Was Nietzsche really sexist?

Question

I have read a bit on his philosophy and in the foreward of the book they imply that he was somewaht prejudiced against women & certain races. For him to be such a "deep thinker" it doesn't seem like he should be that ignorant. Is this true?

dang i spelled somewhat incorrectly! oops-bad spellchecker!

Answer 1

a) he was not a racist. amusingly, if there was one race he had despised, it was germans. and if there were one group he wished violence upon, it was anti-semites. he was initially misunderstood because his sister, an anti-semite, manipulated his writings after his breakdown to suit her own purposes. they've been thoroughly debunked and nobody has associated nietzsche with the nazis in fifty years.

b) he was sexist, but he didn't hate women. some of his ideas would be feminist ideas half a century later. for example, he had tremendous sympathy for the way women were kept entirely ignorant about sex, then had it suddenly and traumatically thrust upon them by their husbands. also, he talked about how women mold themselves according to the models men create - a feminist idea that's still modern. for the most part, his comments about women were just embarrassing and you'll be disappointed, but like everything else with nietzsche, it's not black and white.

edit: despite all the stupid comments he made about women, the only person he ever invited to be his student was a girl, lou salome.

c) the comment that said he was full of hate obviously never read him without prejudice. he did call christianity the greatest misfortune ever to befall humanity, but that's because he saw all the hurt and shame it caused while calling itself "righteous". this is exactly what he means by "the will to power". it's not a doctrine, it's a study of how people disguise their motives. christianity, for example, teaches that this life is worthless except as a means of reaching the afterlife, and its values reflect this. nietzsche was simply trying to begin the task of creating new values that embrace life. that's not the kind of goal someone sets when they're "full of hate".

also, he was very explicit about "power to do what". power to make yourself a better person. "make yourself hard" means be hard on yourself, not other people. if you're more interested in controlling others than yourself, then he believed you're really just a coward trying to compensate for your own shortcomings.

Answer 2

You understand that Nietzsche's philosophy became the Nazi's calling? His hatred for women was only exceeded by his hatred for Christianity. He was big on hatred. Just because someone makes it into print does not mean they are deep thinkers. R.E. Allen has a wonderful commentary on Nietzsche and his philosophy that I recommend you read in his translation of Plato's "Gorgias".

"Make yourselves hard." And a "Will to power" are dangerous ideas. The question becomes; Power to do what? Power is relative to the end to which it is used. You cannot really have a "will to power" without asking how that power is to be used. Hitler gave us one example. Should we emulate it? I don't think so. Oh yeah, he hated women. He also penned the "God is dead" phrase which makes no sense even for an atheist.

Answer 3

Absolutely NOT!!!
He was quite the radical [my use of this word implies "progressive" and not the misused version we have today implying "extremist"] for his day!!!
Don't believe what neo-fascist, ignorant, fundamentalists, and self-righteous "interpreters" say.
Nietzsche is, without doubt, the most misquoted, misunderstood, and misread philosopher of all time!!!
He greatly admired the Jews!
He in fact despised the Germans!
He inspired various socialists, feminists, and other "leftists!"
His sister Elisabeth was responsible for the false-association between his work and the Nazis as she was left in charge of him and his work after his health deteriorated from syphilis.

Answer 4

I don't think his comments in 'Morals' was racially modivated hate, especially when you consider that he had often spoken ill of racism in later works. I think he was using terminology of the day to describe HIS social surroundings.

As for his sexist aphorisms, well - name one man that hasn't done that. Did he seriously mean it ? I doubt it, else we would have seen more than just sparse remarks of wit.

Answer 5

Yeah, he really was. It's quite disappointing, and I don't use any of his quotes on my 360 page for just that reason.

For example:
Everything about woman is a riddle, and everything about woman has a single solution: that is, pregnancy.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, Thus Spake Zarathustra

Answer 6

Nietzsche was as much a product of his times as anyone from that era, which viewed most anyone who was not a man or a European as inferior.

Answer 7

No, it's an abominable slander. He was a great philosopher, he was higher than those mean things.
Invesigate this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#Biography

Answer 8

well somethings we can't stop people from saying and doing things, its bad that a good writer like that is prejudiced against women and certain races.

because the fact is that all people first come from god. and then women. how do you think baby's are made?

so if a man period. he should love all women.
( all colors, do you think it will be a problem?
I don't. JUST BE TRUE WITH YOURS.)

GOOD LUCK