The Nietzsche Podcast

This podcast explores the intriguing storyline of Goethe's Faust, including Faust's pact with Mephisto, his pursuit of youth, his tragic love affair with Gretchen, and the consequences of his actions. It also delves into the transformation of Faust's character, his involvement in politics and civil engineering projects, and the concept of the eternal feminine. The podcast concludes by discussing the themes of Christianity, redemption, and modernity in Goethe's Faust.

Goethe is perhaps the most widely-celebrated author of German literature, and Faust is his most famous tale. While the historical Doctor Faustus had always been portrayed as an essentially evil man, who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for greater power, Goethe reinterpreted the story into a wager between Faust and Mephistopheles, and set it against the backdrop of a metaphysical wager between God and Satan. Faust, as protagonist, stands not for evil, but for the spirit of ceaseless striving. Having mastered all the faculties of the university, and attained the zenith of knowledge available to mankind, Faust feels his lifelong quest has been for naught. He declares: "...for all our science and art / we can know nothing, it burns my heart". His restless heart sees Faust turning to magic and conjuration in order to break past the boundaries of science, morality, or even common decency - in his neverending quest to pursue knowledge and achievement. This path leads him straight to Mephisto, who offers Faust a deal that he cannot refuse. In part one, we'll discuss the philosophical themes of Faust, and how they influenced the thought of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. Then, Goethe's place in literature and a brief summary of his life and work, as well as the background of the work in question, Faust. We'll then examine in detail some of the scenes and monologues from the first scenes of the play: from Heaven's Prologue to the scene in Faust's study where the deal is struck. I'm very excited for this one! Episode art: Philipp Winterwerb - Faust in his Study

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a leading figure in the Transcendentalist movement, is discussed in this podcast. Topics include his crisis of faith, his view on preaching and divinity, the concept of fire representing an omnipresent force, contrasting attitudes towards the world and will, the oversoul and the will to power, and his influence on Friedrich Nietzsche.

In a second episode with my wife, Amberly, we talk about another movie. This time it's not a movie about Nietzsche, the man, but a film that I argue approximates some of Nietzsche's ideas about the decline of society, the weakness of modernity, and the need to rediscover the barbarian within us all. That film, of course, is Demolition Man (1993) by Paul Verhoeven, starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, and Sandra Bullock. In the film, the reanimation of a super-criminal from a cryogenic prison sees the law enforcement of a dystopian, future "San Angeles" unable to cope with the threat. Society has been transformed into what Sandra Bullock's character describes as a place of peace, comfort, and understanding. Everything potentially harmful, offensive, or disturbing to the public morality has been made illegal, and basic human drives such as sexuality have either been eliminated or translated into a virtual form. We discuss the relationship of this society to the values of the Last Man, argue over whether it is better to live in a soft, dying society or a hard, barbaric one, and get into the weeds on Star Trek a couple times (trust me, it's all related). I hope you all enjoy it, this was a lot of fun for us.  This is the Trek episode we were talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apple_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

Guest William Kaiser, a sociologist and pupil of Peter Berger, discusses the commonality between Nietzsche's and Wittgenstein's ideas on language, memory, self-identity, learning, and living an enriching life. They also explore the influence Nietzsche had on Freud and the impact of Nietzsche's ideas in a secular society. The hosts express their hope for people to experience love for life and inquire about Nietzsche's fascination with resentment.

Today, it's an examination of a single aphorism: Beyond Good & Evil, 295, "The Genius of the Heart": "...the genius of the heart, who silences all that is loud and self-satisfied, teaching it to listen; who smooths rough souls and lets them taste a new desire - to lie still as a mirror, that the deep sky may mirror itself in them -..." In this passage - essentially a prose poem by Nietzsche - he expresses praise for Dionysus, and describes himself as his last initiate and disciple. The poem encapsulates the spiritual message of Nietzsche's mature philosophy: the spiritualization of human feelings, the longing for something greater, and the demand for the absolute love of life. Episode Art: John Collier - The Priestess of Bacchus (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Another episode on a single passage: The Gay Science, book V, aphorism  354: “The Genius of the Species”. One of the most thought-provoking  passages in Nietzsche’s work, he expounds on his hypothesis that all  consciousness is a product of human sociality, and was only necessary as  a net of communication between human beings. This has dire implications  for Nietzsche’s aspirations to individualism, and makes suspect  everything to him which enters into consciousness. He believes that the  deeper, more profound aspects of human life remain, ultimately,  untranslatable. Episode art: Alphonse Maria Mucha - La Pater (1899)

In part two, we shift from the friendship - at first strong, and later, a bit troubled - to the break that happened in 1878/9. Nietzsche writes, in his personal correspondence, and in his reflections in Ecce Homo, of the liberating freedom he felt when he left Bayreuth and moved up to the Alps, and how this turning away from Wagner represented a completely new chapter in his life. Indeed, the break corresponds with Nietzsche's departure from academia, and his uprooting of his entire established life, up to that point. Where Wagner was once a trusted friend, mentor, and likely surrogate father-figure for Nietzsche, he begins to write with utter scorn against the old composer. For the first third of the episode, we examine the biographical aspect of the break. For the remainder, we consider Nietzsche's charges in The Case of Wagner, and Nietzsche Contra Wagner - essays written in 1888, a time of retrospection for Nietzsche - that Wagner capitulated to everything that Nietzsche despised, that he was ultimately a world-despairing Christian, and that maybe Wagner's transformation was not even genuine. That he was, at heart, nothing more than an actor. As a man with an immense artistic power, he debased music by using it simply as a means of moving people's feelings, while never truly challenging or subverting German culture. Music became sick - yet another form of mere entertainment, another enhanced, rarefied sense pleasure of the late-stage of a society. Whereas once Nietzsche believed Wagner to be perhaps the opponent of modernity, he now writes of him as modernity personified: the epitome of the decadent artist who loses himself in the crowd.

The podcast discusses Nietzsche's translations, realist geopolitics and the end of history, Nietzsche's view on love, Nietzsche's perspective on punishment, Nietzsche's concept of will to power, and concludes with expressing gratitude.

It's finally time to talk about Richard Wagner. After meeting Wagner by happenstance in 1868, Nietzsche began a ten-year friendship with the older man, who was a rising star in the music world, on track to becoming one of the most famous living composers. Nietzsche was himself a fan, and described the chain of events leading to his friendship with Wagner as a kind of "fairytale". Soon, Wagner embarked upon the idea of a music festival that would serve as a cultural spearhead for the movement Wagner wished to create in Germany. The town was settled upon: Bayreuth. Construction began on a new theater house to accommodate the festival. Nietzsche aided Wagner in founding it. The first year was a financial disaster but an artistic success, reverberating throughout Europe. But the young Nietzsche left the festival troubled, reporting in a letter that it was then he decided to retreat into the mountains of Interlaken, where he composed the first third of Human, All Too Human. In this episode, we'll discuss the early friendship between Nietzsche and Wagner, what Nietzsche was looking for, and why he thought he found it in Wagner. We'll draw on quotations from the Untimely Meditations essay, Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, as well as Nietzsche's letters. Episode art is a depiction of the Bayreuth Opera House, as of 1895.