Athens Corner

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Continuing my summary of the initial teaching of Zarathustra's overman and last man, here I discuss the way in which both constitute Nietzsche's involvement with the broader debate of culture in 18th and 19th century Germany, going back to Rousseau and Kant.

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A discussion of Shakespeare's Tempest with @KingBolingbroke

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This is the first in a two-part discussion assessing the initial teaching of the Overman and the Last Man.  In addition, because of how important it is to properly understand both, I provide detailed analysis of both as they appear in a number of Nietzsche's pre-Zarathustra publications.  At issue is ultimately the way in which Nietzsche understands Modernity, which is to say the debate on 'civilization' and 'culture' in late-Modern philosophy, which especially includes the meaning of science and technology for Nietzsche.

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The rise of everything we understand as “Modernity” required a radically anti-Orthodox re-interpretation of Christian theology. All of the primary political founders of Modernity included these anti-Orthodox readings of the Bible. Here I discuss the issue broadly before focusing upon Hobbes in particular. I also discuss the Orthodox alternative originating in Augustine’s text On Christian Doctrine.

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Here I discuss the origins of one of the most important words we tend to use so casually today, namely the word “culture.” I provide a historical and philosophical introduction to how it came to be that the word “culture” became a philosophical concept, beginning in the late 18th Century and including its various transformations into the 20th Century. 

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Here we see the extent to which Nietzsche's TSZ can be seen as belonging to the rare great books of the Western world in which education is thematic.  Not only do we see Zarathustra teaching others, but even more importantly we see Zarathustra himself learning along the way.  Immediately upon the initial failure of his first speech, Zarathustra gains a fundamental insight into what will be required of him for his political project to be successful, an insight he had not initially anticipated.  This insight fundamentally places Zarathustra at odds with the most sacred ideal of Modernity.

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Having gained his first new insight since returning to mankind, Zarathustra begins his true or official speeches with a speech about the kinds of spirit required in order to be or become Zarathustra’s brother or disciple. I discuss the important Platonic parallels, the relationships to temporality and history, as well as how they represent deviations from Zarathustra’s initial political project of the Overman. Zarathustra has now become an insurgent, and this first speech subtly contains what Zarathustra’s insurgency will require not simply for those who would become his brother or disciple but also and especially the kind of rhetoric required of Zarathustra himself in order to successfully complete his insurgency.

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Continuing my previous discussion about the radically anti-Orthodox Biblical interpretation provided by Hobbes, here I discuss Spinoza. In particular, I discuss the way in which Spinoza founded what we now refer to today as the so-called “higher Biblical criticism” in order for him to make his argument that tolerant or liberal democracy is the best form of government.

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Continuing on the immediate heels of his first speech on the Overman, here we get Zarathustra's second speech.  Much like the first,here we learn the pre-condition for the Overman in Zarathustra's understanding of love.  I emphasize the way in which this teaching of love provides the supplement to what the previous speech's account of nihilism destroys.  At issue, ultimately, is the criteria for discerning virtue going forward, which itself defines what Zarathustra understands as the meaning of 'culture' and 'civilization' after the overcoming of nihilism.

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Continuing with the digressions to previous two digressions into Nietzsche's writings other to supplement our understanding of Zarathustra, this third digression is the culmination of the previous two regarding the image of Prometheus in Zarathustra.  Here I discuss the way Nietzsche understands the way in which Greek tragedy and Modern science are to be linked such that the consequences of nihilism inherent to Modern science can be overcome by way of a 'joyous' science.  Ultimately, this is a discussion of how Nietzsche's Zarathustra is meant to be understood as creating a new culture that is more resilient in the wake of nihilism since the diffusion of the 'deadly' truths of science ended the life affirming effects of Greek tragedy as Nietzsche understands it.