Tag: philosophy

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(Part 3 available here)

1. Will To Power

We have already had occasion in previous installments to discuss will to power (Wille zur Macht), one of the most famous concepts associated with Nietzsche. In this essay, we will go into more detail, and discuss Heidegger’s surprising claim that the doctrines of will to power and the “eternal recurrence of the same” are identical. (more…)

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Giovanni Battista Vico was born on this day in 1668 in Naples. Vico was one of the first counter-Enlightenment thinkers and a pioneer of the philosophy of history and culture. Thus Vico is an important inspiration for the New Right. You can learn more about his life, work, and legacy at Counter-Currents.

Works About Vico at Counter-Currents: (more…)

Nietzsche blind to the clearing.

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(Part 2 available here)

1. Nihilism and the Death of God

The preceding installment gave the reader a sketch of Heidegger’s interpretation of Nietzsche. It is now time to go into more detail. Heidegger argues that there are “three axes” of Nietzsche’s philosophy: the eternal return, the will to power, and the revaluation of all values.^[1] Our discussion will focus upon these but also cover other matters important for understanding Nietzsche. Ultimately, Heidegger will show that all the different “axes” or aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophy are interrelated, and that a thorough discussion of any one must lead to the others. (more…)

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Part 3 available here.

Another issue which Plato raises in the Timaeus and Critias is the tension between men of thought and men of action. Another way of putting this is the tension between the philosophical life and political life. This is what Leo Strauss claims is the concealed meaning within Xenophon’s dialogue, Hiero, based on his rules for discerning “esoteric writing.” It would make sense for Socrates’ disciples to discuss similar themes. (more…)

Johan Huizinga, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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Johan Huizinga
Homo Ludens
Groningen, Netherlands: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1938

After writing last week about Tarot considered as a game, I kept with the subject of gaming for a while longer. I realized I didn’t really know what Game Theory was, for example, so I swotted up on that. I also came across a book I had never heard of by a writer whose name rang only the vaguest of bells, although readers may be more familiar. Homo Ludens was published in 1938 by Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, and has turned out to be a complete delight. (more…)

Heidegger on a country path, 1966.

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That whereof we cannot speak we must remain silent. — Last line of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

The rest is silence. — Shakespeare, Hamlet

Berel Lang
Heidegger’s Silence
Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 2018

Martin Heidegger’s association with the Nazis is well documented. Having come to Hitler’s attention as Germany’s leading academic, the philosopher was elected to the position of Rector of Freiburg University on April 21, 1933. (more…)

Edmund Husserl

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In my essay “Notes on Strauss and Husserl,”[1] I argued that Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology had a formative influence on Leo Strauss in two ways. First, Husserl’s method of dismantling traditional concepts in order to return to and describe the experiences they were based upon influenced Strauss’ recovery of the classical ideas of nature and natural right. Second, Husserl influenced Strauss’ hermeneutics, specifically his so-called “golden saying” on the surface of texts. (more…)

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Whatever happened to morality? This is not a lament over declining moral standards, or dismay at a rise in immoral behavior. These things are certainly happening, but they are the registration and confirmation of an individual moral standard, usually of a nation, a gauge which changes between cultures, civilizations, and epochs. (more…)

Raphael’s Aristotle from The School of Athens, fresco, 1510-1511, Apostolic Palace, Vatican

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Part 2 of 2, Part 1 here

Aristotle’s Defense of the Theoretical Life

Some people study mathematics, astronomy, etc. as ends in themselves, purely out of wonder or curiosity. One cannot defend such theoretical work by pointing out that it may still be useful for other aims, even if only by accident. This is to defend theory by claiming that it is really practical. To be a means to an end—even a remote, indirect, and accidental means to an end—is to be practical. This sort of defense still implies that one cannot justify theoretical pursuits that never lead, even accidentally, to practical applications. Thus, one can only justify theory as pure theory: the pursuit of knowledge (1) as an end in itself, and (2) regardless of practical consequences. To defend theory, one must defend it as “useless.” (more…)

Aristotle, line engraving by P. Fidanza after Raphael Sanzio

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Part 1 of 2

Plato and Aristotle are the twin peaks of Ancient Greek philosophy. Aristotle was Plato’s student. But in one way, Aristotle seems to backslide from Plato. Plato was interested in theoretical topics like mathematics and the philosophy of nature. But following Socrates, his conception of wisdom was primarily moral and practical. Aristotle, however, defends the superiority of the purely contemplative life over the practical life. This seems to be a return to pre-Socratic, theory-centered philosophy.

The earliest Greek philosophers were primarily interested in nature and were unconcerned with practical matters. This is nicely encapsulated by the story about Thales, the very first Greek philosopher, who was so fascinated with the heavens that he did not notice a well at his feet and thus fell into it. (more…)

You can order Greg Johnson’s Tyranny and Wisdom here.

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Philosophy is the most important thing you will ever study, but it is easy to get bogged down in asides about the meanings of words. Thus it is helpful to get the basic terminology out of the way first.

It’s All Greek to Us

The European philosophical tradition began in Ancient Greece. Thus we will have to use a few Greek words to explain it. But don’t be intimidated. Since many English words have Greek roots, you have been speaking Greek all along without knowing it. (more…)

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We are all suffering from Nazi fatigue. Donald Trump is celebrating a decade of being “literally Hitler,” and will apparently soon be putting immigrants into camps. In Britain, young schoolchildren are shown timelines linking Mussolini, Hitler, and Nigel Farage, and showing how the first two lead inexorably to the Reform UK leader. The rest of us on the Right are just plain Nazis, although one consolation is that if we are, at least we get to wear cool clothes. (more…)

You can buy Greg Johnson’s The Trial of Socrates here.

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“Knowledge is not wisdom.”

—Frank Zappa

Plato’s Lovers is one of his shortest dialogues, but it deals with one of his weightiest topics: the nature of philosophy.

The setting is the school of Dionysus the grammarian. Socrates encounters two attractive young men from good families along with their two older male lovers. None of these characters are named.

The lovers are described as “rival” lovers, but ambiguously so. Was one of them also interested in the other’s lad? Or do they represent rival loves, i.e., rival ways of life? (more…)