Wasn't Nietzsche's master race morality a reflection of his loathing of his intellectual inferiors...?

Question

in particular, and mediocrity in general? I believe he felt that the "herd" mentality" in social, educational, and religious circles was destructive and that it checked people's abilities retarding their development into more creative beings. What do you think? Have a different interpretation and can you share it?

Nietzsche was no Nazi. He died in 1900 long before the Nazis and Hitler arrived on the scene. I consider such stmts as smears and contary to historical facts Dead people ought not be labeled unjustly for somethinghe personally was never a participant.

Main Entry: mis·an·thrope
Pronunciation: \ˈmi-sən-ˌthrōp\
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek misanthrōpos hating humankind, from misein to hate + anthrōpos human being
Date: 1683
: a person who hates or distrusts humankind

source of def'n
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=misanthrope

He was in favor of living virtuously as Aristotle & Socrates recommended. Hating humankind or was not his position & to suggest it even as a choice between extremes doesn't appeal to me. Neitzsche has been villified and some of his ideas were spun by his sister Elizabeth after he died. His ideas were interpreted by those who wanted to support the ideology that later became Nazism. Neitzsche would have repudiated the genocide & fascism of Nazism esp since he was anti-establishment and disliked ignorant authoritarians. He was pro the development of the individuals through creative, passionate thought & action.There is a reason he is misinterpreted & it has to do w/the incomplete & skewed views of his ideas. He is the most complex philosopher I have ever read and reread.He is easily misunderstood if you don't read & study enough of his books to understand the full scope of his thoughts.I consider him the father of existentialism but He would have repudiated the element of nihilism in it

He did hate the ignorance and mediocrity of humans but he did not hate himself or other humans in whom he saw there was great potential if it could be nurtured rather than restricted. He shared some of Rousseau' s distrust of social institutions--but that is another topic for another day.

Answer 1

The weight of this question regarding the influence of philosophy on mankind is significant. Nietzsche was perhaps the greatest misanthropist of all time, or maybe he was just trying to shock the world around him into an enlightened state of awareness...like an over exuberant optimist!
It is that aspect of his expressions which has been lost in history and translation. I don't believe that Nietzsche loathed the vast majority of those around him (and they were all inferior, intellectually).

I think he loathed the grip of "belief" which he saw as limiting the potential of mankind.

EDIT:
I completely agree with your follow-ups. It seems as though that when FWN is misunderstood (usually, in a negative way) it is because the totality of his philosophy is not being considered.

Answer 2

You are no doubt correct in some large degree. However, I tend to think it might have been more than this too. I think that Nietzsche believed that traditional confrontations of values in European society were just creating values that were more of the same old way of thinking. Values were merely being stirred around and that had created repetition and therefore parroted meaninglessness.
He believed that the man who achieved, the uber-man, would be the individual who actually denied all the old values in order to discover new one, thus breaking that tired old dialectic of thesis and antithesis and actually creating a real revolution. Nietzsche believed that it was only in the discovery of value that there could be any real meaning at all.
Nietzsche's values were all about parting with all that which was common, as you suggest, all which was comfortable and creating a new means by which to live. Lastly, although this will be somewhat controversial, I believe that Nietzsche saw this not as just necessary but inevitable for western thought to progress to a higher plane of existence.

Answer 3

Really the religious question was the most important. He believed that due to religious beliefs people were being held back from reaching their and societies potential. the stem cell research issue of today would undoubtedly be an issue he would use as an example if he were alive today. he believed that by changing from a religious based morality to one of science and reason then man would become "superman", or "overman" that is we would be more able to realize our potential. He felt the heard, or religious majority held back great scientific discoveries. that they would even deny them to keep their beliefs held sacred.

Answer 4

I think people should pay a lot more attention to who they breed with than they do. Breeding in the better points is the way all other living things survive over a very long time.

Dan is becoming very much mutated in the wrong direction.

Answer 5

That it was. His intellectual prejudice and theory of segregation was adapted to form Hitler's master race.

Answer 6

...brilliant, not original and had a sister who loved him. odd,
dont you think?
...my opinion, no facts, just another, question within a question