Nietzsche
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On Jessica Berry, Nietzsche and the Ancient Skeptical Tradition
This is an interesting and insightful book on Nietzsche’s philosophy and on ancient skepticism generally. I really admire Berry’s ability to adopt and clearly express judicious opinions, and her ability to anticipate readers’ questions and objections and she moves through her story. This is the best book on Nietzsche’s philosophy I’ve seen in quite a Continue reading
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Initial thoughts on Young’s Nietzsche biography
I just finished Julian Young’s Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography (Cambridge), and wanted to share some initial thoughts about it. Some readers of this blog may wish to straighten me out on a few things, or lend their own observations. I’ll eventually work these first impressions into a more formal review. First things first: this Continue reading
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Well, I made it
The University of Utah graciously invited me to try once again to lecture on Nietzsche without fainting. (See the story of my earlier failure here.) So yesterday I visited their campus, lectured to my friend’s existentialism class, and managed to remain ‘perpendicular to the earth’ for a faculty lecture. I had a great time. I Continue reading
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Well, now: THAT was interesting
I was at the U of Utah yesterday, and had a great time in a number of activities. I visited my friend Mariam’s class, and we debated whether the evolutionary account of religious inclinations should cause a believer to doubt. Then I had lunch with six engaging grad students, and visited Elijah Millgram’s Nietzsche class, Continue reading
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Oxford: the video
The soundtrack, by the way, is an old 78 of Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers, with the great, growling Bubber Miley on horn. Continue reading
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All OK in the UK
More than ok, in fact: simply freaking awesome is more like it. This was my first trip to the UK, and as I told several people there, my impression is that the sun always shines and people know a helluva lot about Nietzsche. I’ll give an overview of my time there. Last Wednesday I was Continue reading
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TRUTH vs. truth
Pardon me if this post ends up being obvious to everyone but me, but I’m trying to work out the relation between Nz’s perspectivism and truth, and I need to go back and retrace some steps. Let’s start with a Kantian/Schopenhauerian division between the phenomenal and the noumenal. In other words, there is the apparent Continue reading
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Clark’s Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy (1990)
I should have read this book ages ago. I have read a lot about it — you can count on seeing it cited and discussed by any good recent book on Nietzsche. So I have learned from others what Clark says. But this is my first time reading the book, and I am extremely impressed Continue reading
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The end is nigh
I haven’t been posting as much lately, since I’ve been at the last stages of the Nietzsche book. The end is at hand: just assembling biblio, checking references, etc. I usually regret expressing pride, but I still will say I am damned please with the book. It’s an unusual combo of biography and philosophy, organized Continue reading
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Volte face
After all these helpful comments, I’ve done more reading and thinking about Nz’s politics. One good collection of essays I recommend is Nietzsche, godfather of fascism? (Princeton). The introduction, and essays by Golomb and Conway were especially illuminating. The volume also includes a partial defense of sister Elisabeth, which will probably make me go back Continue reading
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Nietzsche’s fascism
More bashing of my dear friend. I’m in the last stages of the book ms, and trying to come to grips with his legacy. This following excerpt concerns the seeds he planted for fascism. It is clear that Elisabeth distorted Nietzsche’s philosophy in serious ways. Nietzsche was of course no German nationalist; he prided himself Continue reading
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My valuation of Nz’s revaluation
(from the book I’m writing) What are we to make of this bold attempt to revalue our values? A first thing to note is that, in some ways, Nietzsche’s new foundation for value is not unfamiliar. Aristotle (whom Nietzsche rarely mentions) based his ethics upon a science of human nature. He believed that, with broad Continue reading
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Nz on Xianity
Nietzsche’s most sustained account of the west’s great death-traditions is in one of his last works, aptly titled The Anti-Christ. The work offers a relatively detailed Nietzschean account of Jesus’s own psychology, and how his teachings were transformed into a means for suppressing life’s instincts. We can provide a brief sketch of the account. Jesus, Continue reading
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Nietzsche’s values
I just wrote this this morning, and am hoping to get some feedback on it. I think it’s pretty self-explanatory: This distinction, between the life-affirming and the life-denying, is the basis for Nietzsche’s revaluation of values. To get a sense of how this revaluation works, imagine somehow being put in charge of some intergalactic zoo Continue reading
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Back to Nietzsche
Okay, back to Nietzsche for a bit. In response to a post from Mike, I had to rethink the way I was characterizing Nz as a naturalist. Basically, a naturalist is someone who thinks science has basically the right picture of what humans are and what the world is, leaving some room for future insights Continue reading
Huenemanniac 