Simply Nietzsche Read online

  Simply Nietzsche

  Peter Kail

  Simply Charly

  New York

  Copyright © 2019 by Peter Kail

  Cover Illustration by José Ramos

  Cover Design by Scarlett Rugers

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

  [email protected]

  ISBN: 978-1-943657-51-3

  For Cheryl: Amor Fati

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Praise for Simply Nietzsche

  Other Great Lives Titles

  Series Editor's Foreword

  Preface

  1. Beginnings: The Birth of Tragedy and Untimely Meditations

  2. Turning New Ground: Human, All too Human and Daybreak

  3. The Demon and the Madman: The Gay Science

  4. Nietzsche’s Bible: Thus Spoke Zarathustra

  5. Truth, Selves and the Truth about Selves: Beyond Good and Evil

  6. The Invention of the Sick Animal: On the Genealogy of Morality

  7. Coming to an End: Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Ecce Homo, and Wagner Revisited

  8. Nietzsche’s Legacy

  Sources

  Suggested Reading

  About the Author

  Afterword

  A Note on the Type

  Praise for Simply Nietzsche

  “This is the best introductory text on Nietzsche in English, German or French, and in three respects: it is genuinely introductory without being superficial; it reflects good philosophical judgment; and it stakes out interesting and plausible hypotheses on some vexed questions of interpretation. The writing is also crisp and engaging throughout.”

  —Brian Leiter, Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence, Director of the Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values, The University of Chicago

  “Peter Kail has written a lively and intelligent short guide to Nietzsche’s remarkable corpus. Best of all he does not make this singular philosophical genius conform to the dreary character of so much academic philosophy. Instead, Nietzsche the profound psychologist and writer of great distinction shines through.”

  —Keith Ansell-Pearson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick

  “Peter Kail’s introduction to Nietzsche offers a brisk, informed, and sympathetic approach to this philosophical giant. The book is something of a tour de force. In seven short, lucid chapters it manages to cover the full extent of Nietzsche’s most significant writings from The Birth of Tragedy to Ecce Homo, leaving no philosophical stone unturned. A perfect companion for students, teachers, or novices who are just curious to know what makes Nietzsche so compulsively readable despite his being the most challenging thinker since Kant. Nietzsche will turn your life upside down. Simply Nietzsche will help you get your bearings as you land back in reality.”

  —James I. Porter, Irving G. Stone Professor in Literature and Professor of Rhetoric and Classics, UC Berkeley

  “This is an admirably readable, philosophically-astute introduction to Nietzsche’s thought.”

  —Andrew Huddleston, Reader in Philosophy, Birbeck College, University of London

  “Peter Kail gives us an exceptionally lucid, accessible and judicious introduction to a thinker whose real views often differ radically from those his reputation suggests—and are all the more interesting for that.”

  —Stephen Mulhall, Professor of Philosophy, New College, Oxford University

  “Few philosophers have left a more enduring mark in the popular imagination, and none has been more frequently caricatured or misunderstood, than Friedrich Nietzsche. To correct this misrepresentation, we needed a writer possessed of a deep knowledge of the increasingly sophisticated philosophical scholarship devoted to his thought and capable of making it at once accessible and appealing to a broad readership. In Peter Kail, we have found just such a writer. This short book gives a clear, concise, and well-informed overview of Nietzsche’s main philosophical insights, which corrects common misunderstandings of them, emphasizes their originality, and acknowledges their lingering problems.”

  —Bernhard Reginster, author of The Affirmation of Life and Professor of Philosophy, Brown University

  "Simply Nietzsche is arguably the best contemporary introduction to Nietzsche on the market and will, without doubt, be read by generations. While there are plenty of admirable, often longer introductions out there, Simply Nietzsche bears the hallmarks of a philosopher who first honed his philosophical acumen on the likes of Hume and Berkeley before turning, with a critical eye, to Nietzsche. In enviable lucidity, Peter Kail introduces both the novice and the experienced reader to a consistent and attractive interpretation. In exciting prose, he offers a careful selection of key works, concepts, and arguments, without ignoring their challenges, their inconsistencies, and Nietzsche's deliberately emotionally-charged style. Simply Nietzsche not only introduces Nietzsche’s philosophy, but it also shows how one should go about reading the philosopher who has wrong-footed so many."

  —Manuel Dries, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, The Open University

  Other Great Lives Titles

  Simply Austen by Joan Klingel Ray

  Simply Beckett by Katherine Weiss

  Simply Beethoven by Leon Plantinga

  Simply Chaplin by David Sterritt

  Simply Chekhov by Carol Apollonio

  Simply Chomsky by Raphael Salkie

  Simply Chopin by William Smialek

  Simply Darwin by Michael Ruse

  Simply Descartes by Kurt Smith

  Simply Dickens by Paul Schlicke

  Simply Edison by Paul Israel

  Simply Einstein by Jimena Canales

  Simply Eliot by Joseph Maddrey

  Simply Euler by Robert E. Bradley

  Simply Faulkner by Philip Weinstein

  Simply Fitzgerald by Kim Moreland

  Simply Freud by Stephen Frosh

  Simply Gödel by Richard Tieszen

  Simply Hegel by Robert Wicks

  Simply Hitchcock by David Sterritt

  Simply Joyce by Margot Norris

  Simply Machiavelli by Robert Fredona

  Simply Napoleon by J. David Markham & Matthew Zarzeczny

  Simply Newton by Michael Nauenberg

  Simply Riemann by Jeremy Gray

  Simply Tolstoy by Donna Tussing Orwin

  Simply Stravinsky by Pieter van den Toorn

  Simply Turing by Michael Olinick

  Simply Wittgenstein by James C. Klagge

  Series Editor's Foreword

  Simply Charly’s “Great Lives” series offers brief but authoritative introductions to the world’s most influential people—scientists, artists, writers, economists, and other historical figures whose contributions have had a meaningful and enduring impact on our society.

  Each book provides an illuminating look at the works, ideas, personal lives, and the legacies these individuals left behind, also shedding light on the thought processes, specific events, and experiences that led these remarkable people to their groundbreaking discoveries or other achievements. Additionally, every volume explores various challenges they had to face and overcome to make history in their respective fields, as well as the little-known character traits, quirks, strengths, and frailties, myths and controversies that sometimes surrounded these personalities.

  Our authors are prominent scholars and other top experts who have dedicated their careers to exploring each facet of their subjects’ work and personal lives.

  Unlike many other works that are merely descriptions of the major milestones in a person’s life, the “Great Lives” series goes above and beyond the standard format and content. It brings substance, depth, and clarity to the sometimes-complex lives and works of history’s most powerful and influential people.

  We hope that by exploring this series, readers will not only gain new knowledge and understanding of what drove these geniuses, but also find inspiration for their own lives. Isn’t this what a great book is supposed to do?

  Charles Carlini, Simply Charly

  New York City

  Preface

  Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) is one of the most brilliant, controversial, misunderstood, vilified, recognizable, engaging, provocative, and complicated philosophers ever to have put pen to paper. The bare bones of his biography are as follows: his father, Karl Ludwig, was a Protestant clergyman; his mother’s name was Franziska. He had a sister, Elisabeth (about whom I will say a little more later), and a brother, Joseph, who died very young. This tragedy was compounded by the fact that Nietzsche’s father passed away when Friedrich was only six, precipitating the family’s move to Naumburg. In 1864, he went to Bonn University, moving to Leipzig in 1865. Nietzsche’s initial studies were in theology and philology, though he soon dropped the former subject. After a brief and harrowing period of military service, he returned to Leipzig, and, in 1869, he was elected Associate Professor of Classical Philology in Basel, Switzerland. The following year, he became a full professor, partly owing to the influence of his teacher, Friedrich Ritschl. Nietzsche was only 24, which appears an astonishing appointment for one so young. But although many see early sig
ns of the recognition of Nietzsche’s genius in such a precocious appointment, it should be remembered that the university in Basel was in great financial trouble and took the expedient of employing those whom it could pay little, which meant employing the young.

  Two significant encounters predate his election to his professorship. One was his discovery of the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, whose influence, though most prominent in Nietzsche’s early work, never left Nietzsche’s mind. The second was a personal encounter with the composer Richard Wagner, with whom he became friendly, visiting him and Wagner’s wife, Cosima, for a three-year period. It was to be a very significant, intense, but relatively short-lived relationship. Nietzsche initially idolized Wagner, and, perhaps, also fell in love with Cosima. There was much intellectual discussion between the three of them, an exchange of ideas that would be crucial to Nietzsche’s first book, The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music, a work that, among other things, is a near apotheosis of Wagner. But disillusionment followed as we shall see in later chapters, and for the rest of his sane life, Nietzsche wrote of Wagner as the personification of the problems of modernity. Disillusion, too, as again we shall see later, came in respect to his role as a university professor, as did ill health, which was to dog him for the rest of his life.

  The publication of The Birth of Tragedy (1872) met with vilification and incredulity from the academic community, especially since Nietzsche had a reputation as a brilliant and promising young philologist in the rigorous German mold. It was “sheer nonsense,” declared one professor, and students were advised to avoid Nietzsche’s classes. And avoid his classes they did. Despite this, and his increasingly poor health, he remained in post until retiring in 1879 on a modest pension. But he continued to write, penning four lengthy essays, published separately, but which together comprise Untimely Meditations, and another book, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits (1878).

  The period beginning with the publication of Human, All Too Human is often referred to as Nietzsche’s “middle period.” Intellectually, it breaks from Schopenhauer and Wagner, and it is also close to a break in his domestic arrangements: his retirement meant more travel in search of (elusive) relief from his headaches and vomiting. He spent time in Sorrento, Italy; Nice, France; as well as in Swiss resorts of St. Moritz and Sils Maria, a place that would become his summer home, and where there is now a Nietzsche museum. Despite his medical problems, he was productive, publishing two major works in quick succession—Daybreak (1881) and The Gay Science (1882). Although he was prolific, he was not successful. His books did not sell well, something that, naturally, displeased him. A different, and rather dramatic, disappointment occurred in 1882 when he traveled to Rome with his friend Paul Rée. Rée introduced Nietzsche to a 21-year-old Russian woman, Lou Andreas-Salomé. She was brilliant and highly independent, spurning numerous proposals of marriage in order to maintain her independence. She would later become an intimate friend of Rainer Maria Rilke and Sigmund Freud. The relationship between Salomé, Nietzsche, and Rée was initially conceived of intellectual venture—or adventure. She floated an idea for the three of them, and perhaps others, to live together for a year as an intellectual community. Nietzsche fell head over heels in love with her and instructed Rée to propose on his behalf, a proposal that Salomé declined. Unbeknownst to Nietzsche, his emissary too had fallen in love with her. The three traveled together for a while, and after they returned to their respective bases, each man was sending Salomé love letters. Nietzsche managed to persuade Salomé to visit him in Tautenburg, where the two would talk about philosophy and their common loss of Christian faith. All the time, however, she was in communication with Rée. Nietzsche’s sister, Elisabeth, also contributed to his woes. Jealous of Salomé, she made the relationship even worse, reporting of Salomé’s alleged slandering of Nietzsche’s character to her brother and their mother and souring his relations with them as well. Nietzsche was devastated by all this and oscillated between anger and self-pity.

  The period after 1882 is referred to as Nietzsche’s “later” period. It begins with his most infamous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everyone and No One. Parts I and II were published in 1883, Part III followed in 1884, and Part IV the following year. In 1886, he published Beyond Good and Evil, A Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. A year later, one of his most studied works, On the Genealogy of Morality, was released, expanding on key themes from Beyond Good and Evil. Nietzsche’s last productive year was 1888 when he also spent time in Turin. It was a period of stupendous productivity: he penned The Case of Wagner; A Musician’s Problem; The Twilight of the Idols, or How One Philosophizes with a Hammer; The Anti-Christ, the autobiographical (and much more than that) Ecce Homo; How One Becomes What One Is, and a compilation of his reflections on Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner. But just at the point when Nietzsche’s work was gaining recognition, he collapsed.

  As well as his continuing physical ill heath, Nietzsche’s behavior had become erratic: he wrote somewhat unhinged letters, which he sometimes signed as “The Crucified” or “Dionysis.” He could be seen dancing and singing naked in his room. Then, as one story goes, on January 3, 1889, while in Turin, Nietzsche witnessed a man whipping a horse, and interposed himself between the horse and man, sobbing, and finally collapsing. Whatever the truth of that story, he was committed to a sanatorium in Basel on January 10, and then he was transferred to Jena, Germany, to be near his mother. His manic depression transformed itself into psychosis. Some claim that Nietzsche was suffering from syphilis, and others attribute his behavior to a non-malignant brain tumor. Whatever the cause, the remaining 11 years of his life were horrible. He moved back into the house where he had spent most of his childhood to be cared for by his mother. His physical health declined in step with his mental health, and he was wheelchair-bound by 1891, reduced to uttering random sentences rather than expressing coherent thoughts.

  Ironically, as Nietzsche’s health was declining, his fame was growing. An edition of his complete works was in production under the editorship of his longtime friend Heinrich Köselitz. Köselitz was important to Nietzsche. As Nietzsche’s eyesight failed, his friend read to him and wrote his dictation; in turn, Nietzsche admired Köselitz’s music, giving him the pseudonym “Peter Gast,” probably a reference to Mozart’s Don Giovanni. However, Nietzsche’s sister interfered again, this time by aggressively taking the rights to Nietzsche’s work away from his mother, sacking Köselitz, and founding a Nietzsche Archive in Naumburg. She then moved to Weimer, taking herself and, as one biographer, Julian Young, poignantly puts it, “the remnants of her brother.” Elisabeth was an antisemite and began to control Nietzsche’s image, mythologizing him according to her rather nasty conception of the world. She was responsible for the publication of the pseudo-work, The Will to Power, a book based on a project that Nietzsche abandoned and which she stitched together from notes not intended for publication. Nietzsche died on August 25, 1900, perhaps fortunate in not knowing that his ideas were being wilfully distorted by his sister. More distortion and misunderstanding were to come, quite at odds with Nietzsche’s injunction in his autobiographical Ecce Homo that “I am the one who I am! Above all, do not mistake me for anyone else!”

  Interpreting Nietzsche’s works

  Nietzsche himself is partly to blame for being so misconstrued. He anticipated as much, however. The question “Have I been understood?” sometimes punctuates his writing, and he claimed to be understood by “very few.” His being misunderstood, ironically, owes itself in no small measure to the very engagingness of his writing, and facility for pithy, endlessly quotable turns of expression. Many, but by no means all, of his books appear to be unordered collections of short passages, a fact that can encourage the unwary reader to pluck out a Nietzsche quotation to fit their own predilections. Nietzsche’s engaging, amusing, and sometimes provocative style partly explains why he figures in popular culture in a way unmatched by other philosophers. Innumerable pop songs invoke variants of Nietzsche’s dictum from The Anti-Christ that “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” as do equally innumerable films (Heath Ledger’s Joker uttering “Whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you stranger” in The Dark Knight, a personal favorite of mine). Films by Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and many others either quote directly or riff on some perceived Nietzschean theme, and there is a video game named Beyond Good and Evil. Expressions such as the Death of God, the Will to Power, the Overman, and the Eternal Recurrence of the Same carry with them an appealing veneer of profundity even for those who have not read a word of Nietzsche. His very striking physical image and his collapse into madness embody, and perhaps have created, a stereotype of a philosopher for many.