Great Minds Discuss People

We’ve all heard the saying, “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.” In this video, we will take a critical view of this saying, based on the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche.

#nietzsche #philosophypodcast #thenietzschepodcast #history #philosophy #historyofphilosophy

[Azathoth]

The fatal flaw of many ideas is the neglect of people

[uykuykuykkuhkhukuh]

"Small minds discuss people." - The quote that is all about discussing people

[snekbrah]

Great video, very well put.
It is also very ironic to realize that the idea of “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people” is only really used in the context of discussing other people.

[mjolninja]

Low rizz discuss gyatts
Mid rizz discuss mewing
Great rizz discuss mogging

[whoaitstiger]

I enjoy these occasional shorter form essays. They really round out the podcast as a whole.

[MsJavaWolf]

I guess a charitable reading of the quote about people/events/ideas could be that it still discusses people in the abstract and not any particular person. I always just understood it as saying something like that gossip is pointless, in a very practical sense it's different from a psychologist developing theories about the human psyche in general.

[siyaindagulag.]

"If one finds their desire, not merely the object of their desire then one would lay a hand on their soul".

C G Jung.

[kludgedude]

You can’t get rid of your desires since “you”, as far as consciousness goes, are a collection of desires. Life is better when in the zone so to speak, a conscious unconscious state.

[PeterIntrovert]

02:12 "Non-Stop lecture about nothing but ideas that can be just as annoying as an obsession with
gossip"

I appreciate auto-irony and distance to yourself. 😂 👍🏻

Great vid 🔥

[sealplayz]

It seems contrary to the spirit of this quote to claim that the discussion of human psychology, an idea, is the equivalent of gossiping about an individual. Intelligent people do discuss people, but in the context of their roles in major events or how they contribute to overall ideas. These events are then discussed in the context of forming overall conclusions and worldviews. Not every discussion by an intelligent person will have or should have all these elements, but all intelligent people will enjoy and regularly wish to delve into these types of discussions. You have to be very uncharitable to assume this quote means otherwise.

[Laotzu.Goldbug]

_Great minds discuss ideas about people by examining the things that they do._

Or something like that

[etymonlegomenon]

I still think the original maxim (whatever source it comes from) is true, but this is one of those cases where knowing two contradictory aphorisms gives you knowledge of a secret, stronger third one. If I were to try to join them, I'd say that great minds are entertained when moving down the hierarchy of complexity but small minds are irritated moving up it. Also, one thing your video inadvertently demonstrates is that it is possible to analyze people with the complexity of a machine or a philosophy. (It's also possible to treat ideas as reified or anthropomorphized things...)

Last point: I worry that inferring a psychological intention into every statement of an idea only averts one's eyes from the idea to the person.

Regardless, thought-provoking and compelling video.

[liethrabi]

This was such a beautifully well made video, the opening premise and the way it's all tied up together in the end.

[lukesapir]

This, by far, is my favorite video interpretation featuring some of the more "ugly" intertextualities in Nietzsche's writings -- that is, it really aptly captures Nietzsche's points clearly without focusing too much on the "drama" or "scandalous" elements. You took his ideas seriously and showed them in their most generous light, and I think when read seriously in this way Nietzsche shows that he is easily one of the greatest minds who ever wrote. Your video really captures that element of Nietzsche that is so constructive and illuminating in the nuanced ways he critiques the ideas of others, mainly by understanding the sources of these ideas, and thus tapping into the "Great Suspicion" that he mentions early on in The Genealogy of Morality.

[TheWilliamHoganExperience]

Schopenhauer doth protest too much Nietzsche thinks. Glad you delved into the psycho-sexual in this podcast. Seems it forms one of the pillars of Nietzsche's ideas about The Will. This makes sense given how front and center sexuality was to Freud's conception of human motivation, and how sharply this conception contrasted with the Victorian morals of the time. Freud was of course heavily influenced by Nietzsche. It's fascinating how sexual desire remains such taboo and impolite topic to this day, despite it's utter ubiquity. Taboo opens the door to shame and hypocrisy when attached to unconscious, irresistible instinct.

Schopenhauer rightly surmised that sexual desire is the source of life itself. His hatred of of life led to his hatred of sex. Nice. Nietzsche recognized this, and reframed it brilliantly. Sexual desire is a misunderstood, occult, and famously demonized aspect of human experience. Nietzsche's deconstruction and inversion of Schopenhauer's rejection of sex was concieved of as a war raging within Schopenhauer himself over his own will!

Schopenhauer was horny but was unable to get laid. An OG INCEL. So he rejected his sexual desires and blamed women for them. That this happened at a young age is understandable. But he clung to these sophomoric sexual ideas throughout his life, proving himself a case of arrested development. Oh well - most genius is botched. Raphael without a penis!

Was this insight of Nietsche's was prefigured by Shakespeare? Schopenhauer doth protest too much Nietzsche thinks. The question is, what doth Nietzsche protest too much?

Resentment methinks!

=)

[oteila]

Really great video, that quote was getting on my nerves for a long time, interesting to see where it came from. Also really good editing!

[cosmicprison]

Ultimately, this is just an excuse for not only ad-hominem attacks, but also moral relativism. “Eat healthy and exercise” isn’t less valid if an overweight person says it than when a professional athlete says it. In fact, the overweight person has the experience of why the alternative is worse — something somebody who never struggled with their weight can’t relate to. Yet, we like to use evidence of hypocrisy in someone advocating for a given idea as a refutation of the idea as a whole. In other words, once again: As an ad-hominem fallacy.

[dexi]

Basically, you're not you when you're hungry. Eat a snickers.

[Everywhere]

It seems that man’s philosophy is a product of one decision, either to embrace this life and this world or to try to escape it.

This pattern has first appeared in western philosophy between Aristotle and Plato and has repeated itself since then.

This dispute between the immanent and transcendent way of philosophizing might be the greatest division within philosophy.

[ducksies]

I think you might be misunderstanding the quote a bit, discussing people here refers to something akin to gossiping or talking about celebrities, discussing events refers to discussing ongoing events such as wars or elections and discussing ideas is well, discussing more general ideas, usually not restricted to social or temporal contexts