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This was excellent except for the last two chapters. I am pretty sure that Trump and elite oriented capitalism is much more in line with Neitzsche's views. Or

This was excellent except for the last two chapters. I am pretty sure that Trump and elite oriented capitalism is much more in line with Neitzsche's views. Or did I misunderstand? EDIT: Crazy down voting in this comment thread.

Amezarak 8y ago
Nietzsche called industrial society the "meanest form of existence that has ever been" and claimed that socialism arose because of the vulgarity and ignobility of the capitalist elites. On several occasions he expresses a disdain for anything involving money and he considered work itself, and particularly the haste and business "capitalist elite" types have, as ugly. In general, he does not fit into modern categories of thought. The Gay Science is a great and accessible read - I recommend the Kaufmann translation, personally. It contains Nietzsche's views on a lot of subjects. I would also add that he makes clear his preferences are just that, preferences. A major point of his moral philosophy is that morality is not objective, but a social behavior, the "herd instinct in the individual."
tscs37 8y ago
I don't think Trump and elite-oriented capitalism as you call it, align well with Nietzsche. I don't think if Nietzsche was alive, he'd speak well of Trump either. Though it would be easy to think, the last man, as Nietzsche describes them, are people who above all want everyone in society to be happy and without pain, being equal and without hardship. The Übermensch, the opposite, is someone or a society which constantly works to learn something new, to "can do", to enrich oneself and attempt to go beyond their own limitations. I think my Ethics teacher put it "trying to interpret master/slave morality or the Übermensch as a political instrument is misguided at best, harmful at worst". Nietzsche himself, to my knowledge, has hinted at his dislike for capitalism, communism or socialism, money or work. But part of his musings are that these are merely subjective standpoints and that there is no objectively right option here. In summary, you could probably say that Nietzsche wasn't against elite-oriented capitalism in the sense that he did not reject it as viewpoint, it's subjective so it's a correct option.
jstewartmobile 8y ago
Trump's reality-tv-and-casino business is almost a "last-man" factory. I doubt Nietzsche would be too thrilled about that. It's probably just an academic brain-fart. They see Trump as some kind of aberration rather than business-as-usual, so he gets woven into almost everything these days.
sxu 8y ago
From my reading of the article, Neitzsche is critical of the hedonistic life we have today. This hedonistic life is exemplified by Trump and Twitter and how we don’t struggle. Instead, we tweet, voice opinions and continue with our happiness maximizing lives. The author is suggesting that since we live in a culture that maximizes happiness, the nihilists were right. In this world, according to Neitzsche, humans can not achieve excellence. I agree that it’s a rather abrupt point made at the very end. Probably something the author will expand upon in his book.
- magicalbeans 8y ago
  What is the so called excellence and why is it so important?
  - musage 8y ago
    > "What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?" -- so asks the Last Man, and blinks.
misja111 8y ago
Nietzsche was against any ideology, he argued that each of us should think for him/ herself and that following some leader or ideology was just making us dumb. So in Nietzsche's view, the person Trump is doing pretty well because he doesn't seem to follow anybody. But Trump's fans would be his textbook example of how mankind is losing its way.
musage 8y ago
Maybe that's because you know nothing about Nietzsche's views? > Macht wollen sie und zuerst das Brecheisen der Macht, viel Geld - diese Unvermögenden! -- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Also sprach Zarathustra" > They want power and first of all the crowbar of power, a lot of money -- these [people without means / ability]!

Amezarak 8y ago

Nietzsche called industrial society the "meanest form of existence that has ever been" and claimed that socialism arose because of the vulgarity and ignobility of the capitalist elites. On several occasions he expresses a disdain for anything involving money and he considered work itself, and particularly the haste and business "capitalist elite" types have, as ugly. In general, he does not fit into modern categories of thought. The Gay Science is a great and accessible read - I recommend the Kaufmann translation, personally. It contains Nietzsche's views on a lot of subjects. I would also add that he makes clear his preferences are just that, preferences. A major point of his moral philosophy is that morality is not objective, but a social behavior, the "herd instinct in the individual."

tscs37 8y ago

I don't think Trump and elite-oriented capitalism as you call it, align well with Nietzsche. I don't think if Nietzsche was alive, he'd speak well of Trump either. Though it would be easy to think, the last man, as Nietzsche describes them, are people who above all want everyone in society to be happy and without pain, being equal and without hardship. The Übermensch, the opposite, is someone or a society which constantly works to learn something new, to "can do", to enrich oneself and attempt to go beyond their own limitations. I think my Ethics teacher put it "trying to interpret master/slave morality or the Übermensch as a political instrument is misguided at best, harmful at worst". Nietzsche himself, to my knowledge, has hinted at his dislike for capitalism, communism or socialism, money or work. But part of his musings are that these are merely subjective standpoints and that there is no objectively right option here. In summary, you could probably say that Nietzsche wasn't against elite-oriented capitalism in the sense that he did not reject it as viewpoint, it's subjective so it's a correct option.

jstewartmobile 8y ago

Trump's reality-tv-and-casino business is almost a "last-man" factory. I doubt Nietzsche would be too thrilled about that. It's probably just an academic brain-fart. They see Trump as some kind of aberration rather than business-as-usual, so he gets woven into almost everything these days.

sxu 8y ago

From my reading of the article, Neitzsche is critical of the hedonistic life we have today. This hedonistic life is exemplified by Trump and Twitter and how we don’t struggle. Instead, we tweet, voice opinions and continue with our happiness maximizing lives. The author is suggesting that since we live in a culture that maximizes happiness, the nihilists were right. In this world, according to Neitzsche, humans can not achieve excellence. I agree that it’s a rather abrupt point made at the very end. Probably something the author will expand upon in his book.

magicalbeans 8y ago
What is the so called excellence and why is it so important?
- musage 8y ago
  > "What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?" -- so asks the Last Man, and blinks.

misja111 8y ago

Nietzsche was against any ideology, he argued that each of us should think for him/ herself and that following some leader or ideology was just making us dumb. So in Nietzsche's view, the person Trump is doing pretty well because he doesn't seem to follow anybody. But Trump's fans would be his textbook example of how mankind is losing its way.

musage 8y ago

Maybe that's because you know nothing about Nietzsche's views? > Macht wollen sie und zuerst das Brecheisen der Macht, viel Geld - diese Unvermögenden! -- Friedrich Nietzsche, "Also sprach Zarathustra" > They want power and first of all the crowbar of power, a lot of money -- these [people without means / ability]!