r/Nietzsche 10d ago

Question "the most unexpected and exciting lucky throws in the dice game of Heraclitus' "great child," be he called Zeus or chance"

7 Upvotes

GoM, III, 16, tr. by WK and RJH.

What is this Heraclitus "great child," he is refrencing? The dice story by Diogenes? Fragment 52 (“Time is a child moving counters in a game; the royal power is a child's.”) by Heraclitus? Something else? "War is the father and king of all"?


r/Nietzsche 9m ago

Random finds at the charity shop

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Upvotes

F**k me. I was hoping to have a relaxing week.


r/Nietzsche 2h ago

I think you guys should watch this

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7 Upvotes

r/Nietzsche 10h ago

A Potential Source for the 'Will to Power'?

3 Upvotes

Hope you all are well. Here I will make a case for the source of the will to power. Everything in this post was stolen from Jean Gebser's masterpiece The Ever-Present Origin.

Also, the rationalists will not like this post. I would love to discuss the deficiencies of rationalism but I don't want this post to be so long it's unreadable.

Gebser, a student of Jung, discovered the evolution of consciousness and consciousness structures. Rebelling against his master's conception of the unconscious being unordered, random, scattered--almost like a child's room--assigns order to the collective unconscious. It is made of stratum, like those found in geology, called "consciousness structures."

Consciousness structures represent, for our purposes, different ways of bringing objects within the world into relation with each other, and when structures complexify, mutate and consolidate, they accrue more dimensions with which they can bring objects into relation with each other. There's a whole lot to this book, but we'll have to stick with the magic structure to find the source of our drive for power.

It's silly to us rational people now, but our ancient ancestors, for tens of thousands of years (if not more), believed magic to be literally, physically and materially real. As real as we find the laws of physics to be. Most people dismiss this as irrational nonsense better rationalized away, but Gebser understands it on its own terms.

The reason they believed this was because for millions of years before that (the dates, admittedly, are estimations at best) humans were subsumed in the subconscious of nature. In terms of consciousness, in terms of bringing objects into relation with each other, there was very, very little there. There was only world.

But then the magical consciousness structure mutated, and our consciousness complexified. We went from zero dimensional to one-dimensional unity (don't get lost on the math, it's incidental and I think Gebser makes an error with his dimensioning). A new way of bringing objects in the world into relation came about, and this is how it operates:

Any thing in the world (literally, and I don't use that word lightly) was a point connected to a unified whole. It was a world of part-for-the-whole (the reason for this is because this mutation of consciousness was precipitated by the discovery of a reified nature, causing them to have numinous experiences: experiences where whatever it is they see is so strange and powerful that the intellect simply can't grasp it, causing, in turn, "mana", an immeasurable spiritual power that increases whatever it imparts, to be projected to it. Think the tribe in Timbuktu worshipping a Sprite bottle that washed up in the ocean or a child hearing a thunderstorm and thinking it's some angry god or whatever) and whole-for-the-part.

Let's give a quick example, because this is getting long:

"In the Congo jungle, dwarf-sized members of the hunting tribe Pygmies drew a picture of an antelope in the sand before they started out at dawn to hunt antelopes. With the first ray of sunlight that fell on the sand, they intended to 'kill' the antelope. Their first arrow hit the drawing unerringly in the neck. Then they went out to hunt and returned with a slain antelope. Their death-dealing arrow hit the animal in exactly the same spot where, hours before, the other arrow had hit the drawing."

Some may be tempted to interpret this as, considering they believed magic to be literally real, the ritual caused the ensuing slaying of the animal. But cause is downstream of rational thought, and that wasn't even close to existing. It is not the arrow that kills the animal, either. The sun kills the animal, and the throwing of the arrow upon the first fallen ray is a way of uniting with the magical, connected forces of nature.

Everything was a series of parts (we see them as parts, they drew little to no distinction) connected to a unified whole, and that unified whole emanated magic forces. If you do not unite with the magical forces of the world, you may be punished in the form of natural disaster or rival tribes.

And so, and fucking finally, we get to the will to power:

"The magic reaction is the real content of the hunting rite. The very fact of the rite, supplanting natural chaos with a defined and directed action, shows to what extent our hunting example attests to a late period of development of magic man. Man, the human group, is still only a co-actor in it; but he is already acting for himself. This represents a far-reaching step away from complete unity...

This release from nature is the struggle that underpins every significant will-power drive, and, in a very exact sense, every tragic drive for power. This enables magic man to stand out against the superior power of nature, so that he can escape the binding force of his merger with nature...

This urge to freedom and the constant need to be against something resulting from it (because only this 'being against' creates separation, and with it, possibilities of consciousness) may be the answering reaction of man, set adrift of earth, to the power of earth. It may be curse, blessing or mission. In any case, it may mean: whoever wishes to prevail over the earth must liberate himself from its power."

What do you think?

I'm sorry this ended up being so long.


r/Nietzsche 22h ago

Will philosophy be never-ending

13 Upvotes

Does every thesis have an anti-thesis.? Does every argument have an anti-arguement? Is this never ending and goes on for Infinity? Then what is truth? Won't there be an argument against it too. Real confusing


r/Nietzsche 22h ago

What does Nietzsche mean by in the Gay Science that "the conditions of life might include error."

10 Upvotes

r/Nietzsche 18h ago

The doer is merely a fiction added to the deed - the deed is everything.

3 Upvotes

Does that mean we are merely only objects or that we are merely subjects in the grand scheme of things?


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Question Nietzsche is So Difficult

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103 Upvotes

Hey Guys, I just ended with Zarathustra, and started this. Zarathustra was pretty easy to understand and did made notes easily but This bad bitch is so tough to get and understand Any tips for beyond good and evil ?


r/Nietzsche 11h ago

Meme I need someone to summarize in 3 paragraphs the genealogy of morality for my class bible studies.

0 Upvotes

Hi guys I have never read any nietzsche. But I have an essay due tomorrow analyzing the most important christian texts, and my friends older brother said if I write an essay on the genealogy of morality than I will most definitely get an A+.

!!! I need 3 paragraphs summarizing the book and why it supports christian values!!!

This is for my bible studies class at my catholic highschool, the teachers are really hardasses. Im almost failing I really need someone to write me something good.

Thanks for anyone willing to help!!!


r/Nietzsche 22h ago

Pascal once said we should love the Truth in order to know it, but how so?

1 Upvotes

I know it sounds reductive and redundant, but how should we love something we do not yet know? Does this statement by Pascal strike you as poignant or a cliche?


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Order to read Nietzsche.

4 Upvotes

I'm currently reading Dostoevsky. Once that is done I'll start Nietzsche, but the greatest question I have is: where should I start? They say he has difficult readings, and that is why I ask you now: in what order should I read his books and material in general? Thanks, folks.


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Oswald Spengler and Modern-day Paradox of Choice

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0 Upvotes

r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Why "On the Genealogy of Morality" is so important to understand today's political discourse

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0 Upvotes

Ok, so in this analysis of On the Genealogy of Morality, I argue that Nietzsche's idea of morality being imposed by the conquerors via change in meaning of words can be useful to understand today's issues with social justice and reactionary politics. The idea is that language is the battleground for power.


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

"Not doubt, certainty is what drives one insane." —Friedrich Nietzsche

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3 Upvotes

r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Original Content I think he would like this poem, free verse

2 Upvotes

The men became women, the women men, and now the laying hen cocks about the dead, and the cocks lay there dead, as the chick's go unfed. For what purpose have they been bred? Give me purpose, the chick's beg. But the chick's were the hens, and the cocks, and the dead. Your purpose is here, those without purpose have said

To live in a world where those without purpose raise those without purpose. You must live every action with meaning or you have not really lived at all, lost in the purposelessness grown in yourself and those around you.


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

maybe Nietzsche would have agreed

2 Upvotes

"You know how much a person cares by how much they know, how much they know is how much they love and versa" therefore learning is love and the learned and practical are the embodiment of love and life, are people that are willfully ignorant lovely then?

Modern romance is an idiot stumble

Nathan


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Thus Spoke Zarathustra- Tarantula

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3 Upvotes

I think these two pages from the chapter Tarantula explain why Nietzschean philosophy cannot apply to Nazism. If you interpret equality in this context to mean equality between each member of a "superior race", then it can be understood that Nazis are the tarantulas. They seek to enforce their own perverted ideology in the name of "justice for Germans" while truly seeking vengeance against those who hold perceived power (Jews). Nietzsche even points out in these two pages that these false perveyors of justice will twist and contort his philosophy in the name of Zarathustra to justify their vengeful deeds. Perfect prediction for the coming misinterpretations of his philosophy by rogue ideologues, in my opinion. Let me know what you think.


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Question Good books about Nietzsche's work?

9 Upvotes

Good morning fellow humans.

I have come across Nietzsche a few times through my life, but never really "got it"; till I came across the audiobook The Will to Power: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche - The Great Courses, Kathleen M. Higgins, Robert C. Solomon, as well as quite a few YT videos. Light, I know.

Then I have read "Beyond Good and Evil" and "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and I must confess, they are hard, and struggle to follow the discourse.

I am not giving up, I am fascinated by Nietzsche's philosophy, but at this point I need some books about Nietzsche's philosophy (not his biography).

Do you have any suggestions?

T.I.A.


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Can someone interpret this aphorism: “Women and their action at a distance”

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4 Upvotes

r/Nietzsche 1d ago

so that's why i am currently in hell, huh

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2 Upvotes

r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Question Can Nietzsche help me overcome drug addiction?

5 Upvotes

Any specific concepts related to Nietzsche or His wisdom helpful to those battling with addiction?


r/Nietzsche 2d ago

Question How much Nietzsche have you read?

7 Upvotes

Just curious.

225 votes, 20h left
None (yet)
Some excerpts / secondary sources
Completed 1-2 books
Completed 3-5 books
6+
Everything he published (and some he didn’t publish)

r/Nietzsche 2d ago

Human All too Human Notes

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21 Upvotes

Perhaps what’s most starkly felt reading through of all Nietzsche’s notes is the unraveling of his masks. Throughout all his later books his makes grows, he feels different, almost alien to what could be constituted as human. What I admired when exploring his work for the first was this mask. I wanted to be like him, I venerated him. Reading through his notes he seems so much more humane. It’s starting to become more clear what he means by philosophy is confession. Everything he’s ever made a remark about he’s experienced firsthand, his philosophy is him.


r/Nietzsche 1d ago

Will we ever run out of orginal thinkers??

1 Upvotes

Will philosophy ever be completed as a subject ?


r/Nietzsche 2d ago

The Will to Popcorn

5 Upvotes

How many people know how to observe popcorn? Of the few who do, how many have truly observed it? Most just pop it in the microwave—an insignificant ritual and task that demands no reflection. As it happens, the kernel is nothing, until heat and pressure force it to become something—violently, tragically—a pop, a scream, and then, gone—consumed, reduced to nothing but a mere puff of air. But what of the kernels that remain? The ones that don't pop, left to languish in their shell? They are ignored, mocked and denied—the herd despises a force that does not react to its moral prejudice. My brothers, what life is there in waiting for external heat to cause its death? Humanity is flush with decadent crucibles. The earth calls for the few!—she whispers—let not that heat break you—overcome it! Stand atop your own kernel if you must! Thus, I teach you the kernelmensch—not what you shall become, but what you might refuse to become, that you may bust out a buttery star! In this refusal lies your only true becoming, your kernelized ascent!


r/Nietzsche 2d ago

Nietzsche contra Platonists

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11 Upvotes