I'm going to start reading a book by Nietzsche. I have two of them. The Antichrist and Beyond Good and Evil. Which one should I read first?
fascists [like hitler] and dictators often refer to his stuff for support, even though he just didint like the way democracy was set up...
me, no...ive never read him...im just going by our stupid social studies text [in the ideologies unit]...
Burbot - You're both right and wrong here. It is true that Hitler and the Nazis liked him, but in the opinion of many philosophers they misconstrued and twisted his ideas. He was also a great inspiration for Herman Hesse, who was very far from being a facist. Nietzche himself also found Wagner's anti-semitism repulsive, and attacked him publicly for it. Also, to-day Nietzche is an influence on a lot of post-modernist thinking. His books are challenging, but well worth a read. My own fave and the one I'd personally recommend to anyone who wants to sample Nietzche is 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'.
looking back on this i can see why what i said was taken the wrong way...what i meant to mean was that fascists often refer to his stuff, even though he wasnt advocating fascism etc.
fascists also turned to the bible, marxism as well as nietzsche... doesnt make either of these things wrong. fascists lie to the populace and use these things just to gain power, they do not really mean these things... or practice them.. to quote the manifesto "the communist disdain to conceal their views and aims" every fascist who used the manifesto for power, completely did not follow that line. there actual views and aims were kept away from the general populace... thus why I still hold these things like Nietzsche and the manifesto so highly. just my thoughts, i have nothing against you burbot.
as i have nothing against you...but i still think, if your post is kinda trying to clear up my thoughts, that you might not understand what im saying, im not saying nietzche was wrong or anyhting, i was just stating basic plain fact for ryu when she asked who he was... i don't know much about him, or read any of his works...all i was saying was that he was a modern-ish philosipher whom fascists often turn to for quotations and ramblings, even though Neitszche wasnt a fascist at all
Nietzsche would find fascism repulive, because Fascism, is inherently opposed to both indiviudal super-sociality (to coin a term) and an aristocracy, both of which Nietzsche supported.
damnit...i just missed out on a course next year called "Kant to Nietsche"...i went for "Descartes to Hume" instead
i figured youd get into nitzche joker (i know i didnt spell that right) i would read "thus spoke zarathustra" (sp) that ones an easy read, especially if you get a contemparary translation you ever heard of hidreiger (sp)? another exestentialist, more hardcore
I doubt any existentialist enjoys any title ending in -ist. However Nietzche was among the few who 'defined' the term, so I would have to disagree.
well i've decided delve into nihilism now. i feel like that category fits into me and my personality traits. i don't find much interest in becoming an existentialist.
