# Nietzsche



## RamistThomist (Oct 20, 2007)

I just bought Freiderich Nietzsche's major works today. Looks like it will be fun.


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## Poimen (Oct 20, 2007)

I enjoy Nietzsche as well. He may have been epistemologically imbalanced but I do appreciate his zeal against complacency.


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## No Longer A Libertine (Oct 20, 2007)

I'm amazed how the man is quoted as if viable and relevant by post modernists, pomos I call them, seeming he was proven to have been mad as a hatter most of his life and was not a proponent of relativism.

Allow me to take the time to say Nietzsche is dead.


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## weinhold (Oct 20, 2007)

I particularly enjoyed _The Birth of Tragedy_.


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## Cheshire Cat (Oct 20, 2007)

Has anyone read Copleston on Nietzsche? Does he represent him well? I like to get general overviews before I read a philosopher's work. At the same time, I have a lot to read besides Nietzsche. He's kind of a pop star for college students...


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## bookslover (Oct 20, 2007)

Spear Dane said:


> I just bought Freiderich Nietzsche's major works today. Looks like it will be fun.



Why bother? The guy was certifiably nuts and, in fact, died in an insane asylum.


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## bookslover (Oct 20, 2007)

caleb_woodrow said:


> He's kind of a pop star for college students...



There was a brief Nietzsche fad on college campuses back in the early 1970s. I remember students wearing sweatshirts and T shirts that said "Nietzsche is Peachy".

He was one of your more colorful atheists, I suppose...


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## a mere housewife (Oct 20, 2007)

I tried to read him several years ago. He was indeed certifiably nuts. But it was his style (at least in translation) that was the clincher. I stopped trying. If you could condense and post the best non-insane parts though (or even the best insane parts), I'll happily read your review.

Chesterton gave a rather telling criticism of his philosophy of supermen: they've ceased to be men. Whereas the real heroes are always more, not less, human than we ourselves are (Christ being the greatest hero).


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## RamistThomist (Oct 20, 2007)

bookslover said:


> Spear Dane said:
> 
> 
> > I just bought Freiderich Nietzsche's major works today. Looks like it will be fun.
> ...



1) I find his style awesome
2) He is the perfect example of non-Christian reasoning brought to its logical conclusion (makes for good illustrative value in apologetic encounters)
3) He is the godfather of modern soul with regard to modern philosophy: nihilism, deconstructionism, etc.
4) He did us many favors by destroying weaker elements in modern-thinking. Sure his worldview is at odds with ours, but he, better than many, destroyed other elements of non-Christian worldviews.
5) His style is awesome.
6) I want to read him.

those are a few reasons.


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## toddpedlar (Oct 20, 2007)

Spear Dane said:


> bookslover said:
> 
> 
> > Spear Dane said:
> ...



Did you say his style is awesome?


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## RamistThomist (Oct 20, 2007)

toddpedlar said:


> Spear Dane said:
> 
> 
> > bookslover said:
> ...



I implied it, if nothing else. The thoughtful reader should have read between the lines and figured it out.


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## bookslover (Oct 20, 2007)

Spear Dane said:


> He is the godfather of modern soul...



Wait a minute! I thought that was James Brown...


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## No Longer A Libertine (Oct 21, 2007)

bookslover said:


> Spear Dane said:
> 
> 
> > He is the godfather of modern soul...
> ...


Let's just say that Nietzsche and James Brown are now likely roommates


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## Jim Johnston (Oct 21, 2007)

Causes of death of philosophers: M-P

Nietzsche: Overpowered himself

Causes of Deaths of Philosophers: M to P


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## Pergamum (Oct 21, 2007)

Nietszche really shook up my faith. I was agnostic and probably atheist for awhile at 16-18.

He is a GREAT writer..one of the best that ever walked, and knows how to move one with an argument. 



I still have a quote of his that I usually hang up (when I am not moving every few months to a diffeent place):


*"He who knows the WHY of life can endure any HOW."​*

TOo bad he never understood and his brilliant mind did not endure.


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## RamistThomist (Oct 21, 2007)

Tom Bombadil said:


> Causes of death of philosophers: M-P
> 
> Nietzsche: Overpowered himself
> 
> Causes of Deaths of Philosophers: M to P


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## DMcFadden (Oct 21, 2007)

I agree with you all about the "awesome" part of Nietzsche, but my vocabulary is two decades too old to be able to use it anywhere except in reference to the Deity. 

When I was younger (doesn't that just sound like the paradigmatic parental line?), I saw it as my quest to read EVERYTHING. In my old age I have begun to realize that trying to read everyone made me a self-appointed expert on **** (or at least more than casually familiar with it) and left a lot of VERY good books unread. So, with all of the Spurgeon, Edwards, Owen, Goodwin, etc. out there, I am trying to retrain myself to care less about the dead-ends and to focus more on the highways actually going somewhere. It IS difficult. Most of us are addicted to the notion that we need to read everyone, just to be educated.

As for you young guys reading the certifiable German, all I can say is "hier kommt Unberkind!"


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## a mere housewife (Oct 21, 2007)

I can't remember what I started reading, but he was supposed to be talking about ideas and in his turgid German prose kept talking instead about himself. Either the translation was horrible or himself on himself was not at his stylistic awesomest: I couldn't agree with him about why he was so wise, either.

Are you really reading him in German?


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## RamistThomist (Oct 21, 2007)

a mere housewife said:


> Are you really reading him in German?



Nein


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## a mere housewife (Oct 21, 2007)

The only thing I know how to say in German, is "a beer and a lemonade". But I say it with expression.

On your recommendation I found a free book online by him, here

It is more interesting than the other thing I tried to read -- more insane and more oddly logical within its own insanity: and yes (smiles) the style was indeed rather enjoyable. My spirit is a load bearing camel. I'll read more of it later. I hope you're happy.


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## Barnpreacher (Oct 21, 2007)

DMcFadden said:


> I agree with you all about the "awesome" part of Nietzsche, but my vocabulary is two decades too old to be able to use it anywhere except in reference to the Deity.
> 
> When I was younger (doesn't that just sound like the paradigmatic parental line?), I saw it as my quest to read EVERYTHING. In my old age I have begun to realize that trying to read everyone made me a self-appointed expert on **** (or at least more than casually familiar with it) and left a lot of VERY good books unread. So, with all of the Spurgeon, Edwards, Owen, Goodwin, etc. out there, I am trying to retrain myself to care less about the dead-ends and to focus more on the highways actually going somewhere. It IS difficult. Most of us are addicted to the notion that we need to read everyone, just to be educated.
> 
> As for you young guys reading the certifiable German, all I can say is "hier kommt Unberkind!"


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