Nietzsche as vulgariser

I think the effects of Nietzsche on the male mind are dissipation and degeneration. Wyndam Lewis referred to Nietzsche as a "vulgariser" and this has never seemed more true than today. Women may still stand to benefit by learning psychology from his writings, though.

about an hour ago · · · Promote

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    Jennifer F Armstrong Whenever I consider the "Nietzschean male" in all his gory (sic), my spirit immediately celebrates women and the tough battle they have ahead of them.

    about an hour ago ·
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    Jason Carter Just speaking personally, I find Nietzsche to be more a phenomenon of an immature male mind. I came to Bertrand Russell very recently, but his demolition of Nietzsche is pretty spot-on.

    about an hour ago · ·
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    Jennifer F Armstrong I would like to read the particular demolition article you have read. I think that Nietzsche's sexual immaturity -- which seems to have lasted his whole life -- makes his work a very negative platform for equally sexually inexperienced young men trying to find their way in the world. It not only sets them off in the wrong direction, but it actually assures that they stay resolutely off-track, since such men close their ears to any correction that may be given to them, especially by women.

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      Jennifer F Armstrong

      I just found and read a little of Russell's critique. I think it is half right -- especially right with regard to Nietzsche's followers, but less right about Nietzsche himself. I think that to the extent that his readers, believing themselves to follow Nietzsche, think it is a good idea to express their contempt for things, they are often misleading themselves into expressing only their fear.
      
      For instance, consider a young man, with his burgeoning sexuality and his concomitant fear of women. His response to his fear is to express contempt for women (perhaps in the misguided assumption that this will enable him to overcome his fear). His contempt is not for what is contemptible (although he will be inclined to persuade himself that it is). Rather, his contempt is for what arouses fear in him. (He tries to overcome this fear by persuading himself that women, as such, are contemptible.)
      
      This psychological structure is that of the adolescent male -- but Nietzsche's writings do make it seem like the psychological structure of the adult male. In this, his writings are misleading.

    
    

• • Halina White Nietzsche is an enigma.

    6 minutes ago ·
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    Jennifer Armstrong

    Not really an enigma -- like all shamans, he was wounded and his wounds gave him special psychological insights. He admits as much in Ecce Homo, where he says that he is a decadent of a sort, but a decadent that has the power to heal himself. He also mentions here that he looks into three or more worlds. (I am about to start work, so don't have the direct quotes.)
    
    I think that this is what people don't get about his writing. "How is it that it gives me insight and yet doesn't speak to conventions or give me the means to obtain genuine power in the real world?"
    
    Well, because shamans are primarily concerned with the spiritual dimensions of health and sickness -- a visiting lecturer referred to shamanism as "a sickness vocation". So, as much as Nietzsche wanted to transfer his spiritual knowledge into the actual world and give it a place there, his writing still doesn't speak primarily to the actual world, but to the hidden spiritual dimensions thereof.