Ranas’s Kindle Notes & Highlights for A Nietzsche Reader

bad intellectual conscience

But to stand in the midst of this rerum concordia discors and the whole marvellous uncertainty of existence and not to question, not to tremble with the desire and joy of questioning, not even to hate him who does ask questions, perhaps even to be thoroughly entertained by him – that is what I feel to be contemptible, and it is this feeling I seek first of all in everyone I meet –

How can one not question the absurdity of existence

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‘corrupted’ youth as Socrates had once

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one cannot say no,

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‘half and...

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endure contradiction is a high sign of culture.

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As interpreters of our experiences. – One kind of honesty has been unknown to all founders of religions and their like – they have never made of their experiences a matter of conscience for knowledge. ‘What did I really experience? What happened in me and around me then? Was my mind sufficiently alert? Was my will bent against fantasy?’ – none of them has asked such questions, none of our dear religious people asks such questions even now: they feel, rather, a thirst for things which are contrary to reason and do not put too many difficulties in the way of satisfying it

Nietzsche lashes out against the self deception of religious leaders

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spirit shall become a camel,

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camel a lion,

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lion at last ...

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Is it not this:

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Or is it this:

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Or is it this:

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Or is it this:

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Or is it this:

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Or is it this:

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the spirit here becomes a lion;

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The great dragon

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Thus speaks the dragon.

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why is the lion

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create freedom for itself

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the lion is needed for this theft.

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The child is innocence and forgetfulness,

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It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy has hitherto been: a confession on the part of its author and a kind of involuntary memoir; moreover, that the moral (or immoral) intentions in every philosophy have every time constituted the real germ of life out of which the entire plant has grown. To explain how a philosopher’s most remote metaphysical assertions have actually been arrived at, it is always well (and wise) to ask oneself first: what morality does this (does he –) aim at? I accordingly do not believe a ‘drive to knowledge’ to be the father of philosophy but that ...more

CHATGPT In this passage, Friedrich Nietzsche is expressing several interrelated ideas about the nature of philosophy and philosophers. Here's a breakdown of the central themes: 1. **Philosophy as Confession**: Nietzsche begins by suggesting that every great philosophy is essentially a personal confession of its author. Rather than being objective, neutral quests for truth, philosophical systems are deeply personal and reveal the inner workings, biases, and inclinations of their creators. 2. **Moral Intentions as the Core**: He claims that the moral or immoral intentions behind every philosophy are its true driving force. These intentions are the seed from which the entire philosophical system grows. 3. **The Drive to Knowledge**: Nietzsche challenges the notion that the primary impulse behind philosophy is a pure "drive to knowledge". Instead, he suggests that this drive to knowledge is secondary, a tool used by other, more foundational drives. 4. **The Tyranny of Drives**: He believes that every fundamental drive within a human being is inherently tyrannical. Each drive seeks dominance and expresses itself as if it's the most important aspect of human existence. These drives aren't just passive inclinations; they actively "philosophize", meaning they shape the way individuals understand and interpret the world. 5. **Philosophers are Not Impersonal**: Nietzsche concludes that there is nothing impersonal about a philosopher. The values, beliefs, and ideas they promote in their work provide insight into their inner hierarchy of drives. In other words, the philosophies they develop are reflective of their personal values and the dominance of certain drives over others. In essence, Nietzsche is arguing that philosophy is not a detached, objective enterprise. It's deeply personal and reveals as much about the philosopher as it does about the nature of truth or reality. Philosophies are shaped by the dominant drives of their creators, making them subjective expressions rather than objective truths.

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legitimate master of all the other drives.

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want to remain a riddle

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described as attempters.

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they will not be dogmatists.

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taste of wanting to be in agreement with many.

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The expression is a self-contradiction: what can be common has ever but little value. In the end it must be as it is and has always been: great things are for the great, abysses for the profound, shudders and delicacies for the refined, and, in sum, all rare things for the rare.

Is the truth became common then by definition it is not the truth

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At the risk that moralizing will here too prove to be what it has always been – namely an undismayed montrer ses plaies, as Balzac says – I should like to venture to combat a harmful and improper displacement of the order of rank between science and philosophy which is today, quite unnoticed and as if with a perfect good conscience, threatening to become established.

Noetzsche tries to understand why scholars of science look down upon philosophy these days? He is sad at the state of philosophy and says that, given how science is flourishing these days, and given the current state of philosophy, it is not doubt why men of science look down upon philosophy and philosophers

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emancipation from philosophy,

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synthetic undertakings

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disrespect for philosophy.

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arrogant disdain for philosophy

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withdrawn their al...

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For one must admit how completely the whole species of a Heraclitus, a Plato, an Empedocles, and whatever else these royal and splendid hermits of the spirit were called, is lacking in our modern world; and to what degree, in face of such representatives of philosophy as are, thanks to fashion, at present as completely on top as they are completely abysmal