September 16, 2010
Reconsidering Nietzsche–Six Questions for Julian Young
Julian Young is a well-known scholar of nineteenth- and twentieth-century German philosophy. I put six questions to him about his new book, Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography.
Scott Horton in Harper's:
2. Nietzsche wrote that a “deadly insult” had come between himself and Wagner. You suggest that you’ve learned what it was.
Wagner had long disapproved of Nietzsche’s close friendships with men–love he held could only exist between the sexes–and by 1877 he was offended by the developing anti-Wagnerian tenor of Nietzsche’s thought. To Nietzsche’s doctor he wrote that the cause of the patient’s many health problems–which included near blindness–was “unnatural debauchery, with indications of pederasty.” His former disciple was, in other words, (a) incipiently gay and (b) going blind because he masturbated. Somehow Nietzsche learned not only of the existence of the letter but of its the exact wording. That was the “deadly insult.”
More here.
Posted by Abbas Raza at 05:33 AM | Permalink
Comments
Cool! I just ordered the book last night before seeing this interview!
Posted by: Anderson | Sep 16, 2010 7:35:29 AM
What a clear view of Nietzsche. What a clear view, period!
Posted by: Faze | Sep 16, 2010 7:54:30 AM
Nietzsche was my first intellectual crush back when I was barely out of my teens. I read everything he wrote. Gradually, however, as I got older, I realized that his was essentially a philosophy of selfishness, something that would naturally appeal to a self-centered youth such as I was.
Later I saw that his was also an essentially aristocratic philosophy, in favor of rule by the strongest and smartest over the weak and the dumb, with absolutely no pity or respect shown to the latter. For Nietzsche in fact cruelty was a virtue.
Finally, I realized that Nietzche's "new" values, his "transvaluation of all values," were in fact nothing but a throwback to the values of every ruling nobility since history began, for whom the lower classes were but a species of domestic animal.
In sum Nietzsche was a reactionary in the most literal sense: he refused to accept the values upon which our modern liberal democracies are based, values of equality, liberty, and justice for all.
And to top it all, he was himself a puny nerd with a Walter Mitty complex!
That's why I have intellectual contempt and moral condemnation for any mature adult who should know better, and who still accords his philosophy an iota of respect.
Classism is no better than racism.
Posted by: Luke Lea | Sep 16, 2010 1:14:22 PM
"Nietzsche is Pietzsche"
- Anonymous rest room graffiti
Posted by: odysseus14 | Sep 16, 2010 6:26:04 PM
Loved this.
Odysseus, "Nietzsche" rhymes with "teach ya", according to Professors Bruce, Bruce, Bruce and Bruce of the University of Woolloomooloo.
Posted by: Sagredo | Sep 16, 2010 6:39:13 PM
Luke, Nietzsche was no liberal, but your reading of him evidently didn't go very deep.
N. does not preach "selfishness"; that's Ayn Rand. He certainly had little self-interest in preaching the alleged disaster for Western culture that he thought liberalism to be.
The "weak and dumb" are, by definition, ruled over in *all* systems of government.
N. did not favor the aristocracy of "blond beasts"; his ideal, improbable or not, was something more along the lines of classical Athens.
There is a great deal in N. besides politics, so you are rather free with your contempt. Try picking up Brian Leiter's Nietzsche on Morality and see whether you can then figure out why people consider N. worth reading.
Posted by: Anderson | Sep 17, 2010 10:34:48 AM
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