Nietzsche - Entitled Opinions

The podcast Entitled Opinions, it has to be said once more, is not one of the most accessible podcasts. And when Robert Harrison hosts Andrew Mitchell to talk about Nietzsche, there is no reason to expect an easy listen. Entitled Opinions always digs right into the subject, assuming you have quite a set of basics to start with.

The conversation between Harrison and Mitchell, though very vivid and inspiring, thoroughly takes on certain aspects of Nietzsche's thinking as it is expressed in 'Thus spoke Zarathustra' with some references to 'Gay Science'. One of the strongest parts is where they, almost by surprise, hit you with the deeper meaning of the idea that God is dead. You get to understand the awkwardness Nietzsche felt with the sociable world and the commonplaces that are taken as values such as morality and happiness. His ideas are that man must strive on and continue to develop which sort of inevitably comes with no steady state of complacency that could be mistaken for enlightenment.

Or so I would express what I have taken away and it is as Mitchell emphasizes: Nietzsche's work is open to varied interpretations. Also, in many ways the discussion was not finished and we closed with Pink Floyd music and a promise of more about the Uebermensch, carefully translated to 'overman'. It helps to prepare the field with some initial reading and listening to other podcasts that refer to Nietzsche.

More about Nietzsche:
Nietzsche in a nutshell (History 1c),
Nietzsche in podcasts,
Existentialism (Philosophy 7, Berkeley),
Friendship,
Shame and Guilt.

More Entitled Opinions:
Romanticism,
Sartre's Existentialism,
Five Free Favorites of Jesse Willis.