Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Nietzsche is one of the few philosophers since Plato whom large numbers of intelligent people read for pleasure. Walter Kaufmann

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Existentialism. Heidegger. Kierkegaard. Nietzsche. Spinoza.

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No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life, Part I by Robert Solomon. Lectures: What is Existentialism? Albert Camus, The Stranger, Part I. Camus, The Stranger, Part II. Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus, The Plague and The Fall. Camus, The Fall, Part II. Soren Kierkegaard, "On Becoming a Christian". Kierkegaard on Subjective Truth. Kierkegaard's Existential Dialectic. Friedrich Nietzsche on Nihilism and the Death of God. Nietzsche, the "Immortal". Nietzsche on Freedom, Fate, and Responsibility.

No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life, Part II by Robert Solomon.

Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning, Part I by David Zarefsky. Lectures: Introducing Argumentation and Rhetoric. History of Argumentation Studies. Formal and Informal Argument. The Emergence of Controversy. Resolutions and Issues. Stasis — The Focal Point of Dispute. Presumption and Burden of Proof. Argument Analysis and Diagramming. Claims and Evidence. Reasoning from Parts to Whole. Reasoning from Cause to Effect. Establishing Correlations.

Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning, Part II by David Zarefsky.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Nietzsche (1997) by Ronald Hayman

Ronald Hayman's Nietzsche is a concise and useful summary of the life, ideas, and writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, whose writings were referenced in both recent classes: Existentialism. and Agony, Despair, & Desire.

Factoids:

• Number 5 in the Great Philosophers published 1999 by Routledge, NY; first publication 1997 in the UK.

• 58 packed pages.

• About 24 of those pages are translations (by Hayman) of Nietzsche, primarily from his:
  • Beyond Good and Evil.
  • Ecce Homo.
  • Notes from the years 1868-69.
  • On Truth and Falsehood in an Extra-Moral Sense.
  • The Anti-Christ.
  • The Genealogy of Morals.
  • The Joyful Wisdom (a much better title than the sometimes-used The Gay Science).
  • The Will to Power.
  • Zarathustra.
  as well as from a few of Neitzsche's letters.

• This book is a little challenging if it's your first book on Nietzsche. It assumes more of a familiarity with Neitzsche's work than Strathern's Nietzsche in 90 Minutes, say. But it is quite rewarding when read with attention.

Nietzsche in 90 Minutes (1996) by Paul Strathern

Paul Strathern's Nietzsche in 90 Minutes is funnier and more superficial than Ronald Hayman's Nietzsche.

While much of the book is about Nietzsche's writings, about half is concerned with his personal life (his family, his friends, his health, etc). This context together with the relatively light-hearted tone makes this book an easier introduction to Nietzsche's ideas than that given by Hayman.

Factoids:

• Introduction (2 pp.).
• Nietzsche's life and work (36 pp.).
• Afterword (3 pp.).

• Nietzsche's key philosophical concepts (8 pp.):
  • The Will to Power. Derived from Schopenhauer and the Ancient Greeks.
  • Eternal Recurrence.
  • The Übermench. Over-Man (popularly translated as 'Superman'). "Nietzsche's dramatic image of a more-than-human being." [From No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life, Part I by Robert Solomon.]

• From Nietzsche's writing (12 pp.), including:
  • "Convictions are more hazardous enemies of truth than lies."
    [Human, All Too Human, 489].
  • "The sense of truthfulness, so highly developed by Christianity, becomes sickened by the falsehoods and mendacity of all Christian interpretations of the world and of history."
    [Will to Power, Book 1, Introduction].
  • "The 'thing-in-itself' is a nonsensical concept. If I remove all the relationships, all the 'properties', all the 'activities' of a thing, nothing remains. Thingness has only been invented by us to fit the requirements of logic. In other words, with the aim of defining, of communication."
    [Will to Power, 558].
  • "Whom do you call bad? He who always desires to make one ashamed.
    What is for you the most humane thing? To spare someone shame.
    What is the seal of freedom attained? No longer to be ashamed of oneself."
    [Gay Science [Joyful Wisdom], 268, 275].

• Chronology of Significant Philosophical Dates (5 pp.) from 6th century BCE ("The beginnings of Western philosophy with Thales of Miletus") to 1953 ("Posthumous publication of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. High era of linguistic analysis.").

• Chronology of Nietzsche's Life (2 pp.) from 1844 (born October 15th in Saxony) to 1900 ("Death in Weimar after over a decade in a catatonic trance").

• Chronology of Nietzsche's Era (2 pp.) from 1850 ("Schopenhauer publishes Essays, Aphorisms, and Maxims, the work that brings him belatedly to public notice") to 1900 ("Freud publishes Interpretation of Dreams").

• Recommended Reading (1 pp.): five books including Ronald Hayman's Nietzsche (1993).

• Index (3 pp.) to people and Nietzsche's works:
  • Beyond Good and Evil.
  • The Birth of Tragedy.
  • The Dawn.
  • Ecce Homo.
  • Genealogy of Morals.
  • Human, All Too Human. [On p.31, Strathern says that this book "Despite its flaws ... marks Nietzsche's emergence as the finest psychologist of his age".]
  • The Joyful Wisdom (Strathern sometimes uses the less successful title: The Gay Science).
  • Thus Spake Zarathustra.
  • Twilight of the Idols.
  • The Will to Power.

Basic Writings of Nietzsche (1992) translated and edited by Walter Kaufmann

Nietzsche is one of the few philosophers since Plato whom large numbers of intelligent people read for pleasure. Walter Kaufmann

The book includes:

• The Birth of Tragedy: early Nietzsche; Greek culture and the nature of tragedy.
• Beyond Good and Evil: aphoristic; clearer than his also-aphoristic Thus Spake Zarathustra.
• On The Genealogy of Morals: Nietzsche views on morality, especially Christian morality. the most traditionally styled (being the least aphoristic) of Nietzsche's writings
• The Case of Wagner.
• Ecce Homo: Nietzsche's self-referential analysis of his own life and work.

Also includes selections from Human, All-Too Human, Mixed Opinions and Maxims, The Wanderer and His Shadow, The Dawn, and the unfortunately titled The Gay Science (a better title is The Joyful Wisdom).

Reading Nietzsche (1988) edited by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M Higgins

A chronology of Nietzsche's work followed by essays of commentary:

• Robert C. Solomon's "Introduction: Reading Nietzsche"
• Arthur C. Danto's "Some Remarks on The Genealogy of Morals"
• Frithjof Bergmann's "Nietzsche's Critique of Morality"
• Alexander Nehamas' "'Who Are The Philosophers of the Future?': A Reading of Beyond Good And Evil"
• Richard Schacht's "Nietzsche's Gay Science, Or, How the Naturalize Cheerfully"
• Christopher Middleton's "Nietzsche's Letters and a Poem"
• Ivan Soll's "Pessimism and the Tragic View of Life: Reconsiderations of Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy"
• Kathleen Higgins' "Reading Zarathustra"
• Bernd Magnus' "The Deification of the Commonplace: Twilight of the Idols"
• Lars Gustafsson's "Dr. Nietzsche's Office Hours Are Between 10 and 12 a.m."
• Arthur C. Danto's "Nietzsche's Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality"
• Gary Shapiro's "The Writing on the Wall: The Antichrist and the Semiotics of History"
• Bernd Magnus' "The Use and Abuse of The Will to Power"

Time Line

Much of this is adapted from Reading Nietzsche (1988) edited by Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M Higgins.

1844

Birth.

1872

The Birth of Tragedy.

1878

Human, All Too Human (Volume 1).

1881

Daybreak.

1882

The Joyful Wisdom. [This title also translated (oddly) as The Gay Science.]

1883

Parts I and II of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

1884

Part III of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

1885

Part IV of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

1886

Beyond Good and Evil.

1887

On the Genealogy of Morals.

1888

The Case of Wagner published.

1889

Nietzsche becomes insane.

Twilight of the Idols published (written in 1888).

1895

The Antichrist published (written in 1888).

Nietzsche Contra Wagner published (written in 1888).

1900

Death.

1901

First version of The Will to Power, based on his notes. (Revised versions in 1904 and 1910-11.)

1908

Ecce Homo published (written in 1888).

1961

Heidegger's publication of his Nietzsche.

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