Walking the Tightrope

The Nietzsche Podcast on YouTube is the best source for understanding the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche that I have found online. This splendid content is authored by Keegan Kjeldsen, a heavy metal guitarist and former zen practitioner. Where Keegan got his insights into Nietzsche is unknown to me, though he seems to be steeped in a philosophical background with a special understanding in postmodernism. That does not matter, however. I have never read or listened to anyone who is so gifted in the nuances of Nietzsche's thought. The following is a slightly edited transcript of highlights from his episode entitled “ The Meaning of Life, According to Nietzsche. ” Keegan's articulation of this thread in Nietzsche's philosophy is refreshingly spot-on (as are almost all of his episodes). He begins by stating that he wants to summarize how concepts like the Overman, Will to Power, and Amor Fati meld together to form Nietzsche's “religion,” his affirmation of life, ...

Nothing says “Christmas” quite like a quality book on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche .  What better proclaims the miraculous birth of salvation than “god is dead,” right?   The Challenge of Nietzsche by Jeremy Fortier was published in 2020 but it sat in my Amazon wish list until I received a copy as a gift this past holiday.  The book's subtitle, “How to Approach His Thought,” might indicate that it is an introductory level book.  True enough, Fortier offers a sweeping narrative through the span of Nietzsche's early, middle and late period thinking.  With stronger interest in the latter two periods of his life. But, the aim of this book is more specific than a general introduction of all facets of Nietzsche's philosophy would necessarily entail.  Rather, this “approach to his thought” is an attempt to uncover a particular, fundamental thread that serve...

Part Three of three. “ Insofar as the individual is seeking happiness, one ought not to tender him any prescriptions as to the path to happiness: for individual happiness springs from one’s own unknown laws, and prescriptions from without can only obstruct and hinder it."  (Daybreak 108) Nietzsche intentionally does not prescribe any specific methods or techniques for discovering or mastering the multiplicity of drives and affects.  This may seem as though he has not thought things through very well.  There is little in the way of practical advice in his psychology.  But Nietzsche’s truth claim is merely to understand the mechanics of the multiplicity in all its many facets.  How to master the mechanics and be a well-ordered soul is not specifically told because it can’t be.  Unlike virtually any other “wise” teacher you will encounter, Nietzsche understands that the multiplicity is almost infinitely varied and will manifest differently for everyone....

Part Two of three. One fundamental problem with Nietzsche’s psychology is that while “higher” persons must discover and master their multiplicity of drives Nietzsche tells us in Daybreak (1881):  “However far a man may go in self-knowledge, nothing however can be more incomplete than his image of the totality of drives which constitute his being.  He can scarcely name even the cruder ones: their number and strength, their ebb and flow, their play and counterplay among one another…”  (D 119) How are we to master something we can’t ever fully know?  Well, first of all, many drives do appear in consciousness, especially the most dominant ones which motivate our behavior.  Katsafanas notes: “Drives are initially unconscious, but can be brought to consciousness – all that's required is pressing the drive into a conceptual structure.  But there's no guarantee that the conceptualized expression will be an adequate or accurate expression...notice that they exp...