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The Will to Power: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche cover art

The Will to Power: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche

By: The Great Courses,Kathleen M. Higgins,Robert C. Solomon
Narrated by: Kathleen M. Higgins,Robert C. Solomon
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Summary

Who was Friedrich Nietzsche? This lonely and chronically ill, yet passionate, daring, and complex man is perhaps the most mysterious and least understood of all contemporary philosophers. Why are his brilliant insights so relevant for today? How did he become the most misinterpreted and unfairly maligned intellectual figure of the last two centuries?

To provide shape to Nietzsche's thought, each of these 24 lectures focuses on specific ideas that preoccupied Nietzsche while tracing the profound themes that give meaning to his work. You'll get a chance to put Nietzsche's life and work in a larger historical and philosophical context. You'll explore the controversial philosopher's subtle, complex critique of both religious belief and Greek rationalism.

You'll also spend a wealth of time focusing on Nietzsche's famous writing style, which deftly combines the majesty of the prophet, the force of the Homeric warrior, and the lyricism of the poet - but which nonetheless is rife with inconsistencies, exaggerations, and personal attacks. And you'll get a better understanding of Nietzsche's complaints and criticisms of the intellectual currents of his time: Christian moralism, evolution, socialism, democracy, and nationalism.

As you make your way through these lectures, you'll discover that Nietzsche, even at his most polemical and offensive, exudes an unmistakable enthusiasm and love of life. In fact, you'll see that his exhortation to learn to love and accept one's own life, to make it better by becoming who one really is, forms the project that is the true core of his work.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1999 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1999 The Great Courses

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A sanitised one-sided diet of opinion

What would have made The Will to Power: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche better?

First and foremost, a confession that the views stated here reflect the lecturers' opinions, but are not to be considered THE truth of the matter. I have listened to other 'Great Courses', and I've found the lecturers to be generally balanced and eager to state that 'there are two sides, and I think this, but others disagree'. This is what you expect in an 'introductory' course. Here, we have an outrageously skewed attempt to defend Nietzsche against any who dislike him, for whatever reason. Yes, Nietzsche has been dealt with as an absurd straw man by many idiots over the years, but those can be dismissed fairly rapidly. We don't need an entire course saying: 'he wasn't as bad as you've heard!'
Secondly, some (at least SOME) coverage of the alternative interpretations. Not only of Nietzsche and his work, but also of the many other philosophers (covered in this course) to whom Nietzsche was responding. For example (this one really made me mad), the treatment of Hegel here is outrageously 'revised', when there is a genuinely 50/50 disagreement in academic philosophy between 'revised' Hegel and 'traditional' Hegel... I'm not saying the lecturers shouldn't argue their case, but they should at least acknowledge that there's some genuine interpretative disagreement here, and provide the listener with some informative stuff about each side. More importantly, the traditional Hegel interpretation is almost certainly closer to the one that Nietzsche was responding to, so it's borderline disingenuous - and, frankly, dishonest - to present Hegel in this modern way in the context of a Nietzsche introduction.
Thirdly, what they've made of Nietzsche's work... This process of defending him against all criticism, against all sensitive sensibilities, ends up stripping his work of the larger part of its power. It is meant, at times, to be upsetting, shocking, etc. That's part of the point. This sanitised 'nicey-nicey' version ends up looking like a shallow self-help system. The listener would be forgiven for thinking, on the basis of this introduction, that Nietzsche was just a misunderstood hippy.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Irritation, disappointment, frustration. I appreciate that I'm in a slightly different position to most listeners, in that I'm pretty well-versed in this stuff (PhD Philosophy, university philosophy lecturer who teaches Nietzsche), but I was hoping this would have some interesting discussion and interpretation, some different points of views or ways of putting/explaining things, some interesting facts that I hadn't heard before, just as I've found in other 'great courses'. But this was really lousy! I'm annoyed that there are now a load of people in the world who've heard this course and probably think Nietzsche was essentially a misunderstood hippy...! I found myself constantly wanting to say: 'Seriously, you're not going to mention THAT?!' Or: 'Seriously, you're going to leave it at THAT, and not mention the (sometimes dominant) view to contrary?!'

Any additional comments?

It's also rather US-centric. (Emerson gets some focus, but no Dostoevsky?!) Most of the 'up-to-date-real-life examples' are cringingly #firstworldproblems.
In conclusion, I'm left with this strange feeling that they've somehow insulted Nietzsche in this... They've tried to fit him and his work into anything that would feel comfortable for them. They've turned Nietzsche into a 'Last Man' version of Nietzschean philosophy. I think he'd be appalled.

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56 people found this helpful

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Politically correct Nietzsche

It is a collection of lectures, with some overlaps and repetition. In the first ones there is an effort to make Nietzsche appear politically correct and unbiased eg towards Jewish people without substantiation on any related passages of his work. The accent of the main narrator is too strongly Texan, which is funny when he calls Achilles and Agamemnon barbarians criticizing Nietzsche for liking them - makes you think, didn’t they have the right to bear arms? The (few) lectures of the secondary narrator were interesting and provided food for thought.

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7 people found this helpful

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Just what I wanted

Great level, lots of background into the man and enough depth to make me feel I have a bit more than an overview of the subject

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Do not be too put off by the reviews

I will simply quote the philosopher Foucault, who was very much influenced by Nietzsche: ""there is [no] single Nietzscheanism. There are not grounds for believing that there is a true Nietzscheanism, or that ours is any truer than others".

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Very informative and clear

I have enjoyed listening to this although I have expected to hear more of the original text.

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Really good lectures

I havet a Hard Times saying something short and meaningful about these lectures, but I really liked them and learned a lot from them. And I think they suit many types of listeners.

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A deep and detailed analysis of Nietzche

Would you consider the audio edition of The Will to Power: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version but this is very easy to listen to. The narrators are great and they obviously love Nietzsche but also have a good understanding of him and attempt to be fair.

What did you like best about this story?

It is very revealing and talks in a more fair way about a complex man rather than just presenting him as one sentence that is the usual way of presenting him.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Many of the deep philosophical studies made me see the world differently and gain a better understanding of life.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

It would make a boring film and is much more suited to this type of media, or even as a written book.

Any additional comments?

If you want to know about Nietzsche this is a great introduction to his life and his works, so you not only get an understanding of what he wrote and thought, but also maybe why he wrote it and thought it that way.

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Fascinating

So educational and brilliant!!
I need to read it again!!
Would recommend to anyone interested in philosophy

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Excellent Overview

Enjoyed the passion and enthusiasm of both lecturers. Also helpful was the fact that they sought to give the lectures a practical application.

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Awesome Book....<br />

I have finally found a comprehensive beginning to fascinating thinker.
This book examines and disects Nietzsche against other powerful thinkers of Existentialism.

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