Athenian Stranger is a philosopher, writer, and Twitter poster. He joins me to discuss the life and thought of Friedrich Nietzsche.
To begin, Athenian provides some basic biographical information on Nietzsche. We then discuss his first book, The Birth of Tragedy. What do Apollo and Dionysus represent? Athenian explains how these archetypes can help us make sense of reality. We then discuss the first essay in Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality. What did Nietzsche mean by slave morality? Can it be found in our times?
In the second half of the show (available to subscribers), I read an excerpt from Beyond Good and Evil, which leads to a discussion on Nietzsche’s views on hierarchy. What does Nietzsche mean by the pathos of distance? Athenian then explains the role breeding plays in Nietzsche’s thought.
Switching gears, we discuss one of Nietzsche’s most infamous concepts: the death of God. Did this German philosopher literally believe that God died? Or did he mean something else? I then ask Athenian about Nietzsche’s views on Jesus Christ – and Christianity more broadly. We talk about Nietzsche’s belief that Christianity made Western man weak. Is that really accurate?
Toward the end of the show, we consider Nietzsche’s views on sexuality and politics. Would he be considered right-wing by today’s standards? Tune in to find out.
