strengthened by their observation of it feel a sense of rapture, as if human life were a magnificent thing…- all of them leaving behind the single lesson that the most beautiful life is led by those who do not hold existence in high regard.

He concludes that the greatness that once existed was at least possible at one time, and that it therefore will probably be possible once again; he goes his way with more courage, for the doubt that befalls him in his weaker moments...is now banished.

Probably my favorite passage (the source of my sig):

From Schopenhauer as Educator, Section 1

Quote:

When the great thinker disdains human beings, it is their laziness he disdains, for it is laziness that makes them appear to be mass-produced commodities, to be indifferent, unworthy of human interchange and instruction.

The human being who does not want to be a part of the masses need only cease going easy on himself; let him follow his conscience, which cries out to him: "Be yourself! You are none of those things that you now do, think and desire."

Every young soul hears this cry night and day, and trembles, for when it thinks of its true liberation, it has an inkling of the measure of happiness for which it is destined from eternity.

As long as it is shackled by the chains of opinions and fear, nothing can help it attain this happiness.

And how bleak and senseless life can become without this liberation! There is no more desolate or repulsive creature in nature than the human being who has evaded his genius and who then casts furtive glances left and right, behind himself and all about.

But even if the future were to give us no cause for hope- our curious existence in precisely this Now gives us the strongest encouragement to live according to our own standards and laws.

We are accountable to ourselves for our own existence; consequently, we also want to be the real helmsmen of our existence and keep it from resembling a mindful coincidence.

We have to approach existence with a certain boldness and willingness to take risks: especially since in both the worst and best instances we are bound to lose it.

"None of this is you yourself," the young soul tells itself. No one can build for you the bridge upon which you alone must cross the stream of life, no one but you alone.

To be sure, there are countless paths and bridges and demigods that want to carry you through this stream, but only at the price of your self; you would pawn and lose your self.

There is one single path in this world on which no one but you can travel. Where does it lead? Do not ask, just take it.

He was truly an amazing character, with such an unparalleled level of insight into the human condition, his writings will continue to inspire men towards greatness for centuries to come.

From Human, All Too Human, Section 4

Quote:

The most fortunate author is one who is able to say as an old man that all he had of life-giving, invigorating, uplifting, enlightening thoughts and feelings still lives on in his writings, and that he himself is only the gray ash, while the fire has been rescued and carried forth everywhere.

[Robert Augustus Masters]

God is dead!
-Nietsche

Nietzsche is dead.
-God

'Nuf said