tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post8426459788068317567..comments2024-03-27T23:59:49.801+00:00Comments on Stoat: Why I am So WiseWilliam M. Connolleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05836299130680534926noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-27990959830722827762017-12-31T07:24:53.529+00:002017-12-31T07:24:53.529+00:00Nietzsche was explicitly opposed to anti-Semitism,...Nietzsche was explicitly opposed to anti-Semitism, which featured into his break with Wagner, and which was not a particularly commonplace attitude at the time. Wikipedia backs me up on this.<br /><br />My exposure to his writings is scant; my sister gave me "Beyond Good and Evil" when I was in high school, and I read "Thus Spake Zarathustra" some time thereafter; both, I think, were written about the same time. (I liked the first-mentioned better.) As a pragmatist, I find much of philosophy uncongenial, so, as a teen, Nietzsche's insouciance tended more to tickle than irritate me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01629559601528774936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-17339670762784321602017-12-30T12:30:15.856+00:002017-12-30T12:30:15.856+00:00> he was a great critic
Indeed. Wiki tells me ...> he was a great critic<br /><br />Indeed. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(book)" rel="nofollow">Wiki tells me</a> that "Nietzsche argues that he himself is a great philosopher because of his withering assessment of the pious fraud of the entirety of Philosophy". But I don't see that. There are various digs at various folk, but none of them are coherent; none of them could be called a reasoned argument against anyone else's philosophy. The obvious comparison is to something like TOSAIE, which does offer a sustained and reasoned critique of Plato, Hegel, Marx and the like. N cannot stand alongside that kind of work.William M. Connolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05836299130680534926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-1183729391228678572017-12-30T11:53:51.382+00:002017-12-30T11:53:51.382+00:00I'm probably a poor choice to defend Nietzsche...I'm probably a poor choice to defend Nietzsche, both because I don't know either him or philosophy well and because I profoundly disagree with him on some crucial points. I do think that he has been very influential, both for good and ill. I'm inclined to think that he was a great critic of both other philosophers and himself.CapitalistImperialistPighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17523405806602731435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-20624416523068180152017-12-30T10:08:59.170+00:002017-12-30T10:08:59.170+00:00> shallow (it's somewhat 'orthogonal...> shallow (it's somewhat 'orthogonal'<br /><br />It is orthogonal; I should have stuck with my earlier "incomprehensible". N is like a turbulent muddy stream; you cannot easily look to see if there is any depth; you have to put your hand in; if you get lucky you may find pearls; but then again you may just find stinking mud or cut yourself on junk. By contrast Hobbes, Smith et al. are calm and clear, and the depth is easily appreciated.<br /><br />> partially converted <br /><br />Maybe; you should blog one of the best.William M. Connolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05836299130680534926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-42624301206568055942017-12-30T03:56:20.782+00:002017-12-30T03:56:20.782+00:00I was an anti-Nietzsche who was partially converte...I was an anti-Nietzsche who was partially converted by reading some of his books. He is probably the best stylist of all the philosophers that I've read, and he is deliberately annoying in challenging lots of standard ideas, like Christianity, patriotism, and so on, but he's also a paradoxer, who is often deliberately obscure.<br /><br />He broke with Wagner over the latter's anti-semitism, but his anti-semite sister edited many of his books after his insanity to insert her own prejudices.<br /><br />I consider that his biggest mistake was his failure to properly appreciate Darwin.CapitalistImperialistPighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17523405806602731435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-70682981054298346992017-12-30T00:01:31.725+00:002017-12-30T00:01:31.725+00:00I do very much think N. is self-important. He migh...I do very much think N. is self-important. He might well be the world-champion of self-importance. This does not make him shallow (it's somewhat 'orthogonal', don't you think?). But I'm not too much impressed by Mr. N.wereatheisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023808397322064245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-17072498237343143312017-12-29T23:26:04.539+00:002017-12-29T23:26:04.539+00:00> antisemitist
No, I didn't accuse him of ...> antisemitist<br /><br />No, I didn't accuse him of that. As I say, there's nothing like that in what I read, and wiki states that there are to be found explicit anti anti-semitic writings; but I haven't seen those either.<br /><br />> prominent English translators, Walter Kaufmann<br /><br />I don't trust the wiki article; I'm pretty sure it was mostly written by the pro-N side. My philosophy scholarship isn't anywhere near good enough, though, to know whether that's a fair assessment of WK, and nor do I intend to find out.<br /><br />But I think there's a mechanism for bias: anyone who cares to read enough of N's stuff to publish on it is likely to be pro-N. Those who, like me, just think he's shallow and self-important aren't going to be motivated to dig any deeper.William M. Connolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05836299130680534926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-64775670159115145222017-12-29T23:14:32.772+00:002017-12-29T23:14:32.772+00:00Of course, you did not accuse N. because of that.Of course, <b>you</b> did not accuse N. because of that.wereatheisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023808397322064245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-63859698132540355202017-12-29T23:12:23.372+00:002017-12-29T23:12:23.372+00:00I'm certainly not intending to defend Nietzsch...I'm certainly not intending to defend Nietzsche's rank among philosophers, but at least I have to defend him against the accusation of being an antisemitist.<br /><a href="http://assets.press.princeton.edu/chapters/s10635.pdf" rel="nofollow">This</a> might be interesting.wereatheisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11023808397322064245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-39015634308441554832017-12-29T22:52:53.201+00:002017-12-29T22:52:53.201+00:00Let me just say that Nietzsche no more needed to f...Let me just say that Nietzsche no more needed to fit into WC's model of a serious philosopher than Socrates needed to fit into that of Athens.CapitalistImperialistPighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17523405806602731435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-48880707204044480952017-12-29T22:49:46.043+00:002017-12-29T22:49:46.043+00:00Anyone looking for a more serious assessment of Ni...Anyone looking for a more serious assessment of Nietzsche's last work should check out Wikipedia, e.g.,<br /><br />"According to one of Nietzsche's most prominent English translators, Walter Kaufmann, the book offers "Nietzsche's own interpretation of his development, his works, and his significance."[1] The book contains several chapters with ironic self-laudatory titles, such as "Why I Am So Wise", "Why I Am So Clever", "Why I Write Such Good Books" and "Why I Am a Destiny". Walter Kaufmann, in his biography Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist noticed the internal parallels, in form and language, to Plato's Apology which documented the Trial of Socrates. In effect, Nietzsche was putting himself on trial with this work, and his sardonic judgments and chapter headings are mordant, mocking, self-deprecating, sly, and they turn this trial against his future accusers, distorters, and superficial judges."CapitalistImperialistPighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17523405806602731435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-49129377293307911532017-12-29T15:58:52.811+00:002017-12-29T15:58:52.811+00:00I tried to address the irony in "You cannot b...I tried to address the irony in "You cannot be serious". I think irony is fine for self-indulgence; or for lightweight blogs; or for novelists. For anyone with any intent to be taken seriously in philosophy it is a hindrance. Perhaps N had bad teachers or bad exemplars to follow? He was young; the history of German philosophy is littered with the incomprehensible; he may simply have come to mistake incomprehensibility for depth.<br /><br />William M. Connolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05836299130680534926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-74924956974560399892017-12-29T03:58:10.702+00:002017-12-29T03:58:10.702+00:00I guess the third person in the pic is Paul Ree ra...I guess the third person in the pic is Paul Ree rather than Rilke.CapitalistImperialistPighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17523405806602731435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-88363557837009965192017-12-29T00:13:02.343+00:002017-12-29T00:13:02.343+00:00Don't underestimate the irony in Nietzsche. Q...Don't underestimate the irony in Nietzsche. Quote: "So, you go to woman? Do not forget your whip." (maybe from Zarathustra).<br /><br />You might like this picture of him, Rilke and Lou Salome: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Ffc%2F35%2F2e%2Ffc352e80d16ebfe4e7e4f2c0f8a038ce.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F65020788343864820%2F&docid=OmmJSTM6-T94JM&tbnid=sn7UhBg3j1zwkM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwi-56D39q3YAhVLhlQKHcJgCP8QMwhAKAEwAQ..i&w=909&h=1024&bih=804&biw=1438&q=nietzsche%20rilke%20lou%20salome&ved=0ahUKEwi-56D39q3YAhVLhlQKHcJgCP8QMwhAKAEwAQ&iact=mrc&uact=8CapitalistImperialistPighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17523405806602731435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7612793.post-18409614615921854632017-12-28T22:20:00.697+00:002017-12-28T22:20:00.697+00:00Don't worry, because after the Revolution we a...Don't worry, because after the Revolution we are going to soak the rich! In the mean time, don't have any kids, over population is a problem, and your kids will only be exploited by the rich, or suffer from climate change. John Bowleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08596778928978024642noreply@blogger.com