Friedrich Nietzsche

Reading group on two works by Nietzsche

Matthew Flamm and Shawn Klein, my two Philosophy colleagues at Rockford College, will be leading a discussion group on Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1872 The Birth of Tragedy and his 1887 Genealogy of Morals. The image links to the flyer (designed by Christopher Vaughan) with the schedule and location information. Both books are wonderfully provocative. So if […]

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The book version of Nietzsche and the Nazis

… is forthcoming in August and is now available for pre-order at Amazon. It will be published in both hardcover and Kindle formats. The image is a gray-scale version of the cover. The book version is based on the script of the 2006 documentary and is now complete with footnotes, index, bibliography, appendices, and other

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Documentary screenshots from Nietzsche and the Nazis

Click any thumbnail image for the full size. The cover: Section 22 picture of Nietzsche: “Father Stephen” in Section 25: Friedrich Nietzsche and Adolf Hitler juxtaposed, Section 20: Section 33 table contrasting Nietzsche with the National Socialists: Stephen Hicks in the conclusion, Section 41: Seven Nietzschean themes, Section 39: Hitler Youth poster from Section 14:

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Instinct, passion, and anti-reason

[This is Section 36 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 36. Instinct, passion, and anti-reason Hitler was fond of saying, in private, “What luck that men do not think.” Another significant point of agreement exists between Nietzsche and the Nazis: Both agree that the great conflicts will not be solved rationally, through the processes of discussion,

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Irrationalism from Kierkegaard to Nietzsche [EP]

[This excerpt is from Chapter 2 of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault] Epistemological solutions to Kant: Irrationalism from Kierkegaard to Nietzsche The Kantians and the Hegelians represent the pro-reason contingent in nineteenth-century German philosophy. While the Hegelians pursued metaphysical solutions to Kant’s unbridgeable gap between subject and object, in the process

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On Judaism and Christianity: opposite or identical?

[This is Section 32 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 32. On Judaism and Christianity: opposite or identical? One more key difference between Nietzsche and the Nazis is important, and that is their views on Christianity. Nietzsche consistently states that Judaism and Christianity are allies, both stemming from the same source, both advocating a religious ethic

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On anti-Semitism: valid or disgusting?

[This is Section 30 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 30. On anti-Semitism: valid or disgusting? The most repulsive sign of Germany’s decline, Nietzsche writes—and this may be initially surprising—is its hatred of the Jews, its virulent and almost-irrational anti-Semitism. Nietzsche, we know, has said some harsh things about the Jews—but again, that is a set

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