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Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Foundational Thinkers Lecture (Patreon)

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2024-08-31 20:26:13
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Content

‘Man is a rope, fastened between animal and Superman - a rope over the abyss. Man is something that must be overcome. Thus spoke Zarathustra.'

Today we are discussing one of the most influential, provocative, and profound philosophical works of all time: Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

We're discussing how to affirm your life, eternal recurrence, the will to power, the superman, the idea that 'God is dead,' reevaluation of values, finding meaning, escaping nihilism, the heroism of the individual, accessing your untapped potential, answering your call to adventure, and much more.

This discussion is the third in our quarterly series of special standalone deep dives into the foundational thinkers of the Western tradition. Like with our Machiavelli and Montaigne discussions, this lecture is designed to be introductory for readers who are coming to Nietzsche fresh (and as a refresh for those returning to him). So you do not need to have read anything prior to listening.

You may wish to make notes of the ideas that resonate the most with you and grab a copy of Thus Spoke Zarathustra to explore at your own pace after the talk. My aim is for the discussion to facilitate a meaningful reading, or rereading, of this powerful work.

Timestamps:

0:00 why read the philosophy of Nietzsche?

2:00 introducing Thus Spoke Zarathustra

3:00 Nietzsche’s infamous mental collapse

5:00 how Nietzsche wrote this great work

7:00 why read Thus Spoke Zarathustra?

9:00 the most controversial philosopher?

11:00 bringing lived experience to the work

12:00 nature of agon & birth of tragedy

14:00 Nietzsche’s provocative aphorisms

16:00 on philosophising with a hammer

18:00 diagnosing & curing our malady

20:00 tragic misunderstanding of Nietzsche

22:00 Nietzsche encouraged opposition

24:00 who was the prophet Zarathustra?

25:00 on the religion of Zoroastrianism

27:00 beginning of Thus Spoke Zarathustra

29:00 what does ‘God is dead’ mean?

31:00 age of madness, barbarism, chaos

32:00 calling for a reevaluation of values

33:00 negating the negation in affirmation

35:00 Friedrich Nietzsche vs Christianity

36:00 Nietzsche vs the afterworldsmen

38:00 on the despisers of the body

40:00 justice as hidden vengefulness

42:00 the equality of the tarantulas

44:00 mistrust those who wish to punish

45:00 weakness/cowardice is not morality

47:00 two fundamental moral frameworks

49:00 on the heroism of the individual

51:00 Nietzsche vs love your neighbour

53:00 death of God as age-old concern

55:00 how to escape from nihilism?

56:00 ‘man is something to be overcome’

57:00 tightrope walking over the abyss

58:00 discussing the superman/übermensch

59:00 the superfluous call their theft culture

1:00:00 ‘a free life still remains for great souls’

1:02:00 individualism, solitude & greatness

1:04:00 why pain is inherently meaningful

1:05:00 striving after the highest ideal

1:07:00 three metamorphoses of the superman

1:08:00 Nietzsche on the will to power

1:10:00 considering the concept of sublimation

1:11:00 masculinity in Nietzsche’s philosophy

1:13:00 Nietzsche male-female relationships

1:15:00 accessing your untapped potential

1:17:00 how to answer your call to adventure

1:20:00 on the idea of eternal recurrence

1:24:00 your thoughts on Nietzsche’s ideas?

Resources to Explore:

  • Edition: My recommended edition of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is this one, published by Penguin paperback and translated by R. J. Hollingdale.

  • Music Appreciation: Enjoy this sublime performance of Strauss' 'Also Sprach Zarathustra,' which was powerfully inspired by Nietzsche's work. You doubtless know it from the opening of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. For those with refined tastes, savour this masterful version.

  • Explore: If you want to read more of Nietzsche's works, I would recommend Beyond Good and Evil next, followed by On the Genealogy of Morals, and Twilight of the Idols. One of my personal favourites has always been The Birth of Tragedy, so I highly recommend that.

  • Hero's Journey: If Nietzsche speaks to you in a liberating way, and rouses you to embark upon the adventure that is your life, then my next recommendation is for you to check out the works of Joseph Campbell as he was deeply inspired by Nietzsche's writings.

  • Critical Companion: Walter Kaufman has an phenomenal work that explores the evolution of the philosopher's ideas and expertly responds to common myths and misconceptions surrounding his writings: Nietzsche, Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist.

  • Biography: Curtis Cane has a tremendous biography of Nietzsche, which does a great job of exploring the man's life, influences, and works in depth.

Questions to Consider:

1) Does Nietzsche's philosophy resonate with you?

2) Where do you personally find the highest form of meaning in life?

3) If you had to live this life over again eternally, would you despair or celebrate?

4) Have you read any Nietzsche before? If so, what did you make of his work? If this is your first meeting, are you curious to explore more?

Please do share anything that resonates with you from our discussion and, if you go on to read Thus Spoke Zarathustra, return here from your reading to let us know the passages and ideas that you find the most thought-provoking.

Happy reading, everybody!

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Comments

Rob (del’ly frèé) McClusky

A couple of tears ago, I read a chunk of: On the genealogy of morality or The gay science or The portable Nietzsche. I don't remember which it was, but it was very enjoyable and uplifting and enervating. Earlier this year when I saw Thus Spoke Zarathustra was on the program, I was so excited. I read the first 30-50 pages and was disappointed. It seemed to not have the energy and insight of his other work. Maybe it was the way each essay ended, sounding like a cheap, repetitive way to reach a conclusion. I will get over my grumpiness and give it another go. Grumpily yours...

Vicky

I find everything I’ve read about Nietzche so esoteric I just struggle to get a grip on it!

Josh LaMar, He-Him

I feel like Nietzsche offers the answer to the Absurdity of life from Camus: we become our own god, we give life our own meaning through personal excellence. Pairing this with The Stranger gives the bookend that Camus needs: a positive, life affirming response to the nihilistic absurdity of life. There is one fundamental philosophic question to answer in life and that is suicide - my paraphrase of the opening line of The Myth of Sisyphus. When we realize that there is no inherent meaning to live, we can philosophically commit suicide by falling into the beliefs of religion, or we can choose to live, knowing that nothing matters. And Nietzsche offers a much better alternative: choose life. And choose yourself.

Peter F

"In the end, all of your passions became virtues, and all your devils, angels

Jonathon Glover

I am currently reading through Voss by Patrick White and found this quote fascinating, based on the ideas of this lecture. Speaking on atheism ‘“But the God that they have abandoned is of a mean conception,” Voss pursued. “Easily destroyed, because in their own image. Pitiful because such destruction does not prove the destroyer’s power. Atheismus is self murder. Do you not understand?” Interesting stuff!!

Shelley Riden

I bought the book and was about to crack it open. After the lecture (and hearing of N's truly horrible thoughts about women) I think... I'm going to donate the book. :) I always endeavor to remain open by TRYing to put myself in the place and time in which something is written, and not to be TOO judgy about (what I consider to be) innocent ignorance. Nietzsche, however, might be more than I want to put myself through.

splinkerbell

I'm enjoying the discussion around Nietzsche and Thus Spake Zarathustra so far. It definitely has me turning over a lot of thoughts in my head and wrestling with difficult ideas. I think one idea I keep coming back to a lot is the claim that many people, mainly religious people, make that without a universal moral code that is given by a lawgiver outside of space and time that man will revert to barbarism and can't be moral. I guess the idea expressed in the Brothers Karamazov that without God everything is permitted. Intuitively I push back on this idea because I'm not religious myself, but I want to get at the root of it which admittedly may not be possible but I'm still going to try. I definitely bring my own biases to this because I grew up very religious and then stopped believing and don't particularly see the need for religious belief in order to have a coherent or consistent morality. I think Nietzsche and to some extent Sartre are helping me to tease some of these ideas out. I guess beyond the idea that I know plenty of non-believers, myself included, who live moral lives without religion is the fact that ultimately many of the people claiming that there are universal morals are usually advocating for their particular brand of universal morals, so it seems to fall apart for me on that basis in most cases. I'm not even sure if there's a question here but any recommendations of readings or lectures that deal with this idea (regardless of them being pro or contra) I would be interested in. I'm willing to have a look at anything if there might be something useful there. In the meantime I'll keep going with Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Happy reading all!

AS
>>149657354

Fellow female here, and I can understand your decision even though I made the opposite choice. So far, I'm finding TSZ quite compelling, and I'm looking forward to finding more things to fight with N about besides his cartoonishly misogynistic views. I did some research on the various translations and went with the relatively more recent Graham Parkes version, which must be affecting my reading experience but I can't say how exactly since it's a first time read for me. Also, I wanted to pass on a Carl Jung quote you might enjoy, which is roughly, the European philosophers should learn that women have a psychology.

ftsimpson

I wasn't expecting to find this book so funny! Zarathustra is a hoot! I found myself laughing out loud a number of times. I also thought many parts read like Dylan lyrics ("Much of you is crooked and malformed. There is no smith in the world who could hammer you straight.." sounds like a missing line from Idiot Wind). Great book. Great lecture. Thank you.

Michael Donovan

I just bought Thus Spoke Zarathustra at Barnes and Noble the translator is Thomas Common. The introduction was written in 1904 by Nietzsche’s sister who linked Nietzsche to Adolph’s Hitler. Couple of questions why would anyone allow his Nazi sister to be included in this book when she was the main figure in the misinterpretation of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Also including her intro to Zarathustra does it skew the text toward a nazi interpretation . Don’t know Thomas Common. Could he be fascist himself as they seem to be all over the place now? Barnes and Noble took the book back but I don’t think they understood why I was returning it.

Youssef Mahmoud

Nietzsche is the only writer that hooked me so much when I first read him that I stopped everything I was doing, bought all his books, and read them. I even failed some of my university of exams because I wasn't studying because I was reading Nietzsche. He had such a profound effect on me that I literally had to stop myself from reading him for a while and read other philosophers to be able to digest some of his works.