Scan barcode
A review by kevin_shepherd
Ecce Homo: How to Become What You Are by Friedrich Nietzsche
4.0
It may be important to note that Nietzsche was a contemporary of both Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx. I feel it is safe to say that of the three, Nietzsche is the least understood.
“My time has not yet come either; some are born posthumously.” ~Nietzsche, ‘The Antichrist’
Ecce Homo (1888) is an odd sort of autobiography; an egocentric sleigh ride through the accomplishments and accolades of a man who we now know was on the brink of a breakdown.
I am not ashamed to say that I have trouble deciphering all the aphorisms and irony here. Having already read Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885) and Beyond Good and Evil (1886) and The Antichrist (1888) and Twilight of the Idols (1889), you’d think by now there would be no more surprises. And you’d be wrong.
Nietzsche is fluent in sarcasm and derision. He also makes incessant references to Arthur Schopenhauer and Immanuel Kant and Richard Wagner; to the extent that they are prerequisites for any real study in Nietzschian philosophy.
In spite of the challenges, I enjoy reading Nietzsche. I can never take what he says at face value, there are (almost) always malapropisms and sophistries and condescensions to consider. He makes me think.
“My time has not yet come either; some are born posthumously.” ~Nietzsche, ‘The Antichrist’
Ecce Homo (1888) is an odd sort of autobiography; an egocentric sleigh ride through the accomplishments and accolades of a man who we now know was on the brink of a breakdown.
I am not ashamed to say that I have trouble deciphering all the aphorisms and irony here. Having already read Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885) and Beyond Good and Evil (1886) and The Antichrist (1888) and Twilight of the Idols (1889), you’d think by now there would be no more surprises. And you’d be wrong.
Nietzsche is fluent in sarcasm and derision. He also makes incessant references to Arthur Schopenhauer and Immanuel Kant and Richard Wagner; to the extent that they are prerequisites for any real study in Nietzschian philosophy.
In spite of the challenges, I enjoy reading Nietzsche. I can never take what he says at face value, there are (almost) always malapropisms and sophistries and condescensions to consider. He makes me think.