Friedrich Nietzsche

  • chrissie.

    chrissie. (250)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    Australia
    I find him/his stuff rather facinating. I'm no philosophy guru or anything, but seriously.

    Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a 19th century German philosopher and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, using a distinctive German language style and displaying a fondness for metaphor and aphorism. Nietzsche's influence remains substantial within and beyond philosophy, notably in existentialism and postmodernism.

    --Wikipedia.
    (And if you don't trust Wiki, read more here or here, or just Google him, yeah?)

    Discuss him/his work here. :D
    August 15th, 2009 at 01:53pm
  • Lonely Speck

    Lonely Speck (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    29
    Location:
    United States
    I just got a book with excerpts from his different writings and commentary on it not too long ago. I got it from a used bookstore and so there are quotes from it inside the front and back covers and underlinings of what the previous owner liked.
    My favorite quote written out on the covers is
    "it is only as an aesthetic phenomenon that existence and the world are eternally justified."
    It's not only beautiful writing, but it is also an accurate statement, I feel.
    I've only read a bit out of this book, but what I have read I find intriguing.
    August 15th, 2009 at 07:03pm
  • Rian Dawson

    Rian Dawson (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    36
    Location:
    United States
    I don't know much about Nietzsche, but supposedly we're covering him in depth this year in one of my classes. I'm excited. Although that could just be because I like philosophy. :tehe: Most of my classmates are dreading it.
    August 17th, 2009 at 12:18am
  • fightoffyourdemons.

    fightoffyourdemons. (155)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    29
    Location:
    United States
    Wasn't he the man who inspried Hitler to kill all the people he did?
    August 18th, 2009 at 12:32am
  • Josipa

    Josipa (3960)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    39
    Location:
    Croatia
    kelseykillscliche:
    Wasn't he the man who inspried Hitler to kill all the people he did?
    Hitler's mind is the mind of a sick person. I know that books say that he visited the Nietzsche museum in Weimar and his work had a huge impact on him, such influence. He wanted to fulfill his prophecy, he wanted to become what Nietzsche described as Ubermensch. I guess Hitler thought he had become the new god.

    But some theories say that Hitler misunderstood his philosophy.
    August 18th, 2009 at 09:41am
  • nelicquele

    nelicquele (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    34
    Location:
    Serbia
    He has some cool ideas and sayings but actually reading his book is like setting you own eyes on fire.
    August 25th, 2009 at 12:25pm
  • Pokey-mans

    Pokey-mans (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    31
    Location:
    United States
    Hitler's sick mind thought he was qualified to be the Ubermensch, when in reality he was just a man with too much power for the good of his people.

    Favorite Nietzsche quote:
    In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.
    September 1st, 2009 at 05:37pm
  • sunday morning

    sunday morning (150)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    28
    Location:
    United States
    he fascinates me as well, but i can't help but think that he must've had a lot of time on his hands to ponder all of the amazing thoughts he came up with. my favorite quote is: "the visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others. "
    September 2nd, 2009 at 01:25am
  • Syd Barrett.

    Syd Barrett. (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    United States
    I know Bob Dylan was a fan of his, and so was Jim Morrison. Ray Manzarek (the keyboardist in the Doors) went as far as to say, "Frederich Nietzsche killed Jim Morrison. I watched it happen."</spam>

    Anyway, I got the free edition of his book Beyond Good and Evil on my stepmom's Kindle a month or so ago, but when I tried reading it, it made my head hurt. *facepalm*
    September 6th, 2009 at 02:19am
  • Pokey-mans

    Pokey-mans (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    31
    Location:
    United States
    He's someone you have to be in a really deep and philosophical mood to take it seriously or understand him. Definitly not a light read.
    September 13th, 2009 at 07:31am
  • hutchcraft.

    hutchcraft. (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    34
    Location:
    Great Britain (UK)
    I think he's a fascinating individual. Apparently he was a very shy and polite man in person, which you'd never gather from the ferocity of his writing. The circumstances of his death are tragic of course, losing his mind to Syphilis when he was so brilliant.

    As for his actual works, I've only ever fully read Beyond Good And Evil, which is essentially his ideas in a nutshell. A part from that I've read some of Ecce Homo (which is bizarre, actually) I have to say, as a student of Philosophy, I agree with a lot of his take on past philosophy and the pursuit of 'truth'. I love how he described truth as a woman and how every philosopher has failed to woo 'her' successfully. He has an amazing way with words and languages in general, not to mention is incredible scope of historical knowledge. He uses some incredibly obscure references. Anyway back to the point. I don't think that there's an objective truth out there so I follow - to an extent - the perspectivist thing he has going on. Other than that I quite like his views about religion, if you're talking about fanaticism anyway.

    As for the Hitler comment, I don't think Nietzsche would have approved of Hitler at all. Nazism is a herd mentality essentially, something he absolutely loathed and not only that but the whole concept of the 'Ubermensch' or Free Spirit is that they're supposed to drift in their superiority in a higher plane above the herd. I'm not sure Nietzsche would have accepted anyone going out and slaughtering a particular race of people.

    He's quite equal in his hatred for people ;D hee.

    (Apologies for the long winded post there too, but I really do just find him fascinating.)
    November 11th, 2009 at 01:25am
  • Syd Barrett.

    Syd Barrett. (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    United States
    ^ No need to apologize, it's highly interesting. And I agree on the Hitler thing. From what I know of Nietzsche, I doubt that he advocated genocide. Hitler could have mutilated Nietzsche's philosophy into an excuse to do such a thing for all we know, but it doesn't mean that was the way Nietzsche's philosophy was intended.
    Pokey-mans:
    He's someone you have to be in a really deep and philosophical mood to take it seriously or understand him. Definitly not a light read.
    Makes sense. I'll keep that in mind. Philosophy usually isn't my thing, at least not yet, so maybe that's why Beyond Good and Evil didn't grab me. And I was rather drowsy when I started reading it.
    March 9th, 2010 at 06:39pm
  • The Master

    The Master (15)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    34
    Location:
    United Kingdom
    RE: Nietzche and Nazism.

    His niece (or something) edited his works to make them more pro-Nazi party.
    March 9th, 2010 at 08:25pm
  • kafka.

    kafka. (150)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    32
    Location:
    United Kingdom
    ^Although he does talk a lot about race and how to be a good scientist/researcher you have to have a good linage and all sorts of wacky things about blood purity in his books (even in Zarathustra which was published way before the creepy niece/whatever got her hands on his work so I'm assuming he believed in that kind of things too).

    I disagree on the reading catchiness comment, if you stay away from needlessly lyrical translations, he's really funny and engaging and his books are not thiiiick bricks that you can barely carry around unlike manymany philosophers.
    March 10th, 2010 at 09:04pm
  • OneTruth

    OneTruth (110)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    Aland Islands
    Love/Hate. His overall thought process is very good, and I agree with his view of ethics. I could even understand some of his attacks on Plato. But the way he unloads on other phillosophers of his time in "Twilight of Idols" makes him look a bit closeminded in my opinion.

    He's also a bit of a nihilist, which I disagree with...

    But I agree with the previous poster. His books are short, engaging, and a fantastic read. Even though they can be hard to understand.
    May 5th, 2010 at 02:50am
  • hutchcraft.

    hutchcraft. (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    34
    Location:
    Great Britain (UK)
    He does talk a lot about superiority, and social Darwinism, but I always think it's in a sort of semi-hilarious lazy contempt. I think he proposes that his superior race just bask in their superiority and that's all that's needed.

    Also I'm fairly certain his sister edited some of his essays, to make them pro fascist, which I can't remember the names of presently. Her husband was a fascist, and Nietzsche couldn't stand him.
    September 2nd, 2010 at 04:50am
  • Looking at Stars;

    Looking at Stars; (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    30
    Location:
    Great Britain (UK)
    Nietzsche is pietzsche :3
    November 5th, 2010 at 03:20pm
  • Germ

    Germ (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    31
    Location:
    Great Britain (UK)
    All his books are perched on my shelf X) ...except his 'Gay Science' one, I think.
    He's truly fascinating @_@ even his death is interesting. Having got a very low grade in AS philosphy at GCSE, I'm no philosophy guru either but he really does intrigue me, and sadden me at the same time when i think long and hard about it X)
    November 10th, 2010 at 04:38pm
  • Donatello;;

    Donatello;; (100)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    31
    Location:
    Great Britain (UK)
    I've read three of his books. He's such a fascinating man, I particularly liked "Beyond Good and Evil" He really captured me with his ideas.
    January 7th, 2011 at 03:07pm
  • Narzisse Narcosis;

    Narzisse Narcosis; (150)

    :
    Member
    Gender:
    Age:
    32
    Location:
    Zimbabwe
    Josipa:
    Hitler's mind is the mind of a sick person. I know that books say that he visited the Nietzsche museum in Weimar and his work had a huge impact on him, such influence. He wanted to fulfill his prophecy, he wanted to become what Nietzsche described as Ubermensch. I guess Hitler thought he had become the new god.

    But some theories say that Hitler misunderstood his philosophy.
    Well, more like Hitler ripped off a lot of his ideas in his book, "Mein Kampf."
    January 14th, 2011 at 09:33pm