The Gay Science (1-5)

[Praxis101]

The Gay Science is Nietzsche’s 4-5th book, and in my opinion, gives large insight into Nietzsche’s perspective on things – making each of the other works easier to grasp (as we know, Nietzsche can be difficult to grasp at times, especially when first acquiring a taste for the radical style.)

This thread will be for discussion of the first 5/383 sections (8 pages in a small paperback):
- Questions
- Comments, Insight, your Intepretation
- Your position on a particular idea (i.e. agree with Nietzsche, or not?)
Let ‘em rip – you could have read it and other of Nietzsche’s works many times, or could be reading it here for your first time – either way, whaddya think?

I’ll start with section 1: this is the entire book (though I recommend buying the physical book more, particularly the Walter Kaufman edition). The preface at the top, then a bunch of poems, then the beginning of the actual book.

Nietzsche's Wikipedia page, if you're looking for a little background/context for the writing.

[Praxis101]

1) The teachers of the purpose of existence

Firstly , I’d like to say that, in my opinion, each section is whole in itself – powerfully cogent (stealing this awesome word from samsonite, mwahaha), yet individual quotes, phrases and sentences can completely lose their meaning when taken out of context.

This first section immediately gets me hooked into reading on; here, this early on, we are asked to view things from a powerful perspective: assume that the herd is everything, and picture what it would be like to make every decision based primarily in considering what provides the most value for preserving the species. Immediately, as Nietzsche suggests, we acquire a particular freedom in our service of a notion higher than ourselves.

Everything else, the other gauges of value: religion, morality, and ethics of all kinds have, over time, ingrained a specific need to believe in something higher than our selves: if only to inspire, motivate, and make beautiful.

Systems of values have been in constant flux over time – as old ones become wholly unreasonable, powerful men create new ones, but it is not long until they too are proven inadequate. Perhaps no systems of values will ever be accurate or remain used for long: but we will nevertheless be exposed to ever-new creations of systems of values (if we can give any credit to history.)

But! Having realized this (assuming one believes it to be true), in itself, must mean something; at the very least, it will make one skeptical of the value that is placed on things – the implications, though… well, maybe those will be discussed in later sections.

^^ My take on the first section, accurate to Nietzsche’s intention or not, but I’m certainly open for new ideas [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Lay it on me, start anywhere and everywhere -