Friedrich Nietzsche - the Greatest Psychologist

In this deeper dive into philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche we are going to look at his big ideas and his overall philosophy through the orienting generalisation of his thought as being health vs. decadence. Through this lens we can fruitfully place Nietzsche's "no-saying" work where he critiques Christianity, science and philosophy as well as his "yes-saying" work in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (with Zarathustra's three great ideas of the Ubermensch, the Eternal Recurrence and the Will to Power) and his fascination with the Greek god Dionysus.
Nietzsche is commonly known as the Father of Existentialism but he could just as well be called the Father of Psychoanalysis or the Father of Postmodernism. Along with Marx and Freud, Nietzsche is one of the most influential thinkers in the past 200 years.
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📖 Further Learning:
Videos:
If you're interested in learning more about Nietzsche's biography and philosophy, there's a whole playlist of episodes on him here:
• Nietzsche - The Dionys...
Books:
- Basic Writings of Nietzsche edited by Walter Kaufmann (contains full texts of The Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo)
- The Portable Nietzsche edited by Walter Kaufmann (contains Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist)
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💬 Discord
▶ / discord
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🎶 Media Used:
1. Despair and Triumph - Kevin MacLeod
2. End of the Era - Kevin MacLeod
3. Anguish - Kevin MacLeod
4. Long Note Three - Kevin MacLeod
5. Lightless Dawn - Kevin MacLeod
6. Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
7. There's Probably No Time - Chris Zabriskie
8. Mesmerize - Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod [ / kmmusic ]( / kmmusic )
Subscribe to Chris Zabriskie [ / chriszabriskie ]( / chriszabriskie )
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⌛ Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:52 The Crisis of Nihilism
10:02 Decadence I: Rationality
10:58 Decadence II: Morality
12:14 The Ascetic Ideal and Slave Morality
15:15 False Counter-Ideals: Science and Democracy
16:32 Health: Nietzsche's Counter Ideal
17:00 Health I: Dionysus and Greek Tragedy
18:57 Health II: Zarathustra
19:41 Zarathustra I: the Eternal Recurrence
20:37 Zarathustra II: the Übermensch
21:36 Zarathustra III: the Will to Power
22:09 Nietzsche New Metaphysics
25:23 Signoff
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#nietzsche #philosophy #existentialism #thelivingphilosophy

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

💚Join the community, support the channel and get access to bonus content: patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy ⌛ Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 1:52 The Crisis of Nihilism 10:02 Decadence I: Rationality 10:58 Decadence II: Morality 12:14 The Ascetic Ideal and Slave Morality 15:15 False Counter-Ideals: Science and Democracy 16:32 Health: Nietzsche's Counter Ideal 17:00 Health I: Dionysus and Greek Tragedy 18:57 Health II: Zarathustra 19:41 Zarathustra I: the Eternal Recurrence 20:37 Zarathustra II: the Übermensch 21:36 Zarathustra III: the Will to Power 22:09 Nietzsche New Metaphysics 25:23 Signoff

[@onelife7247]

Everything is basically a man made construct that dictates whether people fit into the prescribed norms of w e s t e r n society.

[@surkewrasoul4711]

Amazing explanation, And the way you have used the paintings throughout the video is just genius. Great work

[@scottstorchfan]

Agree!

[@williamstrong2068]

I was once a young anarchist punk student. My philosophy professor gave me her very own copy of twilight of the idols witch came from her very philosophy professor in the 40's. Never thought it would have such profound impact in my life. Never thought that that content would shift shape many times as i grew older. Im just glad people like you help other make sense with such books. Because after all these years. Im just starting to understand nietzche's work and real value. Thank you

[@Amfortas]

She saved you from a life of slave morality!

[@NegativSpace-pd6cz]

Wow.. this is your best work yet. I imagine Nietzsche would be in awe if he could see the world today. "Perhaps there has never yet been such an 'open sea!'"

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks Negativ3Space! Great to hear and an interesting thought to contemplate indeed

[@ImGloomie]

you ignited my ambition and decision to major in philosophy and communications, keep up the good videos :)

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Wow that's awesome I'm delighted to hear it Brendan!

[@garyhynes]

I watched Everything. Everywhere. All at Once the other day and kept thinking it reflected the ideas you talk about so well in these videos. It's an incredible film, a masterpiece and I think gets to the root of the crisis of the age.

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Ah 100%! I watched it on a plane a few months back and it blew my mind so many dots connect in it. I did think about making a video about it. Maybe I should sit down and watch it again and take some notes as it really was brilliant (and absurd)

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

This video captures something that is not sufficiently understood: meaninglessness isn't simply a disease that has befallen us because we've strayed from the straight and narrow but a necessary step.

[@davidh3205]

Brilliant overview. I must say I find it difficult to read Neitzsche as I do with many philosophers. It's frustrating because I know there are so many nuggets of insight to be found, but I often find it difficult to stick with. Having said that, I'm going try and take the plunge again and read Zarathustra with these concepts in mind. Thanks for the work you're doing!

[@JHimminy]

Start with an easier work than Zarathustra - i.e. any of Nietzsche’s other books.

[@sempressfi]

I can relate, mostly because I have adhd and either have a hard time focusing on the book or get distracted looking things up lol I've been wanting to find people to read philosophy with, I guess kind of like a book club, to help with focusing as well as processing the ideas through conversation and hearing other perspectives. I think that and/or finding some philosophy class syllabi and study guides to guide my reading would be helpful so figured I'd share in case you do as well

[@danielhathaway43]

Fantastic.. your best work. As someone who is familiar with Nietzsche, I applaud the effort. I believe that you covered all of the basic tenets and anyone reading Nietzsche would be better off remembering these. While Nietzsche is famous, I've found very few authors who really understand all that is his philosophy. My personal favorite is Georges Bataille, the French philosopher.. He takes you to a very dark place which makes Nietzsche's optimism even more remarkable.

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks Daniel that's great to hear. I must actually read up more (and read more of) Bataille he's come up a lot but I know remarkably little about him

[@owenbowler8616]

What a helpful and clear overview of the essence of Nietzsche's work.

[@levinb1]

5:52 I am glad that I am not the only one who has thought about this schizophrenic issue of human nature.

[@attika0404]

This is one of the Best videos that I have ever seen on KZbin, well done !

[@patrickclark3288]

This is up there with the best analysis of Nietzche's work anywhere on KZbin for me...and I've watched a lot of the videos on this dude! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Keep up the good work!!

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks Patrick!

[@Eliizurr]

Very effective synthesis of such complex concepts, as always. Thank you for this video!

[@hollyleigh2000]

Such an amazing explanation and overview! Loved your tying of concepts together, and the transition from concepts Nietzsche denounced to those he supported. Lovely!

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks Hol!

[@U2BE4ALL]

Thanks for your video - truly inspirational and life-affirming

[@levinb1]

This video should be titled: “Nietzsche - The Long Vision”.

[@RichInk]

Wonderful episode. Thank you.

[@mcstivi]

thank you so much for taking the time to explain this ! i am reading the idols book and this is a great way to help frame the larger picture

[@janroodbol5055]

While reading the genealogy I watched this video and the rest of your vids on Nietzsche. It makes a lot more sence now and I can see the threads of ideas that will become more crystalised in his later works. Thanks for your work making these videos, ther're a great help!

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Delighted to hear it was helpful Jan!

[@brevenbell]

amazing job (well done).

[@chicocaeiro]

You are amaizing, thank you so much for this great explanation! greatful!

[@andreafonso321]

I really like your lectures 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

[@KalebPeters99]

Awesome stuff, man! I know a lot of work went into this one. I hope those views keep climbing steadily 😆 Happy holidays! Excited for what's to come in 2023 🎉

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks Kaleb!

[@ChristianSt97]

genius work thank you

[@adrianafischetti2547]

Good lecture.

[@123456789772951]

Nietzsche loved both Diagnosis and Apollo then like Yin and yang to live well they cant be denied life is contradiction life is messy x

[@SultanKhan-px1ih]

Wow, great video, keep it up 👍👍👍

[@MV-vv7sg]

Fantastic as usual! Given much of his work echos Schopenhauer and Kant as a result, it would be great if you did a similarly deep dive into Schopenhauer and his unique understanding from Kant’s Transcendental Doctrine of Elements mixed with eastern religion, of which you have covered before.

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Schopenhauer would certainly be an interesting one and worthy of the treatment. Not sure when I'll get around to him but definitely yes. The admixture of eastern philosophy is particularly enticing

[@renaissancefairyowldemon7686]

Wonderful job, very enlightening video. I love Nietzche ❤️

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks Renaissance Fairy!

[@melissasanford2051]

You’re well spoken

[@christofthedead]

Nietzsche's condemnation of conservatism as not only lacking the courage to face the future, but being so cowardly as to want to run away to a non-existent past is such a brutally poetic critique.

[@bogdanandone9022]

Just crazy good

[@alohm]

I am excited by this. I am hoping the OPs reading of FN has evolved. I watched recently, in an interview about metamodernism, that they believe FN expected to be the author of the new tables... I re-read, not one but two translations, of Zarathustra - and the vast majority is begging each of us to re-write, or actually write(like narrative theory today) these tables for our selves. I feel that the resurgence of interest in the Vedas/Vedanta/Buddhism speak to the same renaissance for the appreciation of Nietzsche, Jung, and the Bharatan Dharma... They are a universal story of our experience. One of suffering, and finding the path forward that allows both learning to carry the burden, and learning from our burdens.

[@imperatorscratchmataz]

Yes his next book was going to be "The Will to Power: An attempt at the revaluation of all values", however he had also said that essentially everything needed was in his Zarathustra anyways.

[@lotusday7551]

excellent video. it really comes across how Nietzsche was the original psychoanalyst. Perhaps we can do something more on the continuation of his thought in Spengler.

[@virginiopancadao]

A video on Behaviourism and Skinner would be awesome!

[@davidalvarez13]

Such as deep and transformative video !👏🏼

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Oh wow that's very generous thanks David!

[@davidalvarez13]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy thank you ! for distiling Nietzsche is such a clear way. I'm still not prepared to read Nietzsche, but will love to read something more "lightweight" (i.e. chill reading in bed) that is somehow related to Nietzsche. I've only considered Justine or the Misfortune of virtue by Marquis de Sade, but really don't know if it's worth reading or if it's at all connected with Nietzsche's ideas.

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Interesting stuff. If you're looking for a gentler intro to Niezsche Twilight of the Idols is fairly brief and relatively accessible and is basically intended as an intro to his philosophy. As for de Sade all I know about him comes from Foucault and Foucault was a big fan of Nietzsche as well so in that there might be some indicator of a taste overlap if nothing else

[@davidalvarez13]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy thanks for the answer. Yes, I've heard Twilight might be a good introduction. I might consider it as a next book, as for now I'm already hooked with your book club's book Notes from Underground 😃

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

@@davidalvarez13 Brilliant! Dosty is always a treat. Might even throw twilights up as a suggestion in the next book club

[@DavidBivol]

Good video ❤❤

[@umbertopaoluccipierandrei1503]

Grazie.

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks a million umberto I really appreciate it!

[@umbertopaoluccipierandrei1503]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy pleasure was mine watching the work you did✌

[@44yyBBaakk]

Thank you, you have succeeded in one of the most impossible challenges - to clearly explain some of the Nietzsche's works in 25 minutes. I would also love to see in future a more thorough explanation and physical implications of the Eternal Recurrence - as in the Will to Power, it is not only a "thought experiment", it is a world theory, which may have been inspired by Heraclitus. He even says there that it is a matter of fact, not of a belief, and by his words his most "heavy" teaching. Also would be interesting to see your summary of Heidegger's interpritation of unity of Eternal Recurrence, Ubermensch and Will to Power in the context of Being and Becoming.

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Delighted you enjoyed it! The more detailed stuff will be forthcoming in time I imagine. The will to power has always baffled me (imagine my relief to see how it has baffled the academics as well then) so it'll be great to do a deeper dive on it. The others would be fun to do to incubate the insights emerging from them

[@ciucinciu]

Great video man! i have so much to learn from you about all of these intellectual giants and you make it so much transparent to understand, still difficult but way more manageable! Subscribed Is it me or Nietzsche is super biased against Apollonic energy as being degenerate and destructive while? it seems set to warn us about the traps and dangers of intelectualism and moralism while the Dionysiac energy is not given that much consideration and thought. Cause what i ve seen in my life and others the Dionysiac energy is very much degenerative, and i personally belive it's much more destructive than the intellectual kind. I think it's so easy to indulge in life's little pleasures with which people tend to get tolerance about it and require even more and more indulgences to feel the same satisfaction. While at the same time the satisfaction from types of hard work which require degrees of asceticism diminishes and it's harder and harder to fulfill it. and if Nietzsche is truly biased against Apollonism then i can justify it with his life being filled with pain and misery, and the only thing he was truly great was being a thinker (a very much apolloniac practice in the purest form). He rarely or never indulged in life's pleasures. Don't know if he liked to drink and party (i bet not) but didn't he died a virgin with his heart broken and had to live years with the thought of rejection? Having that kind of life i can easily imagine how can you can take the biggest intellectual guns and point them towards the spirit of Apollo, of which Nietzsche knew only of that. And probably that's why he's so positive about Dionysiac energy, cause he had a chronic lack of it and maybe his whole take about these two is a way he's coping with an unbalanced life of pain and thinking and not living and feeling. He must've been so far removed from Dyionisis and "The world" that he probably didn't give much though of the dangers of indulgencies, not in the obviousextreme form, but in the moderate which happen to be the most nefarious forms, in my experience. i say all this because i was, for several years, drenched in Dionysiac energy until i was 28 years old. And after that i tasted some Apollonic life and got serious about my work i realized how degenerate i was (physically, mentally, sentimental, spiritually ) and how much time, energy and talent was wasted away just with mediocre indulgences. Rarely i got into extreme pleasures, but those were quick. Most of it was just average indulgences, never felt i abuse them, it felt like this is i need to live, just to feel good after consuming and not creating or doing the hard work. And after all that i chanced my trajectory to 180 and became very Apollonic and started doing the work i need to become a better person/artist, but i realized i had to compensate after all those wasted years. And I started denying most of every kind of Dyionisiac impulses. But just recently i kinda realize if i keep this for too long and not get a balance with the Instinctual and "The world" i will get bitter, sour, osified and uncreative. Luckily for me, my girlfriend regularly rings the alarm to make me realize i need to start live once in a while. All of that ascetic Dionisiac denial may be a productive necessary pain, but too much of it can affect my personal life and even my artistic career. in short "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is what will happen if i keep it like that and artists don't dwell as dull boys. Yet, i don't feel i m in danger of diving to deep in Apollonism or Dyinisism again. But i do believe Neitzsche did just that, he was so far deep in Apollonism that he began to resent it and that's what i feel is reflected into his teaching. i know very little of what Nietzsche says which is probably 2% or lower, but i get the same message from Uberboyo channel who's pedaling Nietszche's anti apollonic sentiment in a number of his videos.

[@athefitz]

Hi. Off topic but would you ever consider doing some content around pragmatism? I’d love to hear how that fits into the analytic/continental schism and how it relates to other strands of philosophy.

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

PhilosophyToons actually recommended it to me as he does a lot on pragmatism. I've been wanting to read William James a long time and I've always found from a distance that it's a philosophy that gels really well with me so I do plan and am excited to dive into it

[@athefitz]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy I can’t wait!

[@satnamo]

A strong person is good, noble and impressive 🎉he must require strength because otherwise he will never attain power 🎉power to him who power exerts

[@mikec6733]

I have bottled up and abandoned my instincts to a degree that has nearly become fatal. In an attempt to escape what appeared to me a grossly immoral world, I have burrowed too tenaciously towards the ascetic ideal.

[@thecoolfool007]

TLDW 1. Nietzsche's philosophy is concerned with the balance between "health" and "decadence," or the affirmative affirmation of life and the negative decay of it. 2. The crisis of nihilism, or the belief in nothing, is a central problem in Nietzsche's later philosophy and is a result of the values and ideals of Western culture, specifically Christianity. 3. Decadence, as described by Nietzsche, refers to a decline in vitality and moral values, which can be seen in the ascetic ideal, slave morality, and the critique of Christianity, science, Socrates, and all philosophy. 4. The ideals of Dionysus and Zarathustra, as well as the concepts of the eternal recurrence, the Ubermensch, and the will to power, represent the affirmative affirmation of life and health. 5. The concept of the eternal recurrence refers to the idea that all events in the universe will repeat themselves indefinitely, and the Ubermensch is a superior being who goes beyond traditional morality and creates their own values. 6. The will to power is the fundamental drive of all living things to assert their power and increase their strength and vitality. 7. The concept of ressentiment, or the feeling of resentment towards those who are superior, is a key aspect of slave morality and is in opposition to the affirmation of life found in master morality. 8. Nietzsche believes that the goal of philosophy should be to help individuals overcome their own decadence and embrace their own vitality and greatness.

[@n8works]

Once again such an amazing portrait! You really are an artist! What a fascinating overview. I can imagine him living in a very similar age to us. He must have really felt as if "God is dead" in a very powerful way. Imagine a world many times more religious than our times, yet science keeps discovering and inventing things that defy any religious explanation and force a change in your entire perspective. It must have been a huge mental shift for everyone at the time. If everything you believed is being eroded piece by piece, you would start to really question your reality, how much of what I believed was wrong? If it's literally impossible to perform miracles as science was proving, is this entire story fiction? It must have been horrifying for many religious serious thinkers. It's maybe no surprise that he was able to create the works he did. They must have been coming from deeply felt and lived experiences. A similar time is occurring now it seems. Tech is proving that humans really aren't that special. We soon may not be the only consciousness. Maybe this is why his ideas resonate so deeply today?

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Thanks Nate and agreed we hadn't really stabilised from the liminality of modernity and now the uncertainty has gone to the next level so it makes sense that the philosophers of the threshold like Nietzsche would resonate so strong today

[@worldsgreatestimpressionis6462]

Brilliant capsulization

[@ahmedbellankas2549]

It seems to me that the analysis found in erich fromm's escape of freedom is a Nietzschean analysis.

[@serensaunders4008]

Hello! Would someone be able to tell me what the painting is called at 3:11? :)

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Hi Seren it's by a follower of Bosch if you google Follower_of_Jheronimus_Bosch_Christ_in_Limbo you'll get it on wikimedia

[@serensaunders4008]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy thanks! :)

[@jespertrier4776]

Great vid! But I'm always struck by the enormous similarities between Nietzsche and William Blake. Especially his mythology where one of the four Zoas, Urizen (the false god of reason) puts the other three zoas ((Urthona, Luvah and Tharmas) of Albion (the world/England) into a coma and creates a rational hell on earth, where Los (the blacksmith of souls, i.e. the artist) wanders around trying to wake Urizen's three sleeping siblings. But I see very few if any who draw that parallel?

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Fascinating! I wasn't aware of any of this Blakean mythos that's very peculiar stuff Jesper

[@123456789772951]

Interesting I was reading something on Blake's fearie mythology just the other day would love to get into more once I've processed all the other stuff ! 😆

[@jespertrier4776]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy There's an awful lot to get into with Blake. If new to him, start with The Marriage og Heaven and Hell. It's pretty straight to the point 🙂

[@hast3033]

Who and what works did Nietzsche most adore of the greek tragiedian writers?

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Anything before Euripides basically. I'm pretty sure Aeschylus stood above the others for him though I could be wrong

[@ejenkins4711]

To feel or. Not to feel seems a better way

[@michaelmcclure3383]

My understanding of the concept of eternal recurrence is It isn't a metaphysical idea, it's just a marker of 'health'. If life can be affirmed in its tonality to the point that it can repeat endlessly in the same way, then you're really yes saying.

[@levinb1]

11:40 Nietzsche describes the morality of the modern era to be contradictory and schizophrenic.

[@Amfortas]

Real

[@LucySloane]

Why the infernal, distracting background musical drone?

[@belfastholidaybreaks8414]

I wonder if Nietzche ever met Van Gogh.

[@ChristianSt97]

so nietzsche wants to unite instinct and intellect....but does he say how to do that? if someone has understood that please help

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Unite is a little inaccurate...harmonise would be better. He's not like the Buddhists or Hindus looking to dissolve the ego structure. It's more that he wants to have a more healthy relationship than the suppression of morality or reason. So his Zarathustran metaphysics is a way of creating meaning through the affirmation of life/body/world (i.e. the instinctual realm). By consciously affirming the body there is a synthesis of mind and body of consciousness and instinct. That's what he proposes but I don't think his metaphysics carried it off and this is where I think Jung picks up the torch

[@ChristianSt97]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy ok thank you for the clarification. Now it makes sense. I think even jung wasnt able in the end to harmonise the two things (even though he did a great job). Lets see if we will find an answer in the future. If you are curious there is a great book that talks exactly about this. It is called: consciousness in jung and pantali. Have you red it?

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

@@ChristianSt97 never heard of it but it sounds really interesting I must have a look and see if it captures me

[@ChristianSt97]

@@TheLivingPhilosophy great

[@Faustobellissimo]

So basically Health is Eros, and Decadence is Thanatos?

[@TheLivingPhilosophy]

Interesting way of putting it. I'm not confident in my Freudian chops enough to say yay or nay but would be curious to know

[@rnt45t1]

The solution to nihilism is hard work towards a meaningful goal.

[@HakWilliams]

Let's not get toooo worked up over this dude, ok?

[@alohm]

*The father of MetaModernism. ;)

[@herbiewalkermusic]

Nietzsche’s ideas are whack. Why would morality and reason ever have to be separate?

[@Amfortas]

By commenting, you're engaging in his ideas, proving they're not "whack". Go write a refutation on him if you feel strongly enough. It's perfectly moral to eat your dead parents in Papa New Guinea. Morality isn't concrete, thus claiming it has to/does map to reason is naive