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I don’t disagree, but my point is about clarity, not relevance. There’s a reason it’s so uncommon for people to read Nietzsche unguided, or without secondary li
by codeflo 5y ago
I don’t disagree, but my point is about clarity, not relevance. There’s a reason it’s so uncommon for people to read Nietzsche unguided, or without secondary literature.
- nanna 5y agoClarity in philosophy is, to draw an analogy with Rich Hickey's argument, akin to ease in programming. A dangerous mask for complexity. Are Plato's dialogues really easier to read than Hegel's dialectic? Only superficially. I got into philosophy with a gnarled copy of Thus Spoke Zarathustra in my bag. I read it on my own, without guides. And though yes there was a huge amount that I missed, it's anyway an inexhaustible work, and I thoroughly enjoyed it and it transformed my way of thinking. I would argue that's especially what that era sought to achieve (especially as a retort to Neo-Kantianism). Philosophy, like code, should be as hard as the concepts it's trying to express. Not more, and not less.