History Analysis / FriedrichNietzsche

In addition, Nietzsche most likely considered himself to be a philologist (the study and history of written languages), not a philosopher. His academic background and a great deal of his non-philosophical work was in philology. His philosophical works are as much a critique on the use of language as they are traditionally philosophical branches of thought such as morality, reason, and the nature of thought. In that sense, he has a lot more in common with Creator/LudwigWittgenstein (another German-speaker whose thinking focused heavily on language) than many Analytics (who tend to look askew at Nietzsche but almost worship Wittgenstein) give him credit for.

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't even sure that Nietzsche was actually an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. On top of everything, it's possible that even Nietzsche himself didn't know exactly what he believed. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss regarding his philosophy (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science [[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]).

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was actually an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. On top of everything, it's possible that even Nietzsche himself didn't know exactly what he believed. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss regarding his philosophy (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science [[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]).

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was actually an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. On top of everything, it's possible that Nietzsche himself didn't know exactly what he believed. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss regarding his philosophy (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science [[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]).

In addition, Nietzsche most likely considered himself to be a philologist, not a philosopher. His academic background and a great deal of his non-philosophical work was in philology, the study of written historical languages. His philosophical works are as much a critique on the use of language as they are traditionally philosophical branches of thought such as morality, reason, and the nature of thought. In that sense, he has a lot more in common with Creator/LudwigWittgenstein (another German-speaker whose thinking focused heavily on language) than many Analytics (who tend to look askew at Nietzsche but almost worship Wittgenstein) give him credit for.

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was actually an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. On top of everything, it's possible that Nietzsche himself didn't know exactly what he believed. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science [[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]) about just what the guy was saying.

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was actually an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. On top of everything, it's possible that Nietzsche himself didn't know exactly what he believed. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science[[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]) about just what the guy was saying.

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was actually an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. On top of various interpretations by scholars, it's possible that Nietzsche himself didn't know exactly what he believed. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science[[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]) about just what the guy was saying.

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was actually an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science[[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]) about just what the guy was saying.

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science[[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]) about just what the guy was saying.

Well, probably not. As we said, his ideas are [[MindScrew pretty weird]] and kind of [[ShrugOfGod self-contradictory]]. [[SeriousBusiness And despite their being constantly quoted, seriously followed, and vehemently debated]], especially by academics, villains, and crackpots alike, many still don't know what some of his most famous words and phrases, such as, "GodIsDead" and "{{Ubermensch}}," exactly meant. Even just the word, "Übermensch" has been translated various ways into English, such as "Superman," "Overman," "Superior Man," and even "Noble Man" or simply left untranslated altogether - depending on the connotations the scholar believes the word should have (or that they believe Nietzsche intended it to have). Meanwhile the world's foremost scholar on all things Nietzsche-related, Walter Kaufmann, wasn't sure that Nietzsche was an atheist; he went back-and-forth on this determination more than once during his studies of Nietzsche's works and writings. The confusion isn't helped ''any'' by all the later [[{{Fanon}} additions]] and [[WildMassGuessing interpretations]] by [[DeathOfTheAuthor other people]], such as UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]], and Nietzsche's own Nazi sister, Elizabeth. The last is particularly guilty; for example, she didn't publish ''Ecce Homo'' until eight years after his death because it didn't comply with her own views, instead compiling ''The Will to Power'' out of materials he never intended to publish in the first place. As for people with the actual intellectual capacity to handle what Nietzsche meant, let's not even ''talk'' about the theories of Martin Heidegger and Leo Strauss (respectively someone who thought the Nazis were on to something--later realizing they weren't, but refusing to admit it--and a Jew who fled the Nazis to teach at the University of Chicago, broadly using Nietzsche as the basis for a reevaluation of classical political philosophy and modern political science[[note]]For his trouble, Strauss ended up being accused of creating a cadre of antidemocratic elitists; that several of the prominent Neoconservatives in the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration who pushed for the Iraq War were in some way linked to him hasn't helped his reputation in some circles.[[/note]]) about just what the guy was saying.