Friedrich Nietzsche is probably the single most misunderstood philosopher in all of Western civilization – which is unfortunate, since he's also one of the most important philosophers for us, the people of his future.
Here are some of the most common misconceptions about Nietzsche and his philosophy.
1: Nietzsche was a misogynist, believing that women were lesser creatures. Sometimes, people pull up a bunch of quotes from Beyond Good and Evil or Also Sprach Zarathustra to prove that Nietzsche hated women. This is simply not so. Nietzsche often used a literary device called sarcasm – perhaps you've heard of it. Women were considered inferior by the vast majority in the Second Reich. To a certain extent, this was thanks to the women themselves. Nietzsche often passed criticism on the women of his day – for many of the same reasons we pass criticism on the women of his day. I really don't think Nietzsche believed you needed a penis to be an Übermensch.
Walter Kaufmann suggests that many of Nietzsche's comments about women were "second-hand and third-rate." There is much to support the idea that, even when he was serious about what he was saying about women, it can be attributed to a significant reclusiveness on his part; he didn't have much contact with women, or really anyone for that matter, and if his opinions were ill-informed, they were not ill-intended.
On a side-note, Nietzsche proposed to several women, most notably Lou Salomé. At one point in his life, he tried to arrange a platonic ménage ŕ trois with her and friend and rival Paul Ree. As it worked out, though, Salomé ran off to have a slightly-less-than-platonic affair with Ree, leaving Nietzsche in the dust. There is an extant photograph which shows Nietzsche and Ree, on their hands and knees, lashed to a wagon in which sits Salomé, who is holding a whip. Make of all this what you will.
2: Nietzsche was a white supremacist, believing that Jews were lesser creatures. Most of the "evidence" cited for this criticism comes from a misinterpretation of "blonde beast" (a term used most notably in Toward a Genealogy of Morals), though it also has something to do with the purely coincidental relationship between Nietzsche's writings and Adolf Hitler. It's patently false that Nietzsche was anti-Semitic.
Nietzsche was very anti-Christian, and while he knew full well that Yehoshuah ben Yoseph was Jewish and the relevance of this to the development of Christian thought (in Jesus and later), that had nothing to do with his criticisms of Christianity (as it would for many white supremacists of his and later days). In fact, several times throughout his writings Nietzsche praises the conquering spirit of the ancient Hebrews as well as the strong national character of the diasporatic Jews of his day. What he hates is the Jewish tradition of thought, and some aspects of Jewish culture. On the whole, he did not believe that the morality of the Bible was appropriate for a healthy, developing society, and recognized the Bible and its tradition as an expression of those aspects of Jewish culture that had been most pernicious for them and for European civilization. But his comments about Jews are no more vicious than his comments about Germans; we could not say by that token he was anti-German. Nietzsche hated anti-Semites and ridicules them more consistently than he disparages Judaica.
In regards to the "blonde beast" (or in German, "blondes Biest"): – "blonde" does not refer to the fair features of the Aryan race, although for Nietzsche the Aryans were an example of a noble people with a strong culture. "Blonde" is supposed to be a reference to lions, symbolic of the spirit of a healthy society. In Toward a Genealogy of Morals Nietzsche lists some other races he counts as "blonde beasts;" the list includes the Japanese and the Arabs, a semitic race. Furthermore, Nietzsche sure as heck did not believe that the modern descendents of the Aryans were anything to write home about; they were a weak, decadent, historically myopic people who couldn't conquer their way out of a paper bag. After all, the Aryan races had produced more than their fair share of décadents: Buddha, Plato, Schopenhauer....
Elizabeth Förster-Nietzsche and her husband supported the Nazi party when it was formed. Nietzsche refused to go to his own sister's wedding because she was marrying an anti-Semite.
3: Nietzsche advocated a doctrine that "might makes right," according to which the weak deserve no justice. Nietzsche put forward a concept called "Will to Power." According to the doctrine of the Will to Power, all phenomena (physical, historical, ethical, etc.) are all nexi of power. When applied to the history of ideas, it means that we don't believe the things we believe because they are true. Our beliefs may be true, but our minds deal with beliefs, not truth; we have no real logical or scientific reason to posit a universal, philosophical concept of "truth-in-itself," and we believe what we believe because it is convincing, not because it is true. And we can be convinced by factors other than "reason;" we can be convinced by fear, by appeal to authority, by indoctrination, and by our own self-deception. When it comes to science, of course, there are facts – but when it comes to philosophy, there is no Higher Truth; there is only power.
When it applies to morality, we must distinguish between "power over" and "power to." While Nietzsche never made such a distinction explicit, to anyone familiar with his work it is clear he meant that every entity has a Will to "Power to" – power to do whatever it wants to do. This does not necessarily mean harming or enslaving others; in fact, Nietzsche believed this was an instance of a retarded will to power. Many of our values are inherited by means of force or neurosis rather than by reason. Therefore, it is sometimes necessary to revaluate values. It is possible to take a long, hard look at the things we value (and the things we say we value) and reassess them in terms of our sense of style. To a certain extent, we must reinvent ourselves – develop our power to live a free and fulfilling life in the face of all the power that has been exercised over us.
Now, because we do not deal with Truth per se, but rather with Power, it is important (says Nietzsche) to understand what power is, how it manifests in the ethical sphere. Power means more than mere physical might; it also means an indomitable force of will, a personal character which cannot be bent. Honour, discipline, reason, and negatively cowardice, are concepts that we can use to strengthen ourselves, revaluate our values, and pave the way for a new level of civilization.
It is possible to find criticisms of unrestrained physical power in the works of Nietzsche, and there are even pacifistic strains in some of his works. With power comes a responsibility to the self.
4: Nietzsche urged that we abandon logic. Preposterous. Nietzsche made arguments; the laws of argumentation are called logic. Nietzsche used logic. What Nietzsche criticised was the way in which the idea of "logic" is thrown around for rhetorical effect – in other words, the way in which logic is used in appeals to authority, which is itself a logical fallacy. Simply because you say something is logical, doesn't make it so – but people are still going to believe you.
The idea of logic has a long history. That history is full of power struggles, just like any other history. These can provide a source of critique against particular invocations of reason. This does not constitute an indictment of reason itself.
An oft-misquoted passage used to support this myth is "There are no facts, only interpretations." In fact, to my knowledge, Nietzsche never published anything to this effect (though it does look like an idea he might experiment with in his notebooks). In actual fact, he did say "There are no moral phenomena, only moral interpretations of phenomena" – in fact, there are facts, but no moral facts: only moralistic interpretations of neutral facts. He was a philologist and a historian, and like any real scholar, facts were his meat and drink.
Seeming contradictions of character aren't always so; a real man need not always make appeal to reason as a universal justifier, even if – or especially if – his actions are logical.
I hope this serves to clarify some of the fog through which the works of Nietzsche are viewed today. It's unfortunate that so few people really get it when it comes to Nietzsche; I even find myself teaching my own professors about Nietzsche, so shabby is modern scholarship and so prevalent is the hearsay. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you're interested in Nietzsche scholarship, and like me you don't speak German, the translations of R. J. Hollingdale and Walter Kaufmann are widely hailed as the most accurate, thorough, and sympathetic translations available. Hopefully, in the future, the works of this enigmatic philosopher will be more widely understood.
Next to "God is Dead," Nietzsche's most famous contribution to the philosophical (and political) landscape is the concept of the uberman / Overman -- a romanticized, perfect individual who is above petty, transient pleasures and morals, devoted to scientific truth and absolute power over himself and his environment. At the same time, the Superman ideal is likely his most misunderstood concept, which probably why it is favored by pointy-headed nihilists and LFP poppers as an excuse to be a self-important jerk.
'God is dead'- Nietzsche
And underneath:
'Nietzsche is dead' - God.
However many young talents I have seen develop under my eyes for thirty-nine years now, never yet have I known a young man, or tried to help one along in my field as best I could, who was so mature as early and as young as this Nietzsche. His Museum articles he wrote in the second and third year of his triennium. He is the first from whom I have ever accepted any contribution at all while he was still a student. If--God grant--he lives long enough, I prophesy that he will one day stand in the front rank of German philology. He is now twenty-four years old: strong, vigorous, healthy, courageous physically and morally, so constituted as to impress those of a similar nature. On top of that, he possesses the enviable gift of presenting ideas, talking freely, as calmly as he speaks skillfully and clearly. He is the idol and, without wishing it, the leader of the whole younger generation of philologists here in Liepzig who--and they are rather numerous--cannot wait to hear him as a lecturer. You will say, I describe a phenomenon. Well, that is just what he is--and at the same time pleasant and modest. Also a gifted musician, which is irrelevant here.
Nietzsche is not at all a specifically political nature. He may have in general, on the whole, some sympathy for the growing greatness of Germany, but, like myself, no special tendre for Prussianism; yet he has vivid feelings for free civic and spiritual development, and thus certainly a heart for your Swiss institutions and way of living. What more am I to say? His studies so far have been weighted towards the history of Greek literature (of course, including critical and exegetical treatment of the authors), with special emphasis, it seems to me, on the history of Greek philosophy. But I have not the least doubt that, if confronted by a practical demand, with his great gifts he will work in other fields with the best of success. He will simply be able to do anything he wants to do.
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