Nietzsche Again and Again

In the end, we get out of books by the efforts we put into reading them. Anyway, I have to go to make a living, but before doing so, I have to jot down some notes, otherwise I will forget. I am getting old. Short-term memory is being impaired.

I saw my brother Nietzsche was being profiled in the most interesting 20 philosophers in a book I am reading. I will copy the profile later when I come back from a business meeting, but reading the profile was like reading my own profile. No wonder I love the guy. Likes attract likes. Also, like him, I am readable, by which I mean that my sentences and ideas have clarity, unlike the garbage of most of my contemporaries and peers, except words from one guy, but he does not write often.

I have noticed that if anybody has nothing definite in his mind, he begins to talk in a circle. Instead of admitting he is lost and is not sure where he is, he will try to appear profound. The more he tries, the more turgid his prose becomes and his arguments are grasping of straws. I know I come across as undeservedly arrogant, but at least all my arguments are clearly stated and supported with solid facts and logical reasoning. I know arrogance is the flip side of inferiority complex, but at least I am honest with myself. I don't sugarcoat my feelings of superiority with regard to certain matters. The way I express myself is an invitation for others to join me for a verbal duel, my way of throwing down the gauntlet and asking challengers to take me down intellectually if they can. I am not looking for being the most popular and lovable guy. I am more interested if my views can hold water.

Now, here is the profile of my brother, Friedrich Nietzsche (1944-1900)

Best Known Works: Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Will to Power (beware posthumous additions by his sister), Twilight of the Idols, Ecce Homo

Readability: Looks easy enough; used ordinary language, specialized in short spurts and aphorisms, pulled no punches, but style is overheated and dense; reads a little like Norman Mailer in his apocalyptic mode.

Qualities of Mind: Impetuous, irreverent, individualistic, elitist, unstable.

Catchphrases: The will to power, transvaluation of values, Superman, God is dead.

Influence: One of the most flamboyant and controversial philosophers ever, vehemently opposed to virtually all established culture and morality. a prophet who announced the demise of God (and, more importantly, of all absolutes), prophesied the world wars (or something very like them), warned of democracy's tendency to promote conformity and suppress excellence; also, favored selective breeding. A cultural historan whose perceptions about unconscious human drives paved the way for Freud's. Insisted that the dominant force of history is the "will to power," and advocated a "transvaluation of values" in which the traditional "feminine" virtues espoused by Christianity (submission, compassion, being nice to other people) would be joined with "masculine" virtues (courage, strength, toughness) in a morality that aimed at greatness rather than goodness. Hoped for the ascendancy of the Superman, in whom Dionysian instinct and dynamism would be perfectly integrated with Apollonian reason and ethics. Has been variously interpreted--and misinterpreted--as as a spokesman for Fascist, Nazi, anti-Nazi, Romantic, anti-Romantic, and existentialist doctrines.

Personal Gossip: A frail, sickly boy raised in a household of pious women. Became a classics scholar. Went hopelessly insane at age forty-four. His sister, who had problems of her own, later distorted some of his writings, making him sound more racist than he really was.

Current Standing: It's no longer fashionable to call him the Antichrist, to blame him for WW II, or even to dismiss him as a brilliant but sophomoric "literary philosopher." These days, he's admired as a visionary theorist of language and knowledge. On the whole, however, philosophers are still busy trying to figure out exactly what he was driving at.

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I believe Nietzsche once said that to be great is to be misunderstood. Fools are never able to understood those who are above them. Fools don't even know they are fools. But don't you ever call those unfortunate beings "fools". They don't like that. Even fools have feelings. You've got to respect and love your brothers, even though they are foolish and stupid and uninformed and self-complacent.

Thus spake Wissai