What Nietzsche Really Said
Solomon, Robert C. and Kathleen M. Higgins. 2000. "What Nietzsche Really Said." New York: Schocken Books.
17 - He did not, however, praise either the mechanism [of power] or many of its expressions, much less raw instances of powermongering. Indeed, he claims, "Power makes stupid." We might not that the German word for "power" is Macht, not Reich, indicating something more like personal strength than political might [...]
None of this points to anything resembling political power, or, for that matter, power over other people. Indeed, what Nietzsche most often celebrates under this rubric is self-discipline and creative energy, and it is not so much having power or even feeling power that Nietzsche cites as the motiva-
18 - tion of our behavior as the need to increase one's strength and vitality to do great things--for example, to write great books in philosophy.
30 - But what Nietzsche really celebrates, in the passages that follow his treatment of suffering, is justice, conceived not as the fair distribution of punishments but as "love with open eyes," in the words of Zaranthusra. Nietzsche sees real justice as involing a largeness of spirit that considers all forms of punishment petty, and which does not feel lessened by showing mercy.
What Neitzsche offers us is not celebration of cruelty. Instead, his accounts provide a mirror in which we can see ourselves, ideally without hypocrisy. He aims to spur us into a different way of life, withou resentment and vengefulness, but he argues that this requires, first of all, an honest assessment of what we are.
39 - What Nietzsche does for us, among many other things, is to call into question our facile use of such notions as selfishness, self-interest, egoism, and their opposites, altruism and self-sacrifice. Noble actions are both for the sake of the actor and serve some larger purpose. To force and "either/or" opposition onto our behavior--asking, for example, "Is this self-serving or is this altruistic?"--is to distort and cripple the complex (and often unknown) motives that go into every significant action.
93 - Nietzsche contends that early Christianity was popular among the powerless because it represented a healthy gesture of self-assertion, if only inwardly. However, this improvement developed potentially dangerous psychological mechanisms that flourished when Christianity itself became a pervasive and powerful social institution, undermining the healthy self-assertion that earlier it had promoted.
17 - He did not, however, praise either the mechanism [of power] or many of its expressions, much less raw instances of powermongering. Indeed, he claims, "Power makes stupid." We might not that the German word for "power" is Macht, not Reich, indicating something more like personal strength than political might [...]
None of this points to anything resembling political power, or, for that matter, power over other people. Indeed, what Nietzsche most often celebrates under this rubric is self-discipline and creative energy, and it is not so much having power or even feeling power that Nietzsche cites as the motiva-
18 - tion of our behavior as the need to increase one's strength and vitality to do great things--for example, to write great books in philosophy.
30 - But what Nietzsche really celebrates, in the passages that follow his treatment of suffering, is justice, conceived not as the fair distribution of punishments but as "love with open eyes," in the words of Zaranthusra. Nietzsche sees real justice as involing a largeness of spirit that considers all forms of punishment petty, and which does not feel lessened by showing mercy.
What Neitzsche offers us is not celebration of cruelty. Instead, his accounts provide a mirror in which we can see ourselves, ideally without hypocrisy. He aims to spur us into a different way of life, withou resentment and vengefulness, but he argues that this requires, first of all, an honest assessment of what we are.
39 - What Nietzsche does for us, among many other things, is to call into question our facile use of such notions as selfishness, self-interest, egoism, and their opposites, altruism and self-sacrifice. Noble actions are both for the sake of the actor and serve some larger purpose. To force and "either/or" opposition onto our behavior--asking, for example, "Is this self-serving or is this altruistic?"--is to distort and cripple the complex (and often unknown) motives that go into every significant action.
93 - Nietzsche contends that early Christianity was popular among the powerless because it represented a healthy gesture of self-assertion, if only inwardly. However, this improvement developed potentially dangerous psychological mechanisms that flourished when Christianity itself became a pervasive and powerful social institution, undermining the healthy self-assertion that earlier it had promoted.
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