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Reading this summer
Bayley:
--- Quote from: idiosyncratic on 19 Jul 2008, 14:05 ---As far as Nietzsche is concerned, I really enjoyed the philosophy class that I took that was centered entirely around his works, but I too noticed that there seem to be a lot of preconceived notions of him and his works. I think that Nietzsche is probably one of the more misunderstood well-known philosophers (well-known meaning that most people have at least heard of him but not necessarily read anything by him, and "God is dead" is quoted out of context so frequently it makes me a little sick), and because I doubt that there are a significant number of people that are willing to put in the work to understand Nietzsche better, the misconceptions are a standard that is pretty well unavoidable. I suppose I just don't have a lot of confidence in the majority of the public to care enough about something to understand it. Anyway, in my experience the people that are most averted to talking about Nietzsche's philosophy are those that do not properly understand him and those that are content with thinking that he was a bad person. Anyway, I am sorry if that was incomprehensible. I have been up all night working, so my brain is quite fuzzy at the moment. :)
--- End quote ---
i've been reading beyond good and evil all week, and listening to a berkeley professor's lectures about his On Truth and Lies, and reading various peoples' interpretations that always seem to be flawed, one-sided, short-sighted (i don't mean that pejoratively, simply stating what i perceived), and i am coming to the conclusion that nietzsche is not a writer that can be comprehensively understood. the man will slam something. HARD. and then a few sections later he will justify it, change its definition. and then he will seem to slam people who do what he just did. or some variant of that. perpetually shifting perspectives, shifting angles, but always finds a way to crush something that previously seemed invulnerable, or to build up something that seemed indefensible.
i love it. his writing doesn't directly persuade to any way of thinking by means of affect; it forces the mind to reshape its own thought patterns, regardless of whether or not you consciously wish to be changed. it's basically made me into a rhetorical acrobat. existance becomes a whole lot more fun, simply because everything that seemed so heavy has been exposed as hilariously inconsequential. puts "unbearable lightness of being" in the proper context, i suppose.
i apologize for sounding like such a shameless convert, but i kind of am one.
idiosyncratic:
I don't think any pardon is necessary in regards to being a shameless convert. I don't see that there is any need to feel any sort of shame whatsoever, especially when it comes to being interested in a very provocative philosopher. :)
I agree that his writing doesn't necessarily persuade to any one way of thinking, but I also like the fact that there are issues in which he is very adamant on and his sentiments on those subjects are made very apparent with the way he writes about them. I know that I will never be able to fully comprehend him, and I do think that it is probably an impossible undertaking to try. But I am enjoying trying just the same. :) With all of this talk I picked up Thus Spoke Zarathustra again, and I am diving back in. It should be a good time.
Liz:
My mom and I went to a bunch of garage sales on Saturday and I bought three books that I am quite excited about. I got Slaughterhouse-Five, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and Holy Blood, Holy Grail. All for $1 total. I love garage sales.
Jackie Blue:
If I may quote the late Pope Robert Anton Wilson:
"Nietzsche masturbated too much."
Bayley:
--- Quote from: idiosyncratic on 27 Jul 2008, 19:08 ---I don't think any pardon is necessary in regards to being a shameless convert. I don't see that there is any need to feel any sort of shame whatsoever, especially when it comes to being interested in a very provocative philosopher. :)
I agree that his writing doesn't necessarily persuade to any one way of thinking, but I also like the fact that there are issues in which he is very adamant on and his sentiments on those subjects are made very apparent with the way he writes about them. I know that I will never be able to fully comprehend him, and I do think that it is probably an impossible undertaking to try. But I am enjoying trying just the same. :) With all of this talk I picked up Thus Spoke Zarathustra again, and I am diving back in. It should be a good time.
--- End quote ---
that book is great. walter kauffman translating?
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