Frederich Nietzsche

The Giants of Philosophy

by Richard Schacht, Charlton Heston (Narrator)

Nietzsche condemned nearly all of the religious and philosophical thought of his day to blunt terms (e.g., God is dead). He says the only reality is this world of life and death, conflict and change, creation and destruction. For centuries, religious ideas have given meaning to life in the western world; but as they now collapse, humanity faces a grave crisis of nihilism and despair.

The basic character of life in this world is to exhibit a primal tendency he calls "will to power." He glorifies those who are strong enough to face this reality: for they alone can live joyfully, without God and without any hope of ultimate salvation. The "overman" is his new ideal, the symbol of creativity incarnate.

Man is fundamentally only an animal that has developed in an unusual way. Yet a "higher humanity" can emerge if the most talented, creative and strongest individuals flourish and prevail, rising above the life of the "common herd" that typifies mankind. Nietzsche rejects democratic ideals, believing that they ignore human differences and hinder the exceptionally talented.

Conflict, mastery and creativity are essential to life and its development. The "will to power" brings about new forms of competition and superiority, as artists and other creative types pave the way for the "enhancement" of human life.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, History

2 pages, Audio CD

First published December 1, 1990

Reviews

[Derek Neighbors · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good look in the life and work of Nietzsche. Anyone who is interested in philosophy and deeper thought, owes it to get over the audacity of "God is Dead" and peer into the mind of someone who truly challenged the status quo of his time. An original revolutionary. An observer of human behavior who held the creative aspect of humanity in high regard. The audio version is read by Charlton Heston.

[عدنان العبار · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the legacy of Emerson, Thoreau, Bastiat, and Stirner, Nietzsche arose to crown aphoristic philosophy and give it its special place in philosophy as an act of literature and returned to the Greeks once again for inspiration. Nietzsche is the most fun to read philosopher, and the most cutting at depth in matters concerned with what men really are, and not what they ought to be, to which he offers us again what we really are not and advocates for the impossible transition.

[bimri · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least, no one will blame Nietzsche for being a boring philosopher. He entertains as well as he enlightens; as well as he kills metaphysical myths and moralities based off of them.

[Carl Sjölin Fagerlind]

Har alltid inte riktigt fattat Nietzsche, nu tror jag ändå att jag har bättre koll på honom, men han verkar för mig fortfarande bara som en filosofins incel edgelord.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started listening to this series of audiobooks on “The Giants of Philosophy” because they were free with my Audible account. I expected them to be simplistic “Idiot’s Guides” to philosophy, but they are much better than that. Each one is written by someone who has a broad and detailed knowledge of its subject, in this case philosopher, Nietzsche expert and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Richard Schacht.

Schacht goes beyond simplistic, nihilistic readings of Nietzsche to give a thoughtful and surprisingly in-depth overview of his whole work and his ideas on life, religion and morality.

[Vahini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always heard of Nietzsche from other authors, but never knew his ideologies or philosophy. This book is a good introduction to how Nietzsche’s principles differ from
Schopenhauer. Also his ‘will to power’ and morality seems distinct from ancient greek philosophies. It was also interesting to know that Nietzsche was into Nihilism.

[Noor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frederich Nietzsche is not my first encounter with Nietzsche. On my journey to understand the philosophical giants and the history of philosophy, his name comes up again and again. I have even read Yalom D.Irvin’s fantastic fictional book, "When Nietzsche Wept", which gave me a powerful, humanizing look at the man behind the mustache.

So, What is Nietzsche’s Big Idea?
Nietzsche shows up to the party of Western thought, declares that the host, God, is dead, and that we are the ones who killed him. Instead of crying about it, he says we should throw an even bigger party to celebrate our freedom. The goal of this new party is for humanity to level up and become the Übermensch, or "Overman", a being who creates his own values and lives life to the absolute fullest.

The Dark Side of the Quest
What impacted me most was the profound connection between Nietzsche’s philosophy and his immense physical suffering. The audiobook details his lifelong battles with debilitating migraines, sickness, and loneliness. His brand of nihilism, the idea that life is without objective meaning, can feel very depressive. Listening to the details of his pain, I could not help but wonder if his philosophy was a result of his suffering, or if the suffering was a consequence of his relentless philosophical quest. It made me a bit afraid of my own curiosity, to be honest. If thinking this deeply leads to that much pain, how far down the rabbit hole do I really want to go?

The Art of Philosophical Rebellion
One interesting thing I am picking up from studying these philosophers, and this audiobook makes it crystal clear, is how they build their ideas. It seems they find an existing, appealing philosophy, and if they are not convinced, they put all their energy into refuting it. In that process of tearing down the old, they mature their own philosophy. It seems like the critical review of ideas is one of the most important concepts to mature in the realm of philosophy, if I am anywhere near correct about it.

This is especially true for Nietzsche. His entire body of work can be seen as a powerful argument against his former mentor, Schopenhauer, who believed life was suffering and the best we could do was negate our will. Nietzsche took Schopenhauer’s "will" and transformed it into the life affirming "will to power". He did the same with Christianity, dismantling its moral framework to make space for his new values.

I will for sure need to listen to this audiobook many a times to get a better understanding of his dense and challenging ideas.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ideas presented here surprisingly align with much of what I already believe. Knowledge is a tool to excel in reality. That all actions and base desires are rooted in a will to power. The pursuit of art and beauty is the best way to elevate humanity to a higher form; free from theocratic/dogmatic and arbitrary morality. Our reality is the only one guaranteed to us. One should not live as though this life is a test to achieve paradise or damnation in the next.

One thing I don't see any reasonable expectation for is Nietzsche's idea of eternal recurrence. I think it's much more likely that we die and stop existing rather than continually live the same life over and over forever. It's a beautiful idea to think I might exist forever but I doubt it very much.

[Jay Best · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, I find many of the philosophies that I have heard of from Nietzsche do make a lot of sense to me.

It really is horrific that they were so badly appropriated by the Nazis, and it really does undercut all of his concepts.
I'm always listening and contrasting it against racism and I really believe his teachings were good, but it was unfortunate how they were received.

I tried a new form of reading where I relax and listen at high speed, and I'm not sure I didn't just nap for about 10% of it,so I will re read / listen at a later date.

Sparklines has some good summaries of his overall work so may start there.

* Listened to audiobook via Libby at 2 - 3 speed. Probably should have done at 2x.

[David Lilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

"God is dead", probably the most famous statement of Nietzche. To deal with the loss to humanity that notion implies he proposes an alternative to the nihilism of Schopenhauer, and that is one of creativity and self improvement. He then, in my opinion, proceeds to fall off the cliff with that idea. He postulates that übermensch (over men) will come along for whom the "morality of the herd" does not apply. It is commonly held that Nietzche's philosophy was basis for the Nazi belief in creating a superior race, and that as such, the rules didn't apply to them.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short introduction to Nietzsche. It's enough to let you know if you want to know more or not. I think I do but at this point I'm still pretty sure I'm not going to like what I hear/read. Also odd to hear Heston's voice again, although chuckling away to myself as I think of how he was probably pumping his fist as he read the lines.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this in lack of other philosophical audio books. Yet I think this is a nice introduction to Nietzsche. No complaints, except that the German accent concocted by the narrator for direct quotations was absurd. Nietzsche wrote in German, he was not non-native speaker of his own language.

[AttackGirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites with insight as to how to think and why our crowds the masses are so ignorant with the downfall doom of all civilized society because the strive for the Iberian is gone replaced by herd victimization as the strive for gutter apes.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't particularly like Nietzsche's ideas, but he made me think. This audio course was well done. It hit all the highlights and it managed not to confuse me... much.

I'd be willing to listen to the audio course again to catch things that might have gone by too quickly.

[Casey]

Audible listen. This one was a bit more interesting as I've always wanted to learn more about Nietzsche, as opposed to merely being curious. As with the other books in the series this served as a nice starting point. Fair amount of information and context.

[Fausto Betances · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad intro. It was hard to follow at times. I was left wanting to pick up another biographical work about Nietzsche.

[Christopher Hellstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio. Not a bad intro covering the bases though nothing groundbreaking. Narrated by Charlton Heston

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent elementary introduction to Nietzsche.

[Dalius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trumpa santrauka apie F. Nietzsche pamąstymus.

[Adam Hahne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good summary

[William Schrecengost · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good introduction

[Matthew Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful little primer on one of philosophy’s more difficult thinkers. It provides a good overview that will help in deciding how to approach his books.

[Duke DeLaet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little summary of a man.

[Alyssa Macpherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but short and only a surface level skim over Nietzsche, delivered mostly as a selection of quotes with small bridging explanations.

[Felipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, as a total novice, I can't speak to the content in terms of faithfulness, but it seems a very good, concise overview and DANG Chalton Heston remains the best narrator.

[Bonnie Truax]

A good read to understand where bad ideas come from.

[Ross Cardillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a very simple introduction to some of his ideas. Just reading/listening to a few things like this in preparation for reading Zarathustra etc.
As with all “Knowledge Products” it is what it is.

[Jeremy C. Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought the author did a good job portraying Neitzsche's ideas. I thought Neitzsche was crazy. Actually I feel he had some good ideas on language and it's relationship with consciousnesses, but all in all I just feel sad for someone who doesn't believe that eternal truths and absolutes can even exist?! I think it's funny he thought this was a new idea... I think it's something the adversary has been teaching since the beginning.

Also I have to say I was a little disappointed in not hearing more about his ideas with music and sound. I'm still on the hunt for a good biography of his that talks about that.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

used audiobook

[Evgeniy Vasilev · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's nice and short. The only thing I don't like is the fake German accent.