The Quantum Nietzsche: The Will to Power and the Nature of Dissipative Systems

by William Plank

Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th century German philosopher, conceived of the universe as a living thing and a partner with humanity. He was able to do this, especially by a complete rejection of Plato's philosophy. Similar ideas will not crop up until the major thinkers in quantum mechanics in the 20th John Bell and his laboratory apparatus demonstrating "Bell's Inequality," and in the "beables" and "beers" of David Bohm. By using the ideas of Nietzsche, one can see the uses and misuses of Greek philosophy, especially in the paintings of the Northern Renaissance vs the Italian Renaissance; in Rabelais and the Italian Renaissance; and in Romanticism in general. Nietzsche's work likewise provides a critical point of view to reevaluate the work of William Blake, Pieter Bruegel,Hegel, Luther, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jacques Derrida, Michel Serres, Gilles Deleuze, many of whom were reacting against Platonism without realizing it. Nietzsche puts man at home in the universe in a way no other philosopher has ever done, thus discounting the bleak views of Camus and Sartre and giving a completely new view of existentialism and Christianity. The author gives evidence that most thinkers have completely misunderstood Nietzsche or have not admitted their debt to him.

556 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Okan Tanrıkulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It may be advisable to be familiar with Nietzsche's early and some of his later works such as The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music (1967), On the Genealogy of Morals (1969), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1954) as well as Will to Power (1967) before starting to read this book since it goes into excruciatingly in-depth analysis of Nietzche's philosophy and analysis whereas also combining his philosophy with the most recent quantum mechanics although we see such comparisons only in a few chapters within the book. All in all, it is worth reading to learn about the very subtle details of Nietzche's work concentrating around the terms such as "Will to Power", "Übermensch", "Eternal Recurrence" and "Amor Fati". Although, at some points, I disagree with the Author, who is a Nietzche adherent, I still enjoyed reading to witness a clash of various philosophers and their rejections or mocking of each other's ideas and theories.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The quantum theme very loosely drizzles in analogously with what's otherwise an nietzsche precis