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As any article confusing life with literature (or philosophy), ultimately, confusing the author personal life with his ideas, or reaching conclusions between th

As any article confusing life with literature (or philosophy), ultimately, confusing the author personal life with his ideas, or reaching conclusions between the two, this is mainly garbage. Live your life, read Nietzsche (or whoever else): does it make sense to you? That matters. As Wittgenstein put it, philosophy is like stairs. Once you reach a certain height, you can throw them away.

circular_lights 4y ago
- dang 4y ago
  Maybe so, but please don't fulminate on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html edit: and please don't snark or post shallow dimissals, as you did in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33632057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33632057
  - circular_lights 4y ago
    ok, thanks for the warning.
mark_l_watson 4y ago
Right on. I really enjoy Stoic philosophy, Nietzsche, and Buddhism. I actually consider this my "serious" reading, not like fun reading of sci-fy, etc. I like to read things that allow me to reevaluate my behaviors and beliefs.
maxbendick 4y ago
I think diving into his personal life can be very useful with Nietzsche. I can't say the same with every philosopher though. Wonderful Wittgenstein quote, btw. Nietzsche's almost constant sickness helps explain concepts like the eternal return and will-to-power. Always keep an eye out for "health", "cure", and "convalescence" in his writing (great example: the preface to The Gay Science). Nietzsche's romantic failures also color his works. I skip large chunks because I can't stomach his sexism.
- fedeb95 4y ago
  It doesn't explain the concepts, it explains how the concepts may (big may!) have been originated. It's way, way better to read about what texts Nietzsche read and which didn't.
ngcc_hk 4y ago
Is that from w first era that he changed his mind? The language divide is not that exact and stair in fact cannot be throw away. As there could be a stair?
mikrl 4y ago
>ultimately, confusing the author personal life with his ideas, or reaching conclusions between the two, this is mainly garbage Hard disagree. You cannot truly understand a person’s thought without understanding the person’s life. Even a hardcore logician like Russell, you know he was an academic during such and such a period of history which influenced his worldview and that which he found important. Maybe I’m just outing myself as a PoMo, but thought is life and living begets thought. Philosophers are interpreters of the grand drama in which they have a part.
- Cupertino95014 4y ago
  Hard disagree, PoMo. The work stands alone. "No man is a hero to his valet" is the truism that springs to mind. Reducing everything to the times & the man is just a way to bring it all down to our own pedestrian level so we can feel equal. The goal of every great artist is to transcend their humanity. We know nothing about Homer, or even if there was such a person, but The Iliad and The Odyssey have been read for 3,000 years.
  - dbtc 4y ago
    It's like arguing whether a mountain ought to be experienced from a distance, so you can see it, or from the top, so you can see from it. Both!
    - Cupertino95014 4y ago
      OK w/me
- nyolfen 4y ago
  “It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till now has consisted of – namely, the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography; and moreover that the moral (or immoral) purpose in every philosophy has constituted the true vital germ out of which the entire plant has always grown.” -- F. Nietzsche
dang 4y ago
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- fedeb95 4y ago
  That's not what I did. Read better. I state that it's garbage because the very first thing you learn when analysing literature is separating men from their ideas. This article doesn't do that and proceeds to find meaningless conclusions.
  - yamtaddle 4y ago
    Some currently-fashionable methods of literary analysis deliberately ignore author biography, but I don't think most people who favor those would claim there's never any reason for or value in examining the biographies of authors. I don't think they'd suggest people, say, entirely ignore the biography of an author forever and in all cases. Besides, it's common for one person to apply multiple approaches for a really deep analysis of a work, whether independently or together. Plus, this is a review of a biography, so it's not the reviewer's fault the book is concerned with biography.
  - dang 4y ago
    Erroring out at the first detail that contradicts a generic principle is a classic type of shallow dismissal.

circular_lights 4y ago

dang 4y ago
Maybe so, but please don't fulminate on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html edit: and please don't snark or post shallow dimissals, as you did in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33632057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33632057
- circular_lights 4y ago
  ok, thanks for the warning.

mark_l_watson 4y ago

Right on. I really enjoy Stoic philosophy, Nietzsche, and Buddhism. I actually consider this my "serious" reading, not like fun reading of sci-fy, etc. I like to read things that allow me to reevaluate my behaviors and beliefs.

maxbendick 4y ago

I think diving into his personal life can be very useful with Nietzsche. I can't say the same with every philosopher though. Wonderful Wittgenstein quote, btw. Nietzsche's almost constant sickness helps explain concepts like the eternal return and will-to-power. Always keep an eye out for "health", "cure", and "convalescence" in his writing (great example: the preface to The Gay Science). Nietzsche's romantic failures also color his works. I skip large chunks because I can't stomach his sexism.

fedeb95 4y ago
It doesn't explain the concepts, it explains how the concepts may (big may!) have been originated. It's way, way better to read about what texts Nietzsche read and which didn't.

ngcc_hk 4y ago

Is that from w first era that he changed his mind? The language divide is not that exact and stair in fact cannot be throw away. As there could be a stair?

mikrl 4y ago

>ultimately, confusing the author personal life with his ideas, or reaching conclusions between the two, this is mainly garbage Hard disagree. You cannot truly understand a person’s thought without understanding the person’s life. Even a hardcore logician like Russell, you know he was an academic during such and such a period of history which influenced his worldview and that which he found important. Maybe I’m just outing myself as a PoMo, but thought is life and living begets thought. Philosophers are interpreters of the grand drama in which they have a part.

Cupertino95014 4y ago
Hard disagree, PoMo. The work stands alone. "No man is a hero to his valet" is the truism that springs to mind. Reducing everything to the times & the man is just a way to bring it all down to our own pedestrian level so we can feel equal. The goal of every great artist is to transcend their humanity. We know nothing about Homer, or even if there was such a person, but The Iliad and The Odyssey have been read for 3,000 years.
- dbtc 4y ago
  It's like arguing whether a mountain ought to be experienced from a distance, so you can see it, or from the top, so you can see from it. Both!
  - Cupertino95014 4y ago
    OK w/me
nyolfen 4y ago
“It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till now has consisted of – namely, the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography; and moreover that the moral (or immoral) purpose in every philosophy has constituted the true vital germ out of which the entire plant has always grown.” -- F. Nietzsche

dang 4y ago

"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

fedeb95 4y ago
That's not what I did. Read better. I state that it's garbage because the very first thing you learn when analysing literature is separating men from their ideas. This article doesn't do that and proceeds to find meaningless conclusions.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Some currently-fashionable methods of literary analysis deliberately ignore author biography, but I don't think most people who favor those would claim there's never any reason for or value in examining the biographies of authors. I don't think they'd suggest people, say, entirely ignore the biography of an author forever and in all cases. Besides, it's common for one person to apply multiple approaches for a really deep analysis of a work, whether independently or together. Plus, this is a review of a biography, so it's not the reviewer's fault the book is concerned with biography.
- dang 4y ago
  Erroring out at the first detail that contradicts a generic principle is a classic type of shallow dismissal.