Mr Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche does not offer an easy ride.

Recurrence in West London

Until the introduction to Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche I thought Schopenhauer was a challenge but having today  made a very brief acquaintance with his realm of interest I am intrigued but somewhat bemused by his take on some of the big questions.

 Having watched and read the dialogue between Magee and Stern I thought I had something of an idea of Fred's  angle but it seems that he was not a 'Philosopher' as much as he was a cultural critique and essayist.
Prior to Freud Nietzsche was a 'Freudian' and much of hist thought is concerned with the mysterious workings of the  subconscious, although chiefly remembered as the man whose catchphrase was God is Dead he also thought about recurrence and has been (perhaps unfairly) been given the title of Philosopher to the Nazis.

In his brief life (1844- 1900)  Nietzsche who was initially on the path to being a priest  suffered poor health and having lost his father at the age of five his early life was dominated by women . Nietzsche suffered what some would term a 'broken hart' as a result of his unrequited love for Lou Andreas-Salomé and lived his

She didn't want him

later years in an asylum.

Our course leader when prompted by one of the group started the session today with what seemed at face value to be an example of Nietzsche's unreconstructed misogyny for a collective critique. What I took from this dissection of the sections 237A and 238 from 'Beyond Good and Evil' was that  Nietzsche's prose must be considered critically before passing judgment on it.

Similarly as we looked at sections from other works including The Gay Science, On Truth and Lies in Nonmoral Sense there were questions that were challenging which Nietzsche did not offer simple solutions to his idea of  'Superman' has it seems been widely misinterpreted .
As well as being a seminal figure in modern philosophy   Nietzsche was hugely influential on some of the great figures in literature  including George Bernard Shaw and Herman Hesse.

Here's an introduction to the man..