Obra Selecta: Así habló Zaratustra, El anticristo

by Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Niietzsche se ha posicionado como una de las grandes mentes del siglo XIX, fue filósofo, poeta, músico y filólogo. Su obra que es parte primordial de la filosofía occidental ha influido por años tanto a la historia como a la cultura misma de occidente. En este Volumen se incluyedos ediciones integras de dos de sus más grandes obras : ASÍ HABLO ZARATUSTRA,la más famosa de todas y se vale de la figura legendaria del filósofo persa para tratar cuatro grandes temas("el superhombre" , "la muerte de Dios" , "la voluntad de poder" y el eterno retorno de lo idéntico"), EL ANTICRISTO, donde se puede apreciar claramente una superación del nihilismo y el cristianismo, atacando a este último, así como la moral, que han corrompido al hombre.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Fiction, Book Club, Audiobook, Ebooks, Spirituality

526 pages, Hardcover

First published January 11, 2020

About the author

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.

Reviews

[Dave Eggermont · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is basically the culmination of all Nietzsche's previous work. He calls it "the greatest gift" he has produced. To truly understand what is in the book, you'll have to have read his previous work or you'll just get confused.

"It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in whole books — what other men do not say in whole books."
- Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols)

That pretty much sums up Thus Spake Zarathustra.

My copy of Thus Spake Zarathustra has a subtitle saying:
"A book for all and none."

Learn from that what you will.

[Mogli]

entertaining and amusing until taking it seriously. then you'd like to shoot nietzsche.

[Surjeeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry I didn't know I was buying a song lyrics/poetry compilation. Wtf Nietzsche.

[Rust Cohle · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the whole book, i just love to read the passing by chapter, when Zarathustra met the fool man and the great dialogue they had both i give 5/5

[Idontknow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the most "straightforwardly labyrinthine" helpful books out there.

Excellent re-read quality, in whatever capacity of discernment.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

About the only real amusement I got from this book is imagining what it might be like to read it in 1901, or even 1928, rather than in 2020, when it's become inextricably linked with the Nazis. Every so often I'd nod along, thinking, I'm kind of buying this ... you want people to adhere to a philosophy that makes them 'greater people' ... but wait NAZIS. If the only way you can get the Superman is to burn the non-Supermen in industrial ovens I think we, as humankind, have (probably, hopefully) decided that it's not bloody worth it.

It's written in an extremely tiresome style that reminds me of the readings in Mass, so I'm going to call it 'Biblical', although I've never properly read the Bible for this comparison to hold water. Now I'm no philosophy scholar - plus I read this quickly and have no intention of ever coming back to read it slowly - but he did seem to contradict himself at times. At one point he despises the Ego, at another he's praising it. I gather he is not a fan of a) crowds or b) women, and it is hilarious to think that the word of a man who had a, what, six-month relationship with one woman ever in his life is taken as the last word on the nature of women-as-hive-vagina. "Get your whip, indeed." I don't know why biographical literary criticism ever fell out of favour, because it's clear that these are the whinings of a sad, disappointed little man.

"I love him who chastises his God because he loves his God; for he must perish by the anger of his God."

Page 43 and he's already lost me.

"The creator seeks companions and such as know how to whet their sickles. They will be called destroyers and despisers of good and evil. But they are harvesters and rejoicers."

This is one of his central tenets: that creation involves destruction. I neither agree nor disagree; sometimes it does, but not all the time it doesn't.

"To create freedom for itself and a sacred No even to duty: the lion is needed for that, my brothers.
To seize the right to new values - that is the most terrible proceeding for a weight-bearing and reverential spirit. Truly, to this spirit it is a theft and a work for an animal of prey."

He does equate 'freedom' with 'selfishness' without really defining either term, and I find the vagueness unsatisfactory. However, even if he did define them clearly, I doubt I would agree - although I take his point about the reverential spirit.

Randomly we have some good sleep hygiene tips: "Ruminating I ask myself, patient as a cow: What were your ten overcomings?
And which were the ten reconciliations and the ten truths and the ten fits of laughter with which my heart enjoyed itself?
As I ponder such things rocked by my forty thoughts, sleep, the lord of virtue, suddenly overtakes me uncalled."

I'm definitely going to try this, I don't care what Zarathustra thought of it.

"That everyone can learn to read will ruin in the long run not only writing, but thinking too."

On the one hand, LOL WHUT, on the other hand .... Love Island ... [chin-scratch emoji]

"But the wind, which we cannot see, torments [the tree] and bends it where it wishes. It is invisible hands that torment and bend us the worst."

YOU SAID IT, FRED.

"To a good warrior, 'thou shalt' sounds more agreeable than 'I will'."

I could swear I read something about an evil dragon whose scales said 'Thou shalt' a few chapters back. [chin-scratch emoji]

"Everything that is thought about a great deal is finally thought suspicious."

Worthy of Oscar Wilde, that one.

"[...] behold, it is the voice of its will to power.

What it accounts hard it calls praiseworthy; what it accounts indispensable and hard it calls good; and that which relieves the greatest need, the rare, the hardest of all - it glorifies as holy."

I gather we are not Team This.

"But you yourself will always be the worst enemy you can encounter; you yourself lie in wait for yourself in caves and forests.
[...]
Solitary man, you are going the way of the lover; you love yourself and for that reason you despise yourself as only lovers can despise."

Some truth bombs being thrown.

"The enlightened man calls man himself: the animal with red cheeks."

Reminds me of the bit in 'Humankind' where Bregman equates the unique human ability to blush with our empathy. Not a comparison I expect Nietzsche would appreciate.

"Ah yes! Wisdom!
One thirsts for her and is not satisfied, one looks at her through veils, one snatches at her through nets.
Is she fair? I know not. But the cleverest old fish are still lured by her."

I like this as a piece of writing more than a piece of philosophy. Similar to this:
"And let everything that can break upon our truths - break! There is many a house still to build!"

"Is there not in all life itself - stealing and killing? And when such words were called holy was not truth itself - killed?"

Er, yeah, no.

"For man is the cruellest animal.
More than anything on earth he enjoys tragedies, bull-fights, and crucifixions; and when he invented Hell for himself, behold, it was his heaven on earth."

This is definitely a nihilistic, heh, point of view.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted" - I'm trying to remember if I knew this quote or do I know another similar one.

I don't really think I get him, but I also don't really think that even if I did, I would like it.

[Jeremy Garces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of his messages that stuck out to me the most were on slave mentality, forgiveness masquerading as a virtue, and the will to power.
It is possible and highly likely that the religions of the world are a form of social control, which has been noted by Napoleon as the only thing stopping the poor from overthrowing the rich.
The will to power; Nietzsche is such an edge lord but I love it. I do see how hard it is to be free, because that requires responsibility and self-sufficiency. That is too much work for the 'last man', which in my current timeline are made up of a bunch of conformist Christian conservatives afraid of change, and a bunch of nihilist, hedonistic, and cynical college students (and all ages to be fair) who are complacent with a bit of sex and drugs once a week. What he believes the Superman should be is a bit terrifying though, embracing the evil force that has pushed us to survive.
However, I know I am just scratching the surface of this and possibly misinterpreting the message that even he says is not universal. Fredrich is literally a "I was born in the wrong time" kind of person.

[Jo March · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puntúoo máis pola súa trascendencia ca por outra cousa. Ou non o dei entendido de todo (o máis probable, en filosofía de bacharelato malamente cheguei a Kant), ou este señor estaba un pouco tolo.
O que entendo é que era un individualista extremo, nivel de chegar a condenar a compaixón ou a axuda, e con iso chegou á morte de Deus e á condena do cristianismo, en parte pola súa hipocresía e en parte por basearse no altruísmo e a solidaridade.
Non me extraña que lles gustase tanto a nazis e fascistas, malia que non creo que fose a intención do autor.

[C.S.Oniro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great and sharp analysis of Christianity. Nietzsche language is maybe a little too sharp but it is consistent with his intent: undermine the last 2 millenias of monotheism superstitions and bias that self imposed on the western culture and societies. I honestly loved it.

[Samuel Bierig]

Wowza! He is brilliant. I'll give him that. The so smart he is stupid kind of thing I suppose. Like his father the devil.

[Álvaro J. Balboa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al ser ambas obras tan conocidas, creo que sobran los comentarios sobre éstas. La edición está muy bien, sobre todo al combinar su obra cumbre y su obra final, y la tipografía bien, aunque para mí gusto el papel muy gordo

[K P · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a thorough Nietszhe's critique of Catholicism. He starts off with a description and identification as the free people, Hyperboreans,Greek mythical civilization. He outlines the thirst for adventure, bravery, and freedom of mind as their habitual. Which he contrasts to the modern man ( 19th century) whom has fallen prey to the dogma of Catholic beliefs. That he supports with arguing that development is not always good; not always progressive and enchanting. Arguing that a Renaissance man is more advanced than today's man. And here he starts dissecting the problem at hand: Christianity.

Nietzsche seems to have a real big problem with Christianity, almost biased, on a personal level. Starts of with criticizing the virtues the religion is promoting; deeming them as weakening and sickly. This stigma is attached to Christianity throughout the whole book. These virtues are listed as: timidness, forgiveness, fairness, and all other moralities... He sees them as Christian lies, only suited for the weak minded and the sick. He keeps yapping about how Christianity is the actual evil for the humanity and ruins any human development achieved: Greek, Roman, Renaissance. So therefore, he goes on to talk about Christianity's birth and development starting of with it's parent - Judaism. On one hand it seems that Nietzsche sees them virtually the same, the God of these religions are only acknowledged at deathbed and argues that the way these religions describe him is diminishing and degrading as he is only good, never evil. Which as I understood, by Nietzsche has to be all around entity. He talks how Jewish people spread their God from his highest Honor, the judge to a saver of all around the world, the maid of people's wishes. Carrying on with the development and roots of the Church and it's dogmatic rules. And how this was inherited by Christianity. He sees Church, and priests as the spreaders of lies and untruth. Even though he outlines how priests were the ones to choose what is right and truth. That is the exact reason why it was lies, they exiled the scientific truths and so on. Further he roasts the being of Jesus. Calling him the only Christian, liar, and finally an idiot. Calling out how his legends were mostly produced out of anger and feeling of revenge by his students - very anti-christian. And most importantly dying for his own sins and the others... But out of all he seems to have the biggest problem with the Apostles, particularly St.Paul. He blames him for most of the untruths and degrading of the humanity. Also through out the book he makes comparisons with other religions like Budhism and Indian hindu religions. Though being favorable for the latter.

Overall, Nietzsche seems to have more of problem with the biased dogma of Christianity favoring the weak and making the strong endure and fit the lines of the weak. Same way with the morals and virtues. It is not the virtues promoted with Christianity that he has a problem with but the extreme stand behind them and abolishing of any opposite...

[William Blackwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who can outthink the great Nietzsche? Who can out-philosophize the great Nietzsche? Not me, that’s for sure. So, I’m not even gonna try.

But what I will say is this: Among other things, The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche is a damning indictment of Christianity and humankind’s notion of “universal validity.”

Christianity is despised by Nietzsche. He claims religious idealists are arrogant to consider themselves virtuous enough “to rise above reality, and then look upon it with suspicion.”

The theologian or religious idealist, according to Nietzsche, “carries all sorts of lofty concepts in his hand” and then “launches them with benevolent contempt” against: understanding, the senses, honor, good living, science, etc., seeing these things as “beneath him.” As if “holiness had not already done more damage to life than all imaginable horrors and vices… The pure soul is pure lie…”

He doesn’t stop there, essentially declaring war on Christianity and taking a well-aimed shot at Christian pity: “Nothing is more unhealthy, amidst all our unhealthy modernism, than Christian pity.”

He also lambasts faith, calling it pathetic blindness: To avoid suffering the sight of this incurable falsehood, he write, “People erect a concept of morality, of virtue, of holiness upon this false view of things; they ground good conscience upon faulty vision; they argue that no other sort of vision has value any more, once they have made theirs sacrosanct with the names of ‘God,’ ‘salvation’ and ‘eternity.’”

In bold tones, Nietzsche questions the very notion of Christian truth: “So long as the priest, that professional denier, calumniator and poisoner of life, is accepted as a higher variety of man, there can be no answer to the question, What is truth? Truth has already been stood on its head when the obvious attorney of mere emptiness is mistaken for its representative….”

Hearkens back to what Gorge Orwell wrote: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
A memorable quote: “What destroys a man more quickly than to work, think and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure—as a mere automaton of duty?”
But to think that Nietzsche is all doom and gloom would be to ignore his passionate pleas for humankind to strive for individualism. It’s up to “…every man (to) find his own virtue, his own categorical imperative.”

Definitely not for the faint of heart. Not for those who refuse to look inward or think outside the box. Albeit a little—if not a lot—on the extreme side, nonetheless The Antichrist is certainly an eye-opener for those willing to question the deception and brain-washing that occurs in everything from religious institutions to top-down leadership at the government and corporate levels.

A worthy, well-written, and thought-provoking read.

[Michela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginning w/"God is dead.". Hmmm...what to say? Have problems w/my religion as a Roman Catholic, was soul searching for some kind of reconciliation w/The Catholic Church. Intellectually stimulating but it didn't quite enter my head or my heart despite being open to it. Does a lot of denouncing instead of proffering anything new. Insightful w/respects to identifying and dispelling some of Christianity's outdated principles based on what the character claims to be an indoctrinated master-slave mentality throughout but at the same time propositioning himself in the same position of being heralded as some kind of future god/prophet/hermit monk. Just couldn't care to enter into tunnels about power struggles. Better left in the past centuries. In terms of Nietzche the autobiography...I was terrified and sympathetic. Might try to read Spinoza instead who takes on the view that God is Nature. Great narrative in terms of literary work.

[Kasey Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nietzsche was a true revolutionary of his time. If he wasn't so sexist I would give this book all the stars. His judgment was clearly clouded by his lust for the ladies; however, this was terribly prevalent at the time.

I believe Nietzsche began the book with the bold statement "God is dead" to get everyone's attention. He was certainly an agnostic. One of my absolute favorite quotes of all time is found in this book, " I would only believe in a God that can dance." Such an interesting and powerful statement. All things considered, the arts really are part of what make us a "higher" species.

For those wanting to explore the concept further I highly recommend this article by Scotty Hendricks of the Big Think: http://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/...

[Felix Kirkby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nietzsche's 'Thus Spake Zarathustra', published in 1891, is a true masterpiece of philosophical writing. It represents the culmination of Nietzsche's thought and transcends all Western philosophy written before it, uniting pragmatism and nihilism in a way which had never been done before (and, most probably, won't be for a while). The sheer density of the text is remarkable, yet - as with all Nietzsche - it is quite eminently readable. Don't expect to understand anything in it after a single go, though, as many of its parables can only be properly interpreted after some degree of research on the part of the reader (c.f. The Tarantulas, etc.).

All in all, it is a pinnacle of Western philosophy. It's simply unsurpassable.

[Ruby Jusoh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thus Spake Zarathustra. My first Nietzsche. It is, honestly, too preachy for me.
~
I was expecting a story story, if you get what I mean. There is an actual story revolving around Zarathustra (Nietzsche's interpretation of the founder of the Zoroastrianism religion) and how he went around and talked a lot. But then, I just finished a Buddhism book. Hence, my experience reading this was hugely affected. I felt like it was 300 pages of how we should evaluate our lives. Not a bad thing, I must say. But then again... 300 pages? That's philosophical literature for you.
~
Nonetheless, the ideas presented here are bold. I get it now. Nietzsche was a thinker. He thought a lot of serious things. Okay.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended to fans of philosophy and so glad I read it, really inspiring empowering stuff. At times hilariously bad (ugh not another song unto to the moon) and ignorant (okay so you're such a great guy that you deserve a woman to breed upon, cool). At other times, strikingly brilliant. Taken in historical context even more brilliant. If we could cut out like 3/4 of this book it would be like the best book ever.

My impression of this book at its worst: Hearest thou mine words that fall uponst thine ignorant ears likest unto stones for thereupon thou shalt blah blah blah.

Nietzsche at his best: "Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman — a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end."

[Justin Thillens · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars in spite of the arousing controversies. I don't agree with it all, but how could I? If I am to take his philosophy to its end and participate in the will to power, his sins as a man must become irrelevant to me. I see why people hate this/him, especially women, but baked in this act of sheer hubris is a path to transcending the self, transcending the nature of nihilism without its negation through ignorance or illusion. This book was a step towards ending the depression wrought forth in my deconversion from Christianity. I'm motivated myself to improve upon his theory through fiction. I would be inspired by the attempts of others to do the same. Nietzsche did not believe himself to be ubermensch, it's our job not to consider him as such.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 2 out of 5]

A load of hogwash. That's what I think of this book. I've never used such a strong term but it's the best word I can find to describe it. There's absolutely no narrative or direction to the book. The text is full of anti-Christian platitudes or bold statements. It just simply lacks coherency which to me, invalidates the argument.
Perhaps, this book has more coherency when studied more in depth. I'll give it that. I just don't believe it worth my time to devote that dedicated study.
I definitely don't recommend this book (unless one's trying I read through the classics).

[AttackGirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Great Insight"

This is one of the most comprehensive reviews of Nietzsche's The Antichrist I’ve read. Bouseman seems to know him and the situation in which Nietzsche was living; dealing with and attempting to express and Bouseman does so quite well.

15. ....”Who alone has any reason for living his way out of reality, the man who suffers under it, but to suffer from reality one must be a botched reality, The preponderance of pains over pleasure. Is the cause of fictitious morality and religion."

The stage of Natural become abominable vs God being the will to power.
Love it!

[Jack Maguire · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the occasional moments this book manages to make any sense at all, its an obnoxious veiled attempt at methaphorical self-aggrandizement of Nietzsche's works and influence.

The book seldomly is coherent. It is a jumbling of aphorisms of a man wandering around who thinks he is God's gift to earth. There is no plot. There is no character development. This is not a novel. But it's also not a philosophical treatise.

Nietzsche fails on all accounts to say almost anything meaningful in this book. I advise against picking it up.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work is quite simply one of the greatest that has ever been produced by a philosopher. Nietzsche often gets a bad wrap because people think he's too "edgy" or whatever but the core of his philosophy is that you should ultimately pursue your calling. Because even if life has no meaning, we have the ability to create the meaning of life for ourselves, and we should pursue that while we have time on this earth to do it.

[Herrholz Paul]

The one star I gave was only because I could not read it so it is a purely subjective review. I have now removed the rating as I no longer feel I should make a judgement here. After giving up on the book I found some good lecture videos on Youtube which give some insight into the philosopher and his works. Wes Cecil in particular is really good!

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorate work of his. Lots of time Nietzsche seems to write about what is on his mind, but this time around he is writing religious fiction in order to spark thought.

There's great little blurbs within here, but it does not feel like the time spent reading, and rereading to understanding is worth the imagined rewards.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nietzsche's last book is among his most relatable. The title will undoubtedly turn people away and he acknowledges that in the beginning, but the outcome is a treatise of how unchallenged top down power has eroded human nature and society.

[Caz Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man was these dude angry!! Read the Kindle version and I think whoever typed it into the Interweb was angry too as some of the paragraphs were a bit messed up. Had this before with Kindle. Makes reading crazy psychologists very challenging. However he made some good points.

[Bob G · Rating 1 out of 5]

As bad as it gets. One of my criticisms of his writing style was his shifting of metaphors. I think I counted about 10 different metaphors for the same thing in a single chapter. Fine if that helps enlighten the reader. In his case it just added confusion.

[Alena Kuzniatsova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable language, but I would need to re-read the book in some time as I feel now that it is full of contradictory concepts and ideas. Many of them sound bold and inspiring, others are hard to agree with as they sound misleading.

[Parul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Antidote to self doubt. Antitode to fear. Changed how I view the world. Worth every second spent. Can't believe someone wrote this, pure calibre.

I played Night Fairies by Brandon Fietcher while I read it, made the whole experiences 100x better.