The Living Philosophy

There are many legends and lies surrounding the question of why Nietzsche went mad. After the German philosopher had a mental breakdown in a Turin square January 1889, the initial diagnosis was paretic syphilis. But as later investigators point this definitely wasn’t the case. In this episode we are going to explore the “circus-like history of controversies over the syphilis diagnosis”. 
Nietzsche was diagnosed with the disease despite meeting none of the five core symptoms of paretic syphilis. This initial diagnosis and its early backer—the notorious popular science writer Dr Mobius—was scrutinised by two biographers in the late 1920s but they were completely overshadowed by the account of the psychiatrist Lange-Eichbaum—an admirer of Mobius—who started the myth that Nietzsche had been treated for syphilis in 1867 during his student years in Leipzig. Despite the fact this information came from Mobius (who allegedly heard it from two Leipzig doctors that nobody has ever been able to track down and whose letters informing him of the matter had since been destroyed) it became canonical history. It took 70 years beyond Lange-Eichmann’s work before this narrative was questioned. In his pivotal article on the matter Leonard Sax sums up the situation as a case of:
“One man's gossip becomes another man's reference, which in turn becomes a scholar's footnote.”
But Nietzsche’s madness was not caused by syphilis and we don’t know the real cause. Sax argues for its being a brain tumour; another author Eva Cybulska argues that it was a result of Nietzsche having bipolar disorder and others again argue its origin was purely psychological. Short of exhuming his body there is no way of confirming for sure. 

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📚 Sources:

Primary Papers:
Cybulska, E.M., 2000. The madness of Nietzsche: a misdiagnosis of the millennium?. Hospital Medicine, 61(8), pp.571-575.
Sax, L., 2003. What was the cause of Nietzsche's dementia?. Journal of Medical Biography, 11(1), pp.47-54.

Further Reading:
Breazeale, D., 1991. Ecce Psycho: Remarks on the case of Nietzsche. International studies in philosophy, 23(2), pp.19-33.
Hollingdale, R.J., 2001. Nietzsche: The man and his philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
Huenemann, C., 2008. Nietzsche's illness. in The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche. edited by Gemes, K. and Richardson, J.  Oxford University Press.
Kaufmann, W.A., 2013. Nietzsche: Philosopher, psychologist, antichrist (Vol. 104). Princeton University Press.
Nietzsche, F.W., 1968. Basic writings of Nietzsche. Modern Library Classics.
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3. End of the Era — Kevin MacLeod
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5. Evening Fall Harp — Kevin MacLeod 
6. Anguish— Kevin MacLeod
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:36 Nietzsche’s Turin Breakdown
1:28 Nietzsche’s Diagnosis and Syphilis’s Symptoms 
3:13 Why Nietzsche Didn’t Have Syphilis
7:26 How the Myth of Nietzsche’s Syphilis Became History
10:45 What Did Nietzsche Really Die of?
11:38 Conclusion
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#nietzsche #thelivingphilosophy #philosophy

What is the difference between Nihilism vs. Existentialism vs. Absurdism? The common ground they share is that they are all responses to philosophy’s timeless clichéd question “what is the meaning of life?” Nihilism came into full bloom in the 19th century as the full implications of modernism came to fruition. Existentialism and Absurdism are two ways of responding to the crisis of Nihilism. 
So what is Nihilism? It’s the belief that there is no objective meaning, no purpose outside the illusions humanity has created for itself. As science developed and the religious narratives were found to be ineffective and hollow, the religious account of reality was consigned to the trash heap of history but with it went the grounding of our morality and meaning. This is what Nietzsche’s madman is decrying in The Gay Science when he proclaims that God is Dead. 
Among the ways of facing this crisis, Existentialism vs Absurdism are two promising alternatives. Existentialism says there is no objective/inherent value but there is a potential for a created value. For Jean-Paul Sartre Existentialism is the realisation that existence precedes essence which means that humans have a radical freedom to create our own meaning through how we live our lives, through the acts of our will. 
The Absurd was first talked about by Kierkegaard but was fully developed by Albert Camus into the philosophy of Absurdism in his book The Myth of Sisyphus. The Absurd is the collision between the inherent human hunger for meaning and the impossibility of satisfying this drive in a meaningless world. Camus says we have three options in facing the Absurd: commit suicide, take a leap of faith and believe in some meaning (like Christianity, Buddhism, Marxism, existentialism) something Camus calls philosophical suicide. The third option is Absurdism. Absurdism is the rebellion against the Absurd. It is to refuse to give in and create a meaning. For Camus Absurdism means holding the space of the absurd, staring into its face and rebelling against it and out of this rebellion flows our freedom and passion. 

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📚 Further Reading:

Primary:
Camus, A., 2013. The Myth of Sisyphus. Penguin UK.
Camus, A., 2013. The Outsider. Penguin UK.
Sartre, J., 1960 Existentialism is a Humanism 

Secondary:
Aronson, R,. 2017. “Albert Camus”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = (https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/camus/).
Crowell, S,. 2020. “Existentialism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = (https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/existentialism/).
Foley, J., 2014. Albert Camus: From the absurd to revolt. Routledge.
Hassall, D,. 2017. “Finding Meaning in the Lack Thereof: An Analysis of Nietzsche's and Sartre's Responses to the Problem of Existential Nihilism” Honors Theses. 493. URL = (https://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1476&context=honors_theses) 
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⌛  Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
0:48 Nihilism: Meaning and Origins
5:15 Existentialism: Definition and its Solution 
8:25 Absurdism
9:24 Camus’s Three Responses to the Absurd
11:45 Why Sisyphus is Camus’s Ideal
13:31 Summary and Conclusion

The friendship of Camus and Sartre went from bromance to bitter hatred. The two giants of 20th-century philosophy first became friends during WW2 but the friendship was doomed to fail. The conflict of Camus vs. Sartre boils down to their political philosophy. The philosophy of Albert Camus was one of peace and valued the individual human being; the philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre on the other hand emphasised the need to end oppression and colonialism. 
Sartre and Camus falling out was one of the major events of 20th century philosophy. It represented two paths forward in the world. In this episode of the living philosophy we explore the friendship of Camus and Sartre and the bitter feud that brought it to an end. 

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📚 Further Reading:

Camus, A., 2013. The Myth of Sisyphus. Penguin UK.
Camus, A., 2012. The rebel: An essay on man in revolt. Vintage.
Camus, A., 2013. The outsider. Penguin UK.
Sartre, J., 1960 Tribute to Albert Camus http://faculty.webster.edu/corbetre/philosophy/existentialism/camus/sartre-tribute.html

Secondary:
Aronson, R., 2004. Camus and Sartre: The story of a friendship and the quarrel that ended it. University of Chicago Press.
Foley, J., 2014. Albert Camus: From the absurd to revolt. Routledge.
Todd, O., 2015. Albert Camus: A Life. Random House.
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⌛  Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
1:20 The Friendship 
4:03 The Shadows of Conflict
5:58 Camus’s The Rebel and the Explosive Feud
9:36 Their Conflicting Responses to the Algerian Crisis 
14:44 Camus’s Death, Sartre’s Obituary and Disdain for Camus
17:08 Conclusion: Camus vs. Sartre

Nietzsche and Emerson don’t seem like they should go together. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a spiritual nature-loving Transcendentalist and Friedrich Nietzsche was a self-proclaimed Antichrist. But the truth is that Nietzsche loved Ralph Waldo Emerson and while he was far from agreement with him on many points, he felt that Emerson was a “twin soul” and only wished that he could go back and give this great nature a proper education. 
When you cut past the superficial differences the beating heart of both philosophies are deeply related—both throw aside the revelations of other authorities in order to form a personal relationship with truth, both believe in the power of the individual and the importance of genius. At the core of the philosophy of Nietzsche and of Emerson’s philosophy was the conviction that philosophy was something that you lived. 
Nietzsche first read the philosophy of Emerson as a 17 year old schoolboy and his relationship with Emerson spanned a quarter century all the way to the end of his career in 1889. In this episode we explore this strange but potent connection between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nietzsche.
 
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📚 Further Reading:

Nietzsche:
Nietzsche, F., 1974. The Gay Science: with a prelude in German rhymes and an appendix of songs (Vol. 985). Vintage.
Nietzsche, F., 1977. Thus Spoke Zarathustra  in The Portable Nietzsche. Penguin Routledge.
Nietzsche, F., 1968. The Birth of Tragedy  and Ecce Homo in Basic writings of Nietzsche . Modern Library Classics.

Secondary:
Andler, C., 1920. Nietzsche, sa vie et sa pensée (Vol. 1). Éditions Bossard.
Cavell, S. (1991). Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche. New Literary History, 22(1), 129-160. doi:10.2307/469146
Hummel, H., 1946. Emerson and Nietzsche. New England Quarterly, pp.63-84.
Zavatta, B., 2019. Individuality and Beyond: Nietzsche Reads Emerson. Oxford University Press.

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🎶 Music Used:
1. Magnetic — CO.AG Music
2. Juniper — Kevin MacLeod
3. Mesmerise — Kevin MacLeod
4. Evening Fall Harp — Kevin MacLeod
5. End of the Era — Kevin MacLeod
6. Memory Lane — Kevin MacLeod
7. Americana Aspiring — Kevin MacLeod 
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod https://www.youtube.com/user/kmmusic
Subscribe to CO.AG Music https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcav... 

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⌛ Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
1:56 Nietzsche Long Love for Emerson
5:45 Nietzsche Contra Emerson
7:15 Emerson’s Influence in Nietzsche’s Work
10:40 The Biographical Explanation for Their Affinity

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#nietzsche #thelivingphilosophy #emerson #philosophy