The Nietzsche Podcast

A Merry All Hallow’s Eve to Ye All! There will be a regular episode this Friday, but I can’t resist the opportunity to release an episode on the day of Halloween. Mynaa and I discuss a Persian novel concerning Nietzschean existential horror! Sadegh Hedayat grew up in the Iran of the Shah, and was influenced by western writers such as Kafka & Hesse. The urban legends surrounding this text in Iran were oft-repeated from parents to children: "Don't read this book; those who read it commit suicide."  The Blind Owl is the story of an unnamed narrator who is haunted by an elusive, metaphysical scene that he witnesses by happenstance. The narrative is unreliable, and the recursive loops of his madness are woven into the repetitive phrases and descriptions; the characters are all copies of one another; the events of the novel are, in effect, the same narrative repeated ad nauseum. Central to the plot is the long illness and drug abuse of the narrator, and an endless downward spiral of insanity. Hedayat's writing often reflects existential horror, and could be compared to H.P. Lovecraft. Mynaa even suggested that certain passages resemble those in Ecce Homo. We do a review with minimal spoilers for the first fifteen minutes or so, then what follows is a very spoilery review where we analyze, speculate, and ramble about the imagery of this mysterious novel.

The podcast explores Nietzsche's views on consciousness, memory, and forgetfulness. It challenges the assumption that philosophers' conclusions are universally applicable. It discusses the capacity of humans to perceive and remember sense impressions, contrasting with animals. It explores the power and creative force of forgetfulness. It examines Nietzsche's view on the paradoxical task of nature and the influence of power structures on morality and consciousness. It delves into self-awareness, Christianity, and revenge. It highlights the interplay between forgetting and remembering in relation to happiness.

Update on my life and the podcast, some random musings and stories. NO EPISODE NEXT WEEK. We’re taking a short break before season 4. Cheers

Nietzsche concludes the book with the suggestion that cognition itself is “common”, insofar as communicability is more effective the more common the experience that is communicated. Language facilitates the “abbreviation” of the most common sentiments and experiences, which is part of the process of joining a people together as one. The person whose experiences, thoughts or feelings are individual & peculiar will necessarily find himself unable to communicate them to others, and will be thrust into solitude. Much of the final aphorisms concern this eternal struggle between the rule and the exception, one of the themes of the work. Nietzsche ultimately muses that even the precious, wicked thoughts he has offered us throughout the work are but a pale imitation of the thoughts during their spring: for all thoughts are events, fleeting experiences, a physiological process within a living being. All the philosopher can do is catalogue their aftermath, or display the frozen remnants that linger in their memory. This section also contains multiple remarks on pity, and the prose poem, “The Genius of the Heart”. An exegesis of this poem can be found in episode 39. Episode art: Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian (detail)

The first half of the final chapter, “What is Noble”. We cover the concepts of the order of rank, pathos of distance, the origins of civilization and morality. The master/slave morality is formally introduced, and Nietzsche gives several remarks supporting his aristocratic radicalism. But, shortly thereafter, he pivots and begins describing nobility and plebeianism as states of the soul rather than a matter of inheritance. Nietzsche challenges us to overcome the simplicity of Rousseau’s view of nature, or the Lockean/Kantian optimism about civilization. In Nietzsche's words, truth is hard - and whatever our idealism, we should be honest with ourselves, at least up to the point of admitting what the essence of life truly is: in his estimation, will to power. Episode art - Karl Bryullov - Sacking of Rome (Wikimedia Commons)

This episode covers the entirety of Peoples and Fatherlands, chapter eight of Beyond Good and Evil. Nietzsche considers the character of the Germans, that of the French and the English, and the Jews. He attacks nationalism and anti-semitism, and reiterates his vision for a new European future in which all nationalities give way to a single Europe. Patriotism, or “fatherlandishness”, even though it is something Nietzsche finds understandable, is analyzed as a symptom of weakness and a thing to be overcome. Episode art is Portrait of Chancellor Otto von Bismark by Franz von Lenbach

A fascinating discussion with someone with an unusual perspective for modern times. Vivienne joins me while we go over the remainder of aphorisms from Beyond Good & Evil, section 7, Our Virtues: the ones concerning women. This is a topic that is incredibly complex and has often been handled without nuance by modern readers: either by those who criticize Nietzsche as a misogynist, or those who celebrate him as a representative of chauvinistic masculinity. I have always treated this issue as something on the peripheries of my concern with Nietzsche, first and foremost because his ideas never resonated with me, he says they are only "his" truths, and finally because I think it will divide and alienate people. Nevertheless, we have never shied away from the reactionary ideas of Nietzsche's, and have never tried to hide the truth when it comes to Nietzsche's uncomfortable beliefs. Perhaps that very discomfort is something beneficial, as the willingness to explore these strange, wicked, questionable questions can help us to learn a great deal about ourselves, and why we believe in the unchallenged values of modern life. Even for those who are stalwartly in the camp of the equality of the sexes, perhaps there is something to be gained from exploring Nietzsche's arguments. In this episode, Vivienne helps me with something I've always striven for: to be to articulate the perspective of those from ages and moralities that are not my own. I think she goes a good job of providing a steelman for Nietzsche's views on women here, in terms I hadn't heard before. Vivienne's podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/vivienne-magdalen Episode art: Nicholas Roerich - The Mother Of The World, 1924

My unnecessarily long review of the cultural meaning of Barbenheimer.

This part of the text is a re-evaluation of what morality is, or can be, for the philosopher of the future. Nietzsche is a bit sneaky here, by implying the free spirit, or philosopher of the future, to be admirable from the perspective of our own moral intuition. Nevertheless, he throws us some curveballs here and there as the chapter continues, and Nietzsche attempts to lyrically portray the paradoxical task of both accepting fate, and actively shaping one’s character. Episode art is Narcissus (1594–1596) by Caravaggio.

Today, we cover the entirety of part six - We Scholars. This chapter is of particular importance for understanding Nietzsche’s reconceptualization of the philosopher, and how such a figure stands in relation to the academic. The philosopher’s essential character is not that he employs reason, but that he exercises the value-creating power of mankind, whereas the scholar is merely a “philosophical laborer” who exists in service of the dominant values structure. Nietzsche critiques the modern worldview of positivism (“scientism“) for its misunderstanding of the primacy of values, leading to its failure to examine its underlying value judgments. Episode art: Domenico Fetti - Portrait of a Scholar