Your thoughts on this?

Question

"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." -Nietzsche

Answer 1

It makes perfect sense.

Individually, people are rational, they want to help one another, they have family and friends and personal hobbies and interests.

Now look at groups composed of those same people:
Fundamentalist religious groups force their strict ways on society, and some regularly commit murder in the "name of God".

Nations start wars over silly issues, many of which are based on false information, but still kill thousands of people.

Political Parties advocate extreme change and rebellion from the norm, and can have similar effects at the religious groups.

The fact that people don't understand this quote supports the claim that society has lost its ability to analyze material.

Answer 2

Nietzsche was a deep dude, and a lot of what he said came from a deep inner philosophy bred of common sense, education and experience. Having some knowledge of mob rule mentality and an acute awareness of the ignorance of the masses, I tend to believe that particular mind set expressed by the philosopher. I'm with Nietzsche .

Answer 3

Not 100% happy with my first answer... glad I can re-do it.
I know Nietzsche liked to play with words. Perhaps "rule" has a double meaning here as in "as a rule, this occurs" but also, the "rule itself is insane." I also know that Nietzsche was always distainful of mass movements (which is why it's ridiculous to suggest his philosophy had anything to do with Nazism's rise and the only reason they were able to use it at all was because his sister perverted it.

Answer 4

Agreed. Just look at the wars, genocides and mass killings around the world. Most are led/organized by a group, and while one might blame the group's leader, the mob mentality which can develop triggers the more violent response. I'm sure those who support bin Laden or whoever is leading terrorist organizations nowadays thinks their leader is not crazy but powerful. I suppose sanity would also be seen as relative, given the above scenario.

Answer 5

Totally agree.

I would add something only in the first part of this statement;

Insanity was something rare in the Nietzsche's age, but nowadays is not that rare.

Lots of causes for this!

Answer 6

Yes of course . Insanity will occur only when a clash of thoughts arises . In a group it is unavoidable , as none will think like any other . But in individual it occurs only when the number of thoughts become too much , as in the case of NIETZSCHE .

Answer 7

Don't remember where Nietzsche said that, but OUT of context, it sounds like he is pointing out that insanity is a relative term and is made obvious by comparing the overarching norms of given groups to behaviors played out by
those who would be labeled "insane"...

Answer 8

It explains mob violence and safety in numbers. An individual may not act out agressively on his or her own but will join in a group already involved or about to be involved.

Safety in numbers is pretty self explanatory. When one is involved in a group or mob activity, one feels impervious to consequence. You could say that a person can "hide out" in the masses. "Everybody does it" or "everybody has done it" - or "nobody cares".

It takes an extraordinary individual to think and act independently - especially when the "mob" is against him or her. These people are the ones that change history.

Answer 9

No it is not true. Most governments that are morally or spiritually grounded to a higher authority than man this is most definitely not true.

It is the fanaticism of some individuals in a group who has been empowered by the people that this can be true.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Answer 10

Not true.

The number of sane groups far outnumbers the amount of insane groups, in the same porportion as the number of sane people outnumber the amount of sane people.

The insane ones are just more "entertaining", and get all the press.