A Few Thoughts on the Basic Writings of Nietzsche

In the introduction to the above mentioned tome, Walter Kaufmann, who translated and edited, had this to say,

"One may actually be led to wonder whether in philosophy there is in inverse proportion between profundity and importance on the one hand, and clarity and excellence of style on the other."

I would have to agree with Kaufmann that Nietzche’s clarity and style are definitely there to be read, unlike say, Kant, whose writing tends to leave my mind feeling like it is suffering from a severe case of cottonmouth.  Be that as it may, here are a few of my thoughts.

I found The Birth of Tragedy to be more of an exercise in mental masturbation, rather than a work that fired the neurons.  Don’t misunderstand me, though, the work is interesting enough, but it isn’t a work that I would, with anticipation, desire to pick up and devour once again.  Sure, I underlined some passages, learned some new Latin terms, and I even considered the validty of Nietzche’s argument, but I failed to find any real, useful need for such an indepth study of Greek tragedy and the influences which supposedly brought it about.  In fact, as I read the work, I kept wondering what Nietzsche’s mind would have garnered from a study of rock and roll.

Seventy-Five Aphorisms from Five Volumes was next up, after the above mentioned, and I found this collection of aphoristically styled work not only entertaining, but, like a good old fashioned hard candy, a collection of work that could be popped into your mind to mull over and rolled around.  Occasionally popping the the candy from your mind, to pick up and read again, it’s taste undminished.  I’ve left a marker in this section of the book, a Blue Jay’s feather, so I can pick it up and quickly pop a candy, or two, into my head as a late night treat.

Beyond Good and Evil, Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future was quite heady and I found myself agreeing with many of Nietzsche’s thoughts.  This work can summed up, quite well I think, by the following, which Kaufmann included in his Translator’s Preface to this work of Nietzsche.  The words are from the Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People, the fourth act.

"The most dangerous enemy of truth and freedom among us--is the compact majority.  Yes, the damned, compact, liberal majority…
The majority has might--unfortunately--but right it is not.  Right--are I and a few others.  The minority is always right…
I have a mind to make a revolution against the lie that the majority is in the possession of the truth.  What kind of truths are those around which the majority usually gathers?  They are truths that have become so old that they are on the way toward becoming shaky.  But once a truth has become that old, it is also on the way toward becoming a lie...A normally constituted truth lives, let us say, as a rule seventeen or eighteen years; at most twenty, rarely more.  But such aged truths are always exceedingly thin.  Nevertheless it is only at that stage that the majority makes their acquaintance...All these majority truths...are rather like rancid, spoiled...hams.  And that is the source of the moral scurvy that rages all around us..."

On the Genealogy of Morals followed the above quite nicely, I think, and I also found much in this work of interest to me.  My pen has scored many a passage, and penned as many notes, to consider again in the future.  One note I penned, in response to an especially stringent passage, still makes me chuckle, because I thought Nietzsche was propounding his idea with the zealotry of a preacher.

The Case of Wagner. About the only thing I can say about this work is that it called to my mind a teenage girl’s virulent verbal attack on her best friend after her best friend came to the prom wearing the exact same prom dress.  I found this work useless, and a waste of Nietzsche’s mind.

Ecce Homo, on the other hand, was another work that I relished, and not only because I have as much confidence in myself, as Nietzsche had in himself.  This work called to my mind an old Ashanti proverb, "Act as if you cannot fail."

I must say that I am pleased that I added this book to my collection, and with the exception of The Birth of Tragedy, and The Case of Wagner, I’ll look forward to reading it again in the future.

Posted by on 08/16 at 02:58 PM

  1. John:

    As a fellow admirer of Nietzsche, allow me to suggest that you read (if you haven’t already) Nietzsche In Turin by Lesley Chamberlain. It’s beautifully written biography of the man, not another dissection of his philosophy. For that, stick with Kaufmann.

    Good ‘n Evil has earned a place on the top shelf of my book collection.

    Posted by RKN  on  08/18  at  09:32 AM

  2. Thanks, I will.

    Posted by  on  08/18  at  10:36 AM

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