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The Nietzsche Thread

zOOmz
ultraviolet

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Joined: Apr 25, 2003
Location: SoCal
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Posted 08/01/03 - 05:08 PM:	#11
Weary Locomotive wrote: I'd like to respond to the post made by "zOOms" above. Unfortunately I have nothing but prosaic objections to your entire collection of factoids about this philosopher. Let us start with the post-war invention that Friedrich Nietzsche died of syphilis. All would be fine with this conjecture (the disreputable illness was indeed commonplace in those days), except that the medical evidence (found in the records of the doctors who treated Nietzsche) rule out syphilis. If you are interested in the details of this matter, then you could read the following: http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/05/04/wniet04.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/05/04/ixworld.html Secondly, "his negative attitude towards women"... This "fact" really ought to be supplanted with an exact reference as to whose personal opinion you're citing here. Indeed there are hordes of feminists who have tried to claim Nietzsche's works as their "gospel" in the past and continue to do so now. They would "certainly" be very vocal in disagreeing with your interpretation of an editorial blunder made (most likely) by one Walter Kaufmann. You also state that one needs to examine the political movements that Nietzsche was a contemporary to in Germany to understand him. And yet, the philosopher describes himself as a classicist, and the themes of his work are anti-modern to the extreme! He strenuously denounces many of these political developments which you say one has to consider in order to approach his work. In short, there is as much to disagree with in this "fact", as in the others you have posted. Advice: whenever presenting factual information, always accompany it with some citations and references (depending on the amout of attention the situation calls for). Avoid re-presenting the published personal opinions of other people as factual information. -WL The facts were not my own (I would never presume that I am a Nietzsche authority) but from this website: http://www.inquiria.com/nz/ I just thought they were interesting and were from writers much more knowledgable than myself about Nietzsche. I guess I am duly flogged by your Nietzsche expertise. Thanks for setting the record straight. One shouldn't believe what is printed on the internet. Being the Weary Locomotive that you are I am surprised that you didn't disagree that he was an empassioned spirit or object to the nike shades. Opinions of doctors are not always conclusive, even today with modern diagnostics, and more so from a past century. So your statement is not really conclusive, is it? Unless of course, you took the test yourself you also must rely on the opinions of others for your facts. By the way, the fact is that my user name is zOOmz, not zooms, seeings how correctness is important to you.
got Zen? "Reality is that which doesn't disappear when you stop believing in it." Phillip K. Dick (thanks dimka)

mark
Student

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Joined: Jul 12, 2002
Total Topics: 1
Total Posts: 52

Posted 08/01/03 - 06:56 PM:	#12
Progression: I have long lamented that while many of Nietzsche’s works are available online, the only Zarathustra I’ve found there is the Thomas Common translation from which you quote. Having grown to love the version produced by Kaufmann, I find the Common translation highly annoying in its attempt to sound like the King James Bible. I see, however, that this has not been a problem for you, and I certainly won’t suggest that you share my annoyance. I think of the Overman as a variable. Let me work around to the idea this way. Perhaps you are familiar with the catch-phrase “what would Jesus do?” My father pointed out to me years ago that the most natural way for people to exercise moral judgment is not to check a situation against a list of rules, but rather to turn to stories and characters that explain to them how one should live. I think this is a great insight. (I recently attended a symposium on Latino identity in which one of the presenters insisted “stories are our theories!”) I also think it illuminates what Nietzsche offers with the Overman. Left in a world without a God or a Jesus to tell you what to do? Here’s a plan: think about what’s the richest part of life, what’s most beautiful about human life, the part most worthy of preservation and development? Imagine someone who has all these things, someone who has them so much that he or she can no longer even be thought of as human. Now when you don’t know what to do, imagine this Overman, and what he would do. Or ask yourself, which action of mine will help make it possible for man to reach this height? I think of the Overman as a device, a place-holder which each of us might use to bring together our own (different) dreams for humanity. Taken this way, to say “serve the Overman” is very close kin to “follow your bliss” or “follow the path with heart.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------- My collection of Nietzsche quotes (organized in a way that I think represents the most important aspects of his philosophy) is at: http://www.thinedge.org/thinkers/nietzsch/fnquotes/quotes.htm I also have a small collection of essays on this and similar topics, at: http://www.thinedge.org/members/mark/mark.htm

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