[kj] OT: Competition?

[Brendan]

In all honesty, I get the impression of a tortured genius, compulsively
trying to articulate / define the world he lives in, but who can't seem to
reconcile the rational and irrational...he is too emotional. I'm not so
sure he disliked consistency...he was so emphatic, black and white, at
times, that I find it hard to read some of his quotes without seeing them
as cast in stone in his mind. At the time at least. I.e. my take on it was
that he was unintentinally inconsistent, and was able to write it off for
several reasons...his style of writing, the nature of man itself etc. But
I don't really buy it.

I'm not surprised that he ended up mentally ill, even though it was
through a physical illness. In fact I can see a connection between him and
the author of Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, who of course over
the course of the story in the book is slipping back into mental illness.
The relentless, overwhelming need to define existence, the human
condition...The Philosopher's Curse I suppose.

I can also see the similarities in certain friends I've had, two in
particular. My take on it is that for whatever reason, brain structure /
chemistry, life experiences, whatever, they seem compelled to constntly
try to resolve the way the world works, to come up with some logical basis
for things being the way they are. DEFINITIVELY. (I get the impression
Nietzsche wanted to sum it up in a single sentance or paragraph if he
could). My two friends in particular were both prone to ranting
incessantly, on the nature of life, economics, politics, ethics,  often
completely contradictorily, and it was impossible to point out how they
were contradicting themselves. For starters you couldn't get a word in
edgewise, but if you could you were just ignored. However they were both
extremely intelligent.

All in all, at the end of the day it was FUCKING tedious, and I feel sorry
for them that they couldn't let it go.

I was looking for a quote by Jaz about Nietzsche, found this article,
which I think answers your question about his consistency re being a
philosopher yet anti-intellectual (I have to say, as much as his mouth
seems to write huge cheques, he seems to be able to cash them in when the
need arises too, what he says makes perfect sense to me :)

http://www.anirrationaldomain.net/articles/1992-1996/sbq.html

There is another one that I had in mind, quite funny actually, I'll see if
I can find it...Jaz basically says that he sussed Nietzsche when he
learned that he lived with his Mum and failed in love or something, and
that he preferred Spinoza.






> Bette Dillinger wrote:

>

> "Nietzche is a completely different case.  We have historical data on

> him.  Rollo May's psychological portrait of him, and of his relationship

> with Lou Salome is very insightful.  His tribe has been quite

> interesting to speak with...... "

>

>

>

> Yeah, Nietzsche is a different case than Sun Tzu, absolutely. Nietzsche

> quoted what he claimed was a military aphorism ("from the military

> school"), and the debate/discussion was about that.

>

> Just because we know a lot more about Nietzsche doesn't mean "we"

> understand him. There is, for example, the pretty-good book "What

> Nietzsche Really Meant." This is because Nietzsche is inconsistent over

> the course of his writings, went through his various phases, was fond of

> a cryptic turn of phrase or pun (many of which don't translate from

> German to English very well, etc.) , and left many things ambiguous on

> purpose, or hinted at stuff, and more. O the other hand, it is hard to

> imagine a similar book about an empiricist philosopher like Bertrand

> Russell called "What Bertrand Russell Really meant," because Russell

> said what he meant, explicitly, and without the cryptic allusions,

> poetic style and/or imagery used by Nietzsche, etc. -- the stuff that

> makes Nietzsche a joy to read literarily, but a pain when trying to

> extract from all his various aphorisms, maxims, quotes from Zarathustra,

> and all that, some sort of consistent philosophical weltanschauung. In

> fact, Nietzsche seemed to dislike consistency itself.

>

> -Oliver

>

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