Debating topics

[Occhidiangela]

Fred appears through this lens to be someone who thought there is ONE RIGHT ANSWER.

And that answer is? As you point out later; that there is no answer, no origin, no purpose and that the act of creation, of self-determination, the recognition of the constraining falsehood of the 'herd' moralities and the subsequent recognition and fulfillment of one's own will to power should be the goal of humanity.

There is an answer to many question, but there is no ANSWER to what he was looking for, yet.

Don't put words in my mouth, I did not say that there was no purpose, no origin, etc. While fulfillment of one's own will to power is an interesting goal of "humanity" the discrete individuals of humanity all exercising the fulfilled power will induce conflict, chaos, or both. So be it.

The greatest weakness in Nietzsche is that he was quite successful in tearing much down while offering little in return.

Yep. Just like a terrorist. Tis easier to destroy than to build and sustain. As well, tis easier to analyze than synthesize, in my opinion.

You've misquoted the author here.

No, I was commenting on what the author wrote, regardless of whether it was Hobbes or Nietzsche who was in the gunsights at the time.

He points to Hobbes and other such Enlightenment thinkers as searching for a "scientific" truth. Nietzsche despised such trash, instead arguing that "To escape the illusions of the past, to release the arrow in flight, these activities are linked to the creative ability to construct in one's life and language new metaphors."
Might I point out that under Fred's nose, and our own, that is exactly what happens with language?

MIght I suggest you read some Bill Bryson, on language. You will find that language changes, and the images evoked by new words paint new metaphors. Nietzsche, I do not believe, in his desire to tear down the language obstacle understood, or even wanted to understand, how a language is built, grows, and evolves. His suggestion is as absurd. Reform the language? Make it a better tool? Sure. Build one from scratch? OK, computer scientists have done so. See how much that has done to improve upon the condition that Nietzsche decries. What it has done is . . . create more questions! :lol:

Nietzsche sought to free the will and the spirit by debunking this notion of Enlightenment rationality's inherent superiority.

I tend to free the will and the spirit with Guinness. More practical, and achievable. Sure, it is temporary, but then, so is life itself. ;)

As to Hobbes, I was commenting on the picture of Hobbes the author was painting. Nuff said on that score.

In fact, Nietzsche writes that “we believe that we know something about the things themselves when we talk of trees, colors, snow, and flowers; and yet we possess nothing but metaphors for things -- metaphors which correspond in no way to the original entities etc ad nauseum

So, do you figure Hegel, Nietzsche, and Fichte all got drunk together? I'd guess not, given their temporal dispersion. This is the sort of rot that had me beating my head against the desk when I read Hegel. Halfway through, I found better things to do with my time. Had I been at school, I might have finished Hegel. Or, I might have gambled on the exam and discussed Norman Vincent Peale. :P Ya know, I'd guess that Nietzsche still had to wipe all that conceptual horse crap from his boots when ever he tripped over a road apple while he wandered about with his head in the clouds . . . conceptualizing on the word for "could."

As to God is dead, etc.

The assertion, if that is what Nietzsche actually said, is self-contradictory. God is, by convention, omnipresent and hence immortal, beyond the bounds of life and death. If God were to be, God would always have been and will awlays be. If God never were, God could not be dead, for to be dead God must have been, and been alive, in the first place. Once having been, being God, could never not be. This is based on God within the standard understanding of the typical person in the 1800's. Not just any old god, but God.

Now, do you see why I drink? That almost made sense to me! :huh:

Cheers!

Occhi


:huh: