Friedrich Nietzsche

Kleist: How Kant ruined my life

Kleist was widely traveled, energetic, a brilliant writer — and a suicide at age 34. Why? In reviewing Selected Prose of Heinrich von Kleist, Ian Brunskill writes: “Kleist in his youth had espoused with enthusiasm all the optimism of the Enlightenment. Reason would conquer all; happiness would come with experience and understanding. In March 1801, […]

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Is Foucault a Neo-Marxist? Heidegger as the “essential” philosopher

Foucault’s response to an interview question: “Heidegger has always been for me the essential philosopher. I started by reading Hegel, then Marx, and I began to read Heidegger in 1951 or 1952; then in 1952 or 1953, I no longer remember, I read Nietzsche. I still have the notes I took while reading Heidegger –

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God is dead, Wolves and Sheep, Masters and Slaves — all three Nietzsche animation videos

In collaboration with Sprouts educational videos, here is our three-part series on Nietzsche’s provocative account of traditional morality and the need to go beyond good and evil. Part 1: God is Dead. (7 minutes) Part 2: Sheep and Wolves. (6 minutes) Part 3: Master and Slaves. (7 minutes)

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Professor Long’s course on Nietzsche and Modern Literature

For those interested in Friedrich Nietzsche and his connections to Thomas Mann, André Gide, D. H. Lawrence, Ayn Rand: Auburn University professor Roderick Long’s course on Nietzsche and Modern Literature is online with a treasure trove of readings, pictures, and musical clips. Related: My table with sources on Nietzsche and Rand: 124 Similarities and Differences.

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Ryan Faulkner-Hogg (Sweden) podcast on Nietzsche, Art, BLM, and more

I was long-form interviewed by Ryan Faulkner-Hogg of Atlas Geographica on this range of topics:: Introduction: 00:00 Aesthetics: 03:04 Do You Practice Art? 08:33 Modern “analytic” art, Modern “pessimist/expressionist” art, & Postmodern “deconstructive” art 10:24 Duchamp’s urinal 32:25 Objectivism v. Subjectivism: 39:30 BLM (benevolent v. Trojan Horse versions) & Marxism: 52:57 Hicks’s Formative Years: 1:00:00

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Is German philosophy really Counter-Enlightenment? Nietzsche’s assessment

My Explaining Postmodernism book is negative on the major developments in German philosophy, tracing a devolution from Kant through Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Heidegger to the postmodernists. Lots of room in that story for nuances and exceptions, and I’ve received much criticism for being harsh on the German thinkers. I have two forthcoming Open College

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