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Title: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche by H. L. Mencken ISBN: 1-884365-31-0 Publisher: See Sharp Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good as an example of early Mencken
Comment: As an example of H.L. Mencken's nascency as a serious writer and critic, this biography of the philosopher Nietzsche is invaluable to anyone interested in the writings of either man. The introduction by the editor is insightfully critical but does fail to emphasize the context in which Mencken himself held certain views controversial by today's accepted standards. Mencken's interpretations of Nietzsche's ideas tend toward social Darwinism. Especially where he is writing about the early life of Nietzsche, Mencken's outline is better than any other book in English on the subject. But Mencken mixes and matches concepts arising from Dionysus and Apollo too loosely, sometimes to the point of miscomprehension of Nietzsche's position, and sometimes by using their Roman name equivalents. All in all, Mencken is thorough, conscientious and clear in his expose on the great German philosopher.
Rating: 3
Summary: Nietzsche and Mencken: "Let the Harshness Commence!"
Comment: _Friedrich Nietzsche_ by noted early 20th century American journalist H. L. Mencken is a both a brief biography of Nietzsche as well as a basic outline of his philosophy. Nietzshe's biggest influence is easlily recognized as his predescessor in German pessimism, Schopenhauer, along with the ancient Greeks before Socrates. Nietzsche is criticized as being only a destructive force in his philosophy, merely tearing down the decadent Christian morality that reigned in the West during the 1800s. However, Nietzsche's ultimate goal was the "superman," men who were above morality, sentimentality, religion and the "mindless grazing herd of cows" that constituted most of humanity. Much of this book attacks Christianity, which Nietzsche abbhorred above all other things, and considered it a "slave-morality" derived from the Jews as opposed to the "master-morality" of the European aristocrats. The origin of morality, according to Nietzsche and derived from Schopenhauer, comes from a race's will to live, and this manifests itself in a the law codes, usually of divine origin, of any given tribe, ethnicity, social group, civilization, race or nation. Nietzsche differed from Schopenhauer in that he felt that a heroic life was the best life to lead, instead of giving up the will to live as Schopenhauer taught. Both Nietzsche and Schopenhauer rejected trying to live a "happy" life, realizing that true happiness is unnatainable. In some respects, Nietzsche is reminiscent of the religious prophets he hated so much--he does not believe in free will, that people are more or less determined in their ways by forces that are beyond individual control, but he still exhorts them to dust themselves off and better themselves anyway. As far as his views of marraige and women are concerned, they are very pessimistic yet grounded in reality. "Love" comes from physical desire, and marriage is the official sanctioning of it. The ultimate purpose of marraige should be to breed a better race of humans to attain the "superman" in the future. There are some areas where Nietzsche's thoughts went a little fantastic. One theory he propounded was that Christianity was created by the Jews to make the rest of the ancient world a "slave morality". This is ridiculous, as Mencken notes, however some Jewish scholars today like to credit their own people with Christianity's rise at the same time voicing their disgust towards Christianity itself. But Nietzsche predicted that in the future Jews would be the ones that would virtually rule the world and have the greatest amount of influence in the intellectual fields. Another of Nietzsche's offbeat ideas is the doctrine of "eternal reccurance," that time repeats itself in cycles from eternity to eternity and gives the heroic "superman" the same struggle (in which the superman glories in) forever. As far as Nietzsche's influece goes today in 21st century America: I would only conclude that it is partial. It is readily apparent from reading Menckens exgesis where Nietzsche influenced Nazism, libertarians, nihilists, right-wing anarchists, "Ayn Rand style" objectivism and Satanism. Nothing exists for racial improvement, eugenics or euthanasia that is propelling humanity upward. The racial policies and ideals in ascendancy today are extremely dysgenic instead. Some of Nietzsche's ideas which are more readily observabable are the rule by an elite that is above the law--an "Illuminati" of sorts--but it is not bringing the human race upward--it is sending it crashing down to hell. I do not personally agree with many of Nietzsche's ideas, especially his attack on Christianity, but this is a thought provoking book of the "mad prophet of Nihilism."
Rating: 5
Summary: Nietzshe Explained
Comment: This is the most lucid and entertaining explanation of Nietzche's thought and life that I have ever encountered. Philosophical goobledygook is virtually absent and the essence of Nietzche's philosophy is accurately expounded in a no-nonsense style.
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Title: H.L. Mencken on Religion by H. L. Mencken, S. T. Joshi ISBN: 1573929824 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.00 |
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Title: The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken by Terry Teachout ISBN: 0060505281 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Treatise on the Gods (Maryland Paperback Bookshelf) by H. L. Mencken, H.L. Mencken ISBN: 080185654X Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1997 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Mencken Chrestomathy by H. L. Mencken ISBN: 0394752090 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1982 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist by Walter Arnold Kaufmann ISBN: 0691019835 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1975 List Price(USD): $18.51 |
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