Nietzsche Not Syphilitic

[Vandelay]

Besides "Zarathustra" Nietzsche wrote some interesting stuff on History

Heidegger remained a Nazi party member throughout the period and from what I understand didn´t show any shame or remorse afterwards. I must admit to thouroughly despising him. Maybe because his philosophies make no sense to me - a near hypnotic endless reptition of Sein, Zeit and Angst (but I´m just an untermensch so what do I know...).

Cheers,
Vandelay

 

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Originally posted by Malthus
Not really - perhaps I should rephrase.

"Nietzsche was the moral grandfather of Nazi ideology" - *that* is a smear.

"Nietzche had sex, caught STDs" is simply pathetic in comparison.

I would have thought that the difference in blamesworthiness between "being the origin of the philosophical underpinnings of the Nazi atrocities" and "being a horny guy" would be self-evident, at least among those who care about 19th century philosophers ...

Actually, a careful reading of Nietzsche shows pretty clearly that he would have detested the Nazis, had he lived that long. He loathed German nationalism, and was definitely not an anti-Semite. It's mainly his overarching theory of the "Ubermensch" (the exact meaning of which is still argued over) that was co-opted by the Nazis.

The big thing about Nietzsche having syphilis was that it showed his hypocrisy - he always claimed to be a virgin, and said that he redirected the energies that most people devote to sex towards his work. The syphilis proves that he's just as human as the rest of us. Basically, not only was he a dirty man, but he was a hypocrite to boot!

 

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Originally posted by Vandelay
Besides "Zarathustra" Nietzsche wrote some interesting stuff on History

Heidegger remained a Nazi party member throughout the period and from what I understand didn´t show any shame or remorse afterwards. I must admit to thouroughly despising him. Maybe because his philosophies make no sense to me - a near hypnotic endless reptition of Sein, Zeit and Angst (but I´m just an untermensch so what do I know...).

Cheers,
Vandelay

This might be apocryphal, but I read that Jean-Paul Sartre discovered Heidegger while in a political prison during the war, and pronounced it one of the best works he'd read. It's frequently cited as one of those "philosophy knows no political boundaries" kind of stories.

And Heidegger took a lot of heat in the academic community for his political stance during the war. Even now, it's debated as to whether his political leanings taint his purely philosophical work.

 

[SykoNurse]

Originally posted by czolgosz
The big thing about Nietzsche having syphilis was that it showed his hypocrisy - he always claimed to be a virgin, and said that he redirected the energies that most people devote to sex towards his work. The syphilis proves that he's just as human as the rest of us. Basically, not only was he a dirty man, but he was a hypocrite to boot!

technically he could have aquired Syphilis without having had intercourse. that´d leave him a virgin. syphilis causes at one stage wetting red areas to appear (typically at the genitals and/or mouth) that are highly contagious.

bah, I´m just splitting hair

 

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Originally posted by SykoNurse
technically he could have aquired Syphilis without having had intercourse. that´d leave him a virgin. syphilis causes at one stage wetting red areas to appear (typically at the genitals and/or mouth) that are highly contagious.

bah, I´m just splitting hair

Yes, and some scholars theorized that he might have gotten syphilis when he was serving as an ambulance driver during the Franco-Prussian War. But that wasn't as good a story, was it?

 

[SykoNurse]

Originally posted by czolgosz
Yes, and some scholars theorized that he might have gotten syphilis when he was serving as an ambulance driver during the Franco-Prussian War. But that wasn't as good a story, was it?

lol, I like it
it´s possible though. washing hands prior to surgery/examination has only been introduced 20 years before that...

 

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National Socialism was truly bankrupt of any real original ideology. Nietzsche had less influence on Hitler and the Nazis than Hegel or Treitschke did.

National Socialism had SOME flimsy ideology but was truly built on inane platitudes.

The Nazis rose to power in large part because, their ideas were so incoherent they appealed to many many different people. They were pro-Capitalist and felt government should not restrain the hands of industrialists, winning over the industrial leaders. They believed that workers had many rights and actually "claimed" to be a somewhat socialist party. Actually though the "Socialist" in national socialist was more a ploy to attract workers than a real belief of theirs. They blamed traitors in government for "stabbing Germany in the back" at the end of WWI, which applied to German nationalism. They advocated all Germans living under one nation, again German nationalism. They were anti-semitic, gaining the support of the anti-semites. They believed in expanding the military, which gained them the support of the Army.

The only way they could appeal to such a diverse crowd was by having no real concrete ideas. The only truly concrete stances found in Nazism are: anti-Semitism, anti-Communism, anti-Versailles, and anti-Republicanism. The rest of their "ideologies" came and went as they were needed.