Worth Thinking About: "You must have chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star." (Friedrich Nietzsche). Nietzsche may be more famous for his oft' misquoted phases such as "God is Dead" or "Will to Power" than for the philosophic battles he chose to fight. What creative impulse defines a man who has exhausted the alternatives available to him? Does he remain a man, a simple animal with relative needs and desires, or does he become a superman, something approaching our concept of God? What Nietzsche really represents is the epic philosophical battle of the moderns against the ancients- Freud vs. Socrates- which can be characterized as the desire to rationalize ones actions versus the desire to know ones self, no matter the cost (Freud was heralded as champion of the repressed ego while Socrates was eventually put to death for "impiety and corruption of the youth").
Nietzsche morns the loss of a badly needed father and a saviour who can never be restored, forever defeated by man's enlightened reason. The vitality of Man is somehow diminished and his soul forevered impoverished when he outgrows these myths and relies on his own predjudices fuel the creative impulse. Check out Allan Bloom's excellent book (1988) "The Closing of the American Mind" for an indepth analysis of this on going struggle. Though at times difficult to read, I found this book very rewarding. I then picked up a book on Plato's Republic and felt like I was home...
Nietzsche morns the loss of a badly needed father and a saviour who can never be restored, forever defeated by man's enlightened reason. The vitality of Man is somehow diminished and his soul forevered impoverished when he outgrows these myths and relies on his own predjudices fuel the creative impulse. Check out Allan Bloom's excellent book (1988) "The Closing of the American Mind" for an indepth analysis of this on going struggle. Though at times difficult to read, I found this book very rewarding. I then picked up a book on Plato's Republic and felt like I was home...
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