Beyond Good and Evil: Nietzsche and the Great War

(historytoday.com)

15 points | by samizdis 2 hours ago ago

9 comments

  • mykowebhn an hour ago

    Before I really started studying philosophy, I was still interested in philosophy, but as a novice. During this time, Nietzsche was my favorite philosopher and I read several of his books. I also read a lot of literature, and Nietzsche figured in a lot of the literary texts I enjoyed.

    Now that I've read a lot more philosophical texts, I realize that both of the big philosophical camps--Anglo-American Analytic Philosophy and Continental Philosophy--rarely mention Nietzsche. Nietzsche seems to be the philosopher that non-philosophers turn to and often cite.

    • keiferski an hour ago

      Nietzsche is referenced constantly:

      https://philpapers.org/asearch.pl?strict=1&searchStr=Nietzsc...

      Also, some pretty substantial continental philosophers wrote about Nietzsche. Heidegger wrote a ton about him. Foucault used his genealogical method. Deleuze, Derrida, etc. all wrote a lot.

      Heck, half of the big Continental names wrote books on Nietzsche:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche_and_Philosophy

      https://sunypress.edu/Books/O/On-Nietzsche

      https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo276199...

      Analytic philosophy indeed didn't write much about Nietzsche, but I don't know why they would have. Very different subject matter and style.

    • mikert89 an hour ago

      I had a similar experience, but I think a lot of other modern philosophy is really pedantic and builds upon a thousand years of writings. So its very hard to follow without proper academic study or understanding what its in response to.

      Nietzsche has paragraphs that could be studied and independently thought about without even reading the rest of the book/chapter. You can crack open beyond good and evil and just start reading a random page.

      I still would argue his thought is far more groundbreaking than any contemporaries

    • chermi 29 minutes ago

      1) not true 2) guilt by association? A lot of non-physicists talk about Einstein. I still take his work very seriously.

    • junior44660 an hour ago

      But Nietzsche has more impact on minds of people. In 100 years I am sure Bronze Age Pervert will be seen as more influential than some random philosophist from random university.

      • phainopepla2 an hour ago

        I think he's probably seen as more influential now, given that it's widely believed that he's been read by nearly all of the young staffers in the Trump admin.

        (Hate to have to add this caveat and acquiesce to the Reddit-ification of HN, but: caveat lector, the above statement is not an endorsement)

      • chermi 31 minutes ago

        I'm not sure I understand your point? Are you trying to equate the two without saying it directly?

        • junior44660 a minute ago

          He will be seen more like Evola than Nietzsche. So not an exact parallel.

    • cmrdporcupine an hour ago

      I mean, when I studied continental philosophy in the 90s, there was plenty of Nietzsche discussed. But I'd say, perhaps, more in his influence elsewhere than as primary text. E.g. I did a term studying Heidegger and Nietzsche played into that. Same prof had a 4th year class purely about Nietzsche. (What a great prof, too, my daughter is going to the same school starting next week and I really wish he hadn't retired...)

      I do think that maybe more recent work in continental schools (perhaps rightly) de-emphasize him as part of a larger turn away from the "postmodern" more broadly vs what was trendy in the 90s.