On page 120 of this biography of the philosophical chronological dictation ( progression would be the wrong word in this case as Nietzsches thinking , by his own self-description flowed , with all the ebb and flow that entails on the psyche , in the form of emotions and passions.Sometimes rising , sometimes cooling , at other times being obscured and latently hidden under other levels of constructive or destructive thoughts.)gets to a very important essential to the attitudes and vast academic archival libraries of critiques that are battlegrounds for well over two centuries.The crux of the matter is this according to Safranski, " opposing sides were able to cite Nietzsche in equal measure.".
Take , for example , the field of Music.Lovers of Music claiming , as did E.M.Forster when he gave up writing Novels to concentrate on Music ( and a lucrative career on radio), that it is "not of this Kingdom" , namely that is it the most transcendent sublime King of arts can quote , verbatim , reams and reams of early Nietzsche to support the supposition.On the other Hand , Nietzsche loyalists who do not hold to the view Music is the supreme of Arts can quote , yes youve guessed it , verbatim , reams and reams of quotes expressing limits and disaffection of Music as a true and honest representation of the Human experience." The Birth of tragedy" claims Safranski can be summed up in one sentence," it is better to approach the enormity of life with art , and best of all with music.".
And amongst lover and haters of Wagner , the Wagnerians can quote Nietzsche unequivocal homage to the master-composer to elevate the Music Dramatist to genius and beyond , whilst Nietzsche is an authoritative and one shop stop to those anti-Wagnerians who wish to condemn him as a charlatan and deceiver in more ways than one.
Even in the field of Atheism or Deism there are many religious philosophers who are as Neitzschian as any fanatic can get when quoting him for his deliberations on the nature of the relationship between good and evil , rather put away from a simple Manichean concept to a versatile and vital conflict between better and best.Hence making the daily battle of the conscious a dynamic winnable struggle as opposed to a grinding outsourcing to dogmatic institutions.
Below is a 6 part documentary , in a highly euro-centric zeal , including a cringeworthy epaulet calling him "a punk rock philosopher with a safety pin in his nose."
Whilst still , disconcertingly , Nietzsche can be called a Nazi or liberator with equal conviction by camps quoting him extensively for prove the former point or the latter.It is no unusual event to see Nietzsche authorities arguing exact opposite points , quoting only Nietzsche , to run themselves into the ground , a standstill verging to intellectual trench warfare.
All in All , Nietzsche can be all things to all thinkers , a superman for all seasons.
So why should this be the case , in the main , says Safranski , making himself clear was not the strongpoint in Nietzsche's way of operating.He was on a journey himself , constantly changing his views and changing whims , sometimes on a month to month basis.Take , for example , his view , expressed on page 220 "" Daybreak , which he was so recently calling an " immortal" work , was no a " poor piecemeal philosophy?" , these two diametrically opposed views were defined in a very umimmortal period of only two months.One other very important consideration , just like the problems Dostoyevsky had when he was trying to tie plot ends up in "The Idiot" without being able to refer to earlier drafts , whose sole copies had been sent to the publishing typesetter, Nietzsche , we are told on page 299 " sometimes forgot what he had written and did not have his previous Books on hand.".This would no doubt apply to his notes as well as he travelled between various centres of his academic workspots.
Another source of much contention is the availability of his unpublished works , in the unpublished 1871 "The Greek State" we have Nietzsche giving forthright views , one must remember this was at the time of the Paris Commune and other struggles across mainland Europe " Every advanced culture needs an exploitable class , a "slave class" , Nietzsche declared without mincing his words.He went on to write: " There is nothing more dreadful than a barbaric slave class that has learned to regard its existence as an injustice and sets about taking revenge not only for itself but for all generations". This extract appears on page 71.
In his work "Ecce Homo" , written in Turin , Nietzsche ask the question "How did i come to be privileged enough to think the way i do , and what kind of person does that make me?", in answering this question he investigated many and diverse topics from Realism to the imagination.To journey to the ultimate renaissance thinker was cut short by fatigue and ultimately madness.
His strengths was not the resolution , but rather the posing of questions in such a manner that engender a wide and vigorous debate before you can even define the question , yet alone attempt to answer them.
On page 108 we have some insight on Realism " The realism in the second half of the century (19th) was to accomplish the trick of thinking little of People while undertaking great things with them , if we should call modern scientific civilisation that has benefited all of us "great"".And on the topic of Modernism " everything extravagant and fantastic was repugnant".This shows on these matters Nietzsche was certainly well ahead of his time in identifying , if not choosing to challenge , the commodification of Humans in the Industrial age in the field of both work and , rather sadly ,art.
As far as History goes we have a circular argument that "History must solve the problem of History" also supported by his theory of recurring eternity " it is something we want to be doing countless times" , and in the forerunner to the advent of Gogh;Pessoa;Picasso and Joyce we have the observation " it is not " delight in themselves" but " disgust in themselves" that draws People to art."
According to Safranski one major hurdle that proved too much for Nietzsche was to resolve satisfactorily Christianity's link to self-enhancement and solidarity , though he clearly spotted the dogma of the Church Hierarchy , the impressive ability of the religions capability to retain the masses was something to behold.
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