Sense and Sensability
Sense and SensabilityNietzsche
“God Is Dead”
Out of all the things I could have chosen to write about, for some reason
“Twilight of the Idol’s’ caught my eye It was kind of a catchy title, and it was the last thing that Nietzsche wrote that had any merit before he went crazy, although some parts of his philosophy make me think that that isn’t entirely true.
Nietzsche describes Twilight of the Idols as an exploration through the idleness of a psychologist, and a declaration of war against the idols, for they were described by him as being “The most hollow of all beings in which people have the most faith” These essays are divided into the Maxims and Arrows, the problem of Socrates, “Reason” in philosophy, How the “True World” finally Became a Fable, Morality as Anti-Nature, The Four Great Errors, The “Improvers” of Mankind, What the German’s lack, Skirmishes of an Untimely Man, What I Owe to the Ancients, and The Hammer Speaks. (Pg.465 Twilight of the Idols)
Maxims And Arrows-
Maxims and Arrows is the first part of Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols and probably the most telling. It is written in the form of a list like “Nietzsche’s guide to Life” and goes through his basic philosophy shedding light on ever part of his person, from his hatred towards Christianity to his Misogynistic commentary. He begins by putting it all out on the table in the Maxims and Arrows, a list 44 principles that he lives by and sets the tone for the rest of this portion of his writings. I have picked 24 themes from this essay that I thought were the most important and revealing of his character. None of these are direct quotes unless indicated otherwise, but paraphrased and put into “English”. (Pgs. 466-473 Twilight of the Idols)
1) Idleness is the beginning of all psychology
2) Even the most courageous only has what he truly knows
3) Truth is simply not a lie
4) Wisdom sets limits to knowledge
5) Is man a mistake of god? Or god a mistake of mans?
6) What does not destroy us will only make us stronger
7) Man does not strive for pleasure; only the Englishman does
Man has created woman our of a rib of god- His “ideal”
9) We are never understood and therefore we have authority
10) Woman is an attempt to assassinate all our reality and truth
11) Artists want only two things, bread and art
12) Lay will into things, or at least put meaning into them so that one can have faith that they are obeying a “will”
13) Virtue is renouncing “advantages”
14) The perfect woman exudes literature as she does sin and tries so make someone notice her sin.
15) One may not have any sham virtues. One either stands, falls, or runs away
16) “Evil men have no songs” then why do the Russians sing?
17) “German spirit” is a contradiction in terms
18) Contentment protects even against colds if a woman ever caught a cold I’m assuming that she wasn’t dressed.
19) The will to a system is a lack...
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