The Scoop on Nietzsche #2

Here's part two of The Scoop on Nietzsche. Here we dispel some straw men (meaning false characterizations) of Nietzsche:

---

Most people come to be acquainted with the name “Nietzsche” (and almost invariably mispronounce his name – it’s Nietzsch-UH not Nietzsch-EE – this is true even among academic philosophers) in association with all sorts of nefarious ideologies and beliefs: Nietzsche’s sister, for example, outlived Nietzsche himself and “rewrote” most of his work into an abominable text called “The Will To Power” which she sold to the Nazi’s and which was used to market their agenda. I want to nip this in the bud right away. Whatever criticisms we may have of Nietzsche (which he openly encouraged people to make and which we should make), let’s make sure we’re not knocking down a straw man:

(*) Nietzsche was avowedly opposed to States (Nation States that is – which he called the “coldest of all cold monsters”) and broke off his close friendship with Richard Wagner (very famous composer) because Wagner was an anti-Semite. Nietzsche was a strong proponent of unfettered human individualism. The concept of Will-to-Power, at least insofar as it is employed among humans, should manifest itself in the exultation of the individual (animal, egoistic, raw creativity, unfettered by conventional strictures) while Fascism, of nearly every variety, avowedly asserts that individuals do not matter – only the nation state and the master race do (this is true of Japanese-style Military Shintoism and German National Socialism). That's according to Walter Kaufman who is widely considered to be the most accurate Nietzsche thinker. Here's a cool piece by him:

Kaufman

Nietzsche has also served as a traditional “boogeyman” of the Christian-right since the mid-1800’s (when he was active and which he himself encouraged – he wrote “Anti-Christ” after all). He was one of the first philosopher’s to mount a sustained and critical attack on Victorian-style Christianity and to this day, his name is invoked in religious circles as such. That’s warranted and he amassed both enemies and admirers because of that.

The more fearful among us might associate Nietzsche with individuals that commit acts of extreme violence. To be fair, more than a sizeable number of people who commit such crimes claim Nietzsche as an inspiration. I’d like to offer my take on this and just say, it’s not that the few are drawn to Nietzsche (and then go off to do horrendous things) – it’s actually that Nietzschean philosophy is almost universally accepted (though how so we will think about below) and that a few people interpret his writings to the extreme. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” – how many times have we heard that one. That’s Nietzsche.

Was Nietzsche a misogynist? Perhaps. That’s certainly a popular reading of him. But I caution that there’s quite a bit more to his philosophy than initially meets the eye. Was he a Chauvinist – almost certainly. Hopefully, I think we can separate the bulk of his work from his condescending attitude toward women – setting goals in a meaningless world, rejection of otherworldly fantasies, and overcoming existing values in the zealous quest to create do not seem to require a condescending toward any particular group of people. I’d love to discuss this topic more. If that condescension is in fact intricately interwoven into Nietzsche’s philosophy – let’s unravel it and more importantly, Overcome it ;)

Part Three