Saturday, October 1, 2011

Week Fifty One: Beyond Good and Evil

Beyond Good and Evil by Frederich Nietzsche is the pinnacle of his philosophic works, or so I am told (having not read the complete Nietzsche library). It's been touted as complete self knowledge, a basis for modern humanity, the death of God, the start of the Nazi party and a whole bunch of things good and bad.

There's a reason for this of course, mostly because the man would not shut up. It's aphorism after aphorism, analysis and opinion on many things often contradicting itself and himself because there's just so much stuff in here - like he can't keep up with himself.

At once you can know nothing, yet speak in absolutes. Is it any of the things above? No. It's just words on a page, the power always lies in the reader. No magic potions, no silver bullets and no answers. Just a German who thought brilliantly, but not always correctly - by his own admission and in this readers mind.

Two points of interest: 1 - He's teribly sexist - embarrassingly so, and 2 - He's a snarky bitch. It's like watching a celebrity roast of the famous in philosophy, none are spared the passive aggressive certainty and clarity of the author - but it comes out snarky.

One week to go, one book to go - what will it be?

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