2007-01-24 11:24:26 · 23 answers · asked by mattJ 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Yes..
2007-01-24 11:29:00 · answer #1 · answered by Tapestry6 7 · 7⤊ 8⤋
No, I don't think he was an idiot. He had some strange ideas, such as, his view that Rome was corrupted by Christianity.
Given Rome's record at the time it's almost laughable, but it does have an element of truth in it.
When Christianity came along, it was a bit like Pandora's Box, when she opened it, and let out all the evils that man can do to man .
The poor Christians were tortured in a brutal way. And those who use torture are corrupted by it.
So that is where the element of truth is
He was considered a controversial philosopher who was opposed to all established culture and morality.
Some say he was spokesman for Fascist Nazi doctrines.
It was thought later, that his sister may have distorted some of his writings, making him sound more racist than he really was. He was certainly unstable, and a visionary.
My own view of him is, he was a clever man, certainly not a an idiot, but very mixed up and of course, he went insane at an early age. Reading through his work, we can't deny he was something of a genius.
People blamed him for the second world war, because his writing on selective breeding may have influenced the Nazis.
If you read his writings, and there are many, you definitely couldn't say he was an idiot.
As someone who studied philosophy, I am still trying to fathom exactly what he was trying to get at. Had he lived longer, all may have been revealed...
2007-01-26 02:49:27 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Nietzsche was neither an idiot nor inhumane.
He stands out among western philosophers in that he pushed intellect to its very limits, and in having been sincere to the point of open self-criticism. Few other philosophers have been as misunderstood and attacked, precisely because of this over-eagerness to state at all costs, regardless of the consequences, even to himself, the pitiful condition which man finds himself in, and the causes leading to it. The condition having been diagnosed as serious, the remedy prescribed could only be extreme.
Those who form judgements on the man from the odd comment they have come across about him here and there had better get to know something of his philosophy. They will then see how his humaneness put at risk not only his sanity, but also his reputation.
2007-01-26 17:02:43 · answer #3 · answered by shades of Bruno 5 · 0⤊ 4⤋
If he was an idiot he was an idiot savant that's for certain. He managed to express concepts and philosophies that nobody had considered before and wrote several compelling books.
Nietzsche had his own defined morality and moral code, he can't be described as inhumane in a meaningful way as given his own works this label would mean nothing to him.
He was also very learned and well read regarding a lot of topics and disciplines. I don't agree with a lot of his ideas but I can see how brilliant and unique they are.
Finally, very few idiots become university professors!
2007-01-24 11:45:42 · answer #4 · answered by monkeymanelvis 7 · 3⤊ 6⤋
I don't believe he was an inhumane idiot at all.
I think that he saw deep flaws in humanity, and tried to express those thoughts through an argumentative persuasion, through which most of his published arguments have survived. If you look into them, you can see that he was addressing some extremely deep issues as though to say "REALLY take a look at ourselves, we are not so wonderful. Now examine how we can improve our, and the world's situation". I think he was trying to give humanity a wake up call, and, though I don't "know" it, had optimism that we could develop into better people.
2007-01-24 12:09:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋
Nietzsche was a seer, a poet, an intellectual revolutionary and dissident, and the slayer of God. He was also in the end, truly mad: but madness and genius are often inseperable as history has shown.
You cannot blame Nietzsche for the willfully fatuous misappropriation of his idea of the 'ubermensch' (the overman) by the German Nazis in support of their posionous ideology. Nietzsche loved life, and despised Christianity because it was a life-denying creed, immoral and repressive.
Nietzsche was the self proclaimed anti-christ and was a life affirming nihilist. He was also, a quite brilliant classics scholar whose knowledge of ancient Greece was unparalleled in his day.
Nietzsche was one of the few truly great thinkers of history, who changed the course of philosophy and religion forever.
2007-01-26 00:14:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 4⤋
I like Nietzsche
2007-01-24 11:31:46 · answer #7 · answered by polonium 210 2 · 1⤊ 6⤋
No. He was a visionary who lived well before his time. He is pointing out the fallacies in European thought and exhorting them to live for the moment, to be rather than to exist. If this world is all that we can guarantee we'll have, then what is the point of a life lived solely for the purpose of one day dying?
2007-01-24 12:58:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 6⤋
no, i don't know much about him, but i dont think he was inhumane, nor was he an idiot...after all he got a book published, that is not something an idiot can do.
2007-01-24 11:29:50 · answer #9 · answered by captsnuf 7 · 2⤊ 6⤋
No, his texts were butchered by idiots to make his work support their idiotic beliefs. ie. Nazi's.
If you read between the lines &/or unbutchered work of Nietchze, he was a very interesting man with some very thought-provoking ideas. (basically anything that doesn't have undertones of "Hitler's right!")
2007-01-24 11:30:40 · answer #10 · answered by mexican_seafooduk 3 · 4⤊ 6⤋
By this question, it sounds like you think so.
2007-01-28 10:23:15 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋