Schopenhauer & Nietzsche: Overcoming Pessimism

A deep dive into the influence of Schopenhauer on Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche talks at great length about the inspiration he took from Schopenhauer in his essay, "Schopenhauer as Educator", which is the topic of the first part of this video. Nietzsche pondered the question: "How can human life become transcendentally valuable without the divine?" . He saw nature, as Schopenhauer did, as driven by blind willing, and did not necessarily see consciousness as an elevation beyond this blind willing, in and of itself. Schopenhauer, in his life and thought, gave Nietzsche the insight that man is not redeemed by knowing alone, but by an act of redirecting the will. Man is elevated by the example of the "sincere men who have cast out the beast", the artists, saints and philosophers - who represent the world in concepts, and use discipline to overcome or sublimate their impulses.

The second half of the talk concerns Nietzsche's criticisms of Schopenhauer. Deeper than this, Nietzsche felt himself to have a fundamentally opposite evaluation of the world from Schopenhauer. "How differently Dionysus spoke to me!" he wrote, as he reflected in the late 1880s of his early association with the "romanticism" of Wagner and the "pessimism" of Schopenhauer - but says that he realized he was looking for something far different from what either of his mentors sought. Nietzsche, through his study and admiration for Schopenhauer, eventually learned to overcome Schopenhauer, and overcome pessimism, and set him on his quest to find a way to spiritualize and affirm life.

#schopenhauer #nietzsche #pessimism #philosophy #meaningoflife

[ubik]

This is an incredibly well done series, from the sound quality, to the depth, everything is top notch.

[smellymala]

Really grateful to be among the few that have found your recordings, thank you for sharing.

[leader]

Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are smiling!

[christiansather]

I get this sense you somehow manage to do what I wish I could do. I feel like you bring into the fold all those brilliant little pondering that flash into our minds and then slip through our fingers. We forget. I don’t know if you are taking notes throughout your days or have the gift of wrangling in so many little insights.

[mindfever]

Your voice has a very calming effect on my little cats. Thanks already just for that. Look at them laying around so peacefully instead of tearing down the place.

[nigelmsipa]

This is simply impeccable. The depth and focus is nothing short of a masterpiece.

[whoaitstiger]

1:22:18 The most profound words I've ever encountered in my life. 😦

[samuelinauen]

Your work gets better with every podcast I'm listening to! Thank you!!

[eddiebeato]

Blissful hours, immersed in your philosophic lectures, have cast my rather hasty days —my transient ennui— in NYC with the serenest sunsets of completeness and dusk.

My advice is to enjoy your remaining days with the higher pleasures of the soul, and if you aim at Nietzsche’s Dionysian hedonism, learn to temper your licentious binges and extravaganzas by a prudent measure of self-imposed discipline: early studious hours under the teachings of a competent master (e.g., Jesus, Socrates, Schopenhauer the Educator, Buddha, Hermes, Pythagoras, Frederick the Great) as befitting a blessed child born for the mountaintops of the gods.

Of course, I have never met a great man without some rigorous, self-imposed sturdiness to striving for order, chastity, excellence, loftiness, and a surplus of creative energy to enhancing and ameliorating the broad canvas of existence.

Therefore, dress well, because according to Machiavelli, the outward appearance is often a replica of the inward.

My concept of the overman is pretty much a reclusive hermit the likes of Henry D. Thoreau, John the Baptist or Ferdinand Ossendowski, Men Beasts and Gods!

Thanks for your amazing lectures!

[hmoen]

Love your podcast as it resonate with me in so many levels

[gingerbreadzak]

Schopenhauer & Nietzsche: Overcoming Pessimism
00:00 📚 Nietzsche's essay "Schopenhauer as Educator" is the focus of discussion, where he explores an underlying question related to Schopenhauer's ideas.
01:31 📝 Nietzsche's "Untimely Meditations" essays, including "Schopenhauer as Educator, " were part of a larger project that he may have abandoned or reformulated into a book-length form.
05:21 🧠 "Schopenhauer as Educator" is considered the heart of Nietzsche's "Untimely Meditations" and addresses the state of education and culture in Nietzsche's society.
06:50 🌍 Nietzsche explores the idea of progress and the goal of humanity, emphasizing the importance of the highest specimens of humanity.
14:24 🤔 Nietzsche rejects hedonism and seeks to find a qualitative leap that distinguishes humanity from animals, aiming for a truly human existence.
19:44 🚀 Nietzsche introduces the idea that humanity has the potential for elevation but has not yet demonstrated it through its activities and history.
22:30 🧠 Nietzsche argues that human actions are driven by unconscious physiological instincts, which he considers as the "beast within us."
23:25 🧘 Nietzsche and Schopenhauer both believe that humanity has the potential to rise above base instincts and suffering to achieve a higher state.
26:19 📜 Nietzsche sees culture as a means to elevate humanity by encouraging individuals to strive for higher, more humane ideals.
28:12 💡 Nietzsche criticizes the scholars and intellectuals of his time, seeing them as hindrances to true cultural progress.
32:37 🌟 Nietzsche values individuals like Schopenhauer and Heraclitus as examples of genius who inspire and elevate culture.
38:59 💰 Nietzsche criticizes the pursuit of material wealth and the short-term mindset of his society, seeing it as detrimental to true culture.
43:34 🏛 Nietzsche argues that the state, businessmen, and those obsessed with superficial culture all hinder the emergence of genius and true culture.
These key takeaways summarize Nietzsche's perspective on culture, human nature, and the obstacles he perceives in his contemporary society to achieving a higher, more elevated form of culture.

45:34 🤔 Nietzsche discusses the impact of the church and the Reformation on society.
46:30 🧠 Nietzsche categorizes individuals into four types, including scholars who pursue knowledge for self-advancement.
48:23 🤔 Nietzsche reflects on his own place within the academic world and the limitations it imposes.
49:51 🤔 Nietzsche's transition from an intellectual to a philosopher is influenced by Schopenhauer's ideas.
53:16 🤔 Nietzsche discusses the importance of philosophers, artists, and saints in shaping culture and values.
57:53 🤔 Nietzsche criticizes the negative aspects of saints, artists, and philosophers while recognizing their significance.
01:00:17 🧐 Nietzsche identifies three archetypal figures – Rousseau, Goethe, and Schopenhauer – as inspirations for transforming human lives.
01:04:40 🤔 Nietzsche aligns with Romanticism's spirit of untimeliness and critiques the idea of cumulative progress.
01:06:36 🧐 Nietzsche sees the potential of Romanticism to influence the zeitgeist in different directions, depending on the chosen ideal.
01:07:00 🤯 Hobbes argued that the state enforces morality, while Rousseau believed smaller, direct democracies were more moral.
01:07:31 😲 Nietzsche associates Rousseau's ideas with revolutionary upheavals and a longing to return to nature.
01:08:24 🌿 Rousseau's vision involves escaping civilization's complexity to reconnect with nature and find justice.
01:09:18 💥 Nietzsche acknowledges that revolutionaries are driven by a belief in the natural goodness of mankind and a desire to recreate justice.
01:10:15 🌍 Rousseau's concept involves mankind returning to a higher ideal within the natural world.
01:11:41 🌋 Nietzsche warns about the danger of revolutionary attitudes while acknowledging their aim to elevate mankind.
01:12:42 🖋 Goethe's man seeks endless transformation through knowledge and experience.
01:14:36 💡 Goethe's man is a contemplative seeker, different from the revolutionary and Schopenhauer's hero.
01:19:00 🦸 Schopenhauer's hero is a heroic philosopher who fights for truth and is willing to suffer for it.
01:20:30 🌄 Schopenhauer's hero challenges comfort, opposes culture, and represents a path of individuality and grit.
01:27:45 🤔 Nietzsche identifies three paths for elevating mankind: philosophy, artistic expression, and asceticism.
01:28:40 📜 Nietzsche's early philosophy in "Human, All Too Human" accepts naturalistic origins of mankind and critiques metaphysical claims.
01:29:36 ⚡ Nietzsche's critical period challenges religion, philosophy, and morality, leading to the death of God and undermining transcendent values.
01:30:35 🌟 Nietzsche looks to historical figures and cultures as examples for elevating mankind, rejecting linear progress.
01:33:19 🦁 Nietzsche's insight shifts from casting out the beast to harnessing its power, leading to the discovery of the will to power.
01:35:14 🎭 Nietzsche identifies the dionysian as an artistic force representing the release of suppressed natural impulses.
01:42:59 🖼 Nietzsche discusses romanticism as a response to different kinds of suffering: those seeking growth and those seeking escape.
01:46:37 ⚰ Nietzsche criticizes romanticism for often leading to the rejection of the physical world and the pursuit of a savior or escape.
01:48:14 📜 Nietzsche misunderstood Wagner and Schopenhauer's romanticism as a means of inspiring life, similar to his idea of monumental history.
01:49:12 🤔 Nietzsche distinguishes between desires for rigidity and perpetuation (Apollonian) and desires for destruction and change (Dionysian).
01:50:44 🧐 Nietzsche explores the emotional aspect of desires and the distinction between embracing struggle and change or seeking refuge.
01:57:42 🤷‍♂ Nietzsche associates pessimism with romanticism, exemplified by Schopenhauer and Wagner, as opposed to the Dionysian worldview.
02:00:05 🐾 The Dionysian represents the integration of the animalistic nature of humanity with reason, emphasizing transformation over destruction.
02:06:16 🧪 Nietzsche identifies the problem of science itself as something frightful and dangerous, marking a shift in his philosophical focus.
02:08:41 🤯 Nietzsche's early criticism of science as problematic foreshadows his later criticisms of philosophy and religion, revealing a deeper connection.
02:09:15 🤔 Nietzsche sees Socrates as the mystagon of science who challenges and questions sacred values, willing to die for truth.
02:10:15 🎭 Socrates is absurdly rational, unartistic, and opposes the Dionysian, while Euripides creates optimistic art.
02:12:35 🌟 Socrates and Socratism reject life in favor of truth, leading to the emergence of Christianity and the rejection of the physical world.
02:14:55 🤔 Nietzsche questions if pessimism can be a sign of strength, intellectual courage, and a desire to confront life's challenges.
02:19:02 📚 Schopenhauer's pessimism is seen as a pessimism of weakness, seeking repose and escape from life's suffering.
02:20:25 💡 Nietzsche seeks to incorporate the Dionysian impulse into culture for the furtherance of life, distinguishing himself from Schopenhauer and other mentors.
02:22:21 🤝 Nietzsche evaluates thinkers based on whether their ideas foster life and lead to the betterment of mankind.

[benjaminseng]

Im coining a term "Nietzture"
And If I can off to you my absolute gratitude for your brilliant work. I look forward to see what you go onto from here.

[michaelroche]

Thank you for these brilliant presentations. What is the best Nietzsche biography?

[longcastle]

1:00:30... _...or a poser making modern popular art..._ Genuinely love your channel, but I'm also genuinely confused. I've now listened to all your Nietzsche videos and this is the second time you've made such a statement. Does your sentiment also include "moderns" in other fields, ? For example, literature (Joyce, Faulkner, Pynchon, McCarthy) or music (Mahler, Schoenberg, Penderecki, Glass -- even Debussy who's _Afternoon of a Faun_ was once considered "unlistenable") or just the visual arts -- and if so, where do you draw the line? because all the following have formally been maligned in similar ways as calling them "posers": Monet, Cezanne, Picasso, Miro, de Kooning, Pollack...

Clearly, I appreciate your channel, so please consider this in the nature of a genuine enquiry. Like what may happen in a symposium : ) Also, I don't expect you to answer this here -- or even answer it at all if you don't want to. But maybe address it briefly in some future video sometime... Because, honestly, it's a view that really feels like it comes out of left field -- not really related to Nietzsche at all.

[samuelinauen]

Who is this philosoph you're mentioning in the quotation at 54:09 ?
I can't figure out how to pronounce his name

[jkellner]

The pessimist in me also likes the podcast. In the most pessimistic way.

[sabitatumbabo]

Wow...what a great video..narratuve and all. Dear sir toud you like to provide us its script or note...kindly.

[Necromancyr]

Uncle Ted AKA the "yoona-balmer" comes to mind, as Rousseau's man.

[rafaelbendavid]

who says pessimism can or should be overcome?

[sudabdjadjgasdajdk]

How do we know that the Apollonian and Dionysian types actually exist and it isn't just nietzsche aestheticizing a blind process? (imposing meaning on the meaningless) It would explain why he was mistaken by his assessment of Wagner.