Nietzsche In the Jungle

[I put this up here because frequently people who learn how much I like Nietzsche ask me for a quick sketch. This text was the basis for a talk I gave, under the title of "Nietzsche in the Jungle"). I'm conscious that it is crude on a number of points, e.g., it might give the erroneous impression that Nietzsche did not believe in any form of truth, a "postmodernist" interpretation that I think is mistaken. And I need to replace the footnotes , which have dropped out of the text as posted.]

                                     Nietzsche In The Jungle

    I must confess to a certain disingenuousness with my title. You all were undoubtedly expecting me to talk about Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), the great German philosopher famous for his doctrines of "the Superman," "the will to power," "the revaluation of all values," "Beyond good and evil," and the eternal return. In fact, however, the "Nietzsche" of my title is the philosopher's sister, Elizabeth, a diminutive women, two years his junior, who, with her thoroughly loathsome anti-Semitic husband, planted a “Aryan” colony in the wilds of Paraguay. I recently visited the place; hence the “jungle” in my title. In the end, however, my deception has been venial, since my intention is indeed to spend most of my time talking about the philosopher, and to return to Elisabeth only at the end. So first, let me say something about him.

Nietzsche’s Life

--Born October 15, 1844, in Rocken (Saxony, Prussia). Father (Ludwig Nietzsche) was a Lutheran minister; mother (Franziska) was the daughter of a Lutheran minister. N.'s father died when he was 5 (of "softening of the brain"). His mother moved the family to Naumberg, where N. grew up with his sister Elizabeth, his mother, his grandmother and 2 aunts. (N.'s misogyny is often traced to his early experiences in a house full of women.)

1858: enters the venerable gymnasium Pforta (stays for 6 years); receives a classical education.

1864: graduates and goes to study at University of Bonn (theology and classical philology). Joins a fraternity, but soon quits. Soon gives up theology. (At this time no longer a believing Christian.)

1865: moves to Leipzig with his philology teacher Friedrich Ritschl. During this period N. discovers the philosopher Schopenhauer. Meets and begins to fall under the influence of Wagner. [Wagner (1813-1883): nationalist and anti-semitic genius; composer of vast "music dramas." W. was to play an important part in N.'s life.]

1869: call to Basel (N. just 24 and without a doctorate). N. stays at Basel for 10 years ( until 1879).

1870: Service in Franco-Prussian War as medical orderly. (N. had been hurt during his previous military training in 1867 when he suffered a riding accident.) Return to Basel.

Wagner at Tribschen (N. a frequent visitor; becomes intimate with Wagner and his wife Cosima.) His relationship with Wagner during this period seems to have been a major catalyst for his own work. N. later broke with Wagner, and wrote several polemics against him.

1872: THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY. Persistent health problems.

1879: Resigns from the university because of ill health and begins a life of wandering around Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. The next ten years are the most productive in N.'s career as a writer; it is to this period that his most important works (DAWN, GAY SCIENCE, ZARATHUSTRA, BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, THE GENEALOGY OF MORALS, THE CASE OF WAGNER) belong. "Affair" with Lou Salome (1861-1937)

1889: becomes insane on a street in Turin. Cause of N.'s illness? "All we can say is--and all sober and unsensational medical treatments of the subject seem agreed on this--that Nietzsche very probably contracted syphilis" (Kaufmann, Nietzsche, p.69). N. taken to an insane asylum, but was then removed to his mother’s house.

1897: N.'s mother, who had been taking care of him, dies; Elisabeth moves him to Weimar.

1900: N. dies.

III. N.'s philosophy.

(1) N. as philosopher of value.

N. is squarely in the Greek tradition in that his central question is: how should human beings live best? Virtually all of N.’s philosophical interests have a close connection with his central preoccupation with human value.

(2) Critique of previous morality. A substantial part of N.'s philosophical endeavor is directed to showing that the moral values which have guided Western Civilization are no longer acceptable. This is part of the "negative" task to which his thought is directed. It is a project which one might call "making the world unsafe for morality." (N. himself often refers to his own "immoralism.") To this end, N. attacks--in a variety of ways--our traditional moral values as well as those institutions, beliefs, doctrines, etc. that have, in the past, provided props for morality. “The problem of the value of pity and of the morality of pity . . . seems at first to be merely something detached, an isolated question mark: but whoever sticks with it and learns how to ask questions here will experience what I experienced—a tremendous new prospect opens up for him, a new possibility comes over him like a vertigo, every kind of mistrust, suspicion, fear leaps up, his belief in morality, in all morality, falters—finally a new demand becomes audible. Let us articulate this new demand: we need a critique of moral values , the value of these values themselves must be called into question . . . “ (Genealogy of Morals, Preface #6, Kaufmann, ed. Basic Writings of Nietzsche, p.456.)

(3) Christianity. Obviously, one of the main sources for the dominant moral values which have shaped Western civilization has been the Christian religion.

(a) God. And N. holds, emphatically, that Christian values cannot be maintained independently of the belief in the Christian God. But it is of course one of his most famous views that the belief in God cannot be sustained: God is dead. As he puts it in a passage from the Gay Science: "Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: 'I seek God! I seek God!' . . . 'Whither is God?' he cried; 'I will tell you. We have killed him--you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? . . . Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? . . . God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him . . . There has never been a greater deed" (GS, 125).
(b) Further criticisms.

The rejection of the existence of God opens the way for further criticisms of Christian values. Christian ethics has, for example, set forth an "altruistic" code of morality, in which self-sacrifice, pity, benevolence, meekness, humility, chastity, and associated values have been emphasized; it has--at least in theory--considered all people as equal (the equality of all souls before God); and has held that the same code of morality should apply to everyone. All this has prevented the cultivation of “higher” types of human being. Also associated with this morality are notions such as sin, guilt, bad conscience, and duty. This whole system—based on decadence, weakness, and resentment--has poisoned humanity and has lead to nihilism. Further, it is aesthetically objectionable; it rests upon a number of falsehoods (e.g., the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, freedom of the will, the possibility of selfless action). A great deal of Nietzsche's effort is expended on unmasking and attacking the value system of Chistianity, sometimes in the most uninhibited fashion:

ANTICHRIST #62 [VPN, p.656]: "I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great innermost corruption, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means is poisonous, stealthy, subterranean, small enough--I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind."

(4) Metaphysics. While Christianity has been an explicit source of values for the Western tradition, it, and other similar moral systems have often drawn comfort from metaphysics. Philosophers have often tried to ground their moral doctrines in "the nature of things": they have tried to show that the values they espouse are, in a sense, part of the "furniture of the universe." This maneuver has frequently involved making a distinction between "this world" (the world of change, impermanence, and imperfection, in which we live) and the "real" world. This "real" world, identified with the Forms by Plato, "Heaven" by Christianity, and the noumenal world by Kant, is then favorably contrasted with our world, which is then claimed to be deficient, corrupt or "apparent." Nietzsche claims that such metaphysics is motivated by a desire to slander life and to propagate anti-life values and that this hatred of life is itself grounded in the physiology of its authors. Nietzsche's work is filled with criticisms of the metaphysicians; in his later work he decisively rejects the distinction between the "real" world and the "apparent" world.

(5) Truth. Radical as his rejection of metaphysics might appear, N. is not yet finished with his critical, destructive project: he goes after the presuppositions of the old morality at an even deeper level. A central presupposition of the old morality is the belief in truth; this too must be called into question. N. appears to claim that there is no truth in the sense of a correspondence between our beliefs or assertions and reality as it is in itself. He holds this view because he thinks that there are no facts; there are only an indefinite number of "interpretations" ("perspectives"), none of which are "true." (N. thinks that even the most basic features of our general view of the world--seeing the world as made up of "things," which have qualities and interact with one another; interpreting the world in terms of causes and effects and scientific laws; thinking the world amenable to mathematical description--are totally conventional and without "objective" foundation.) They are simply the ways in which an ephemeral species has found it useful to organize its experience. (But of course there might be indefinitely many other ways to organize it.)

“That the value of the world lies in our interpretation (--that other interpretations than merely human ones are perhaps somewhere possible--); that previous interpretations have been perspective valuations by virtue of which we can survive in life, i.e., in the will to power, for the growth of power; that every elevation of man brings with it the overcoming of narrower interpretations; that every strengthening and increase of power opens new perspectives and means believing in new horizons—this idea permeates my writings. The world with which we are concerned is false, i.e., is not a fact but a fable and approximation on the basis of a meager sum of observations; it is ‘in flux,’ as something in a state of becoming, as a falsehood always changing but never getting near the truth: for—there is no ‘truth.’” (Will to Power #616.) Therefore, the old morality cannot be defended on the ground of its truth.

(6) N. "positive" morality.

 Now that N. has demolished--to his own satisfaction--the old morality and its props, he begins--at least according to many commentators--his positive, constructive thinking. This consists of his doctrines of the Ubermensch, eternal return, and will to power.

     (a) Ubermensch.

N. suggests that now that we don't have any religious, metaphysical or philosophical dogmas to tell us how to live, we must decide this for ourselves. What are we to make of ourselves? What kind of human being do we want to produce? N. dubs his ideal human being the Ubermensch: the superior type of human being that will function as an ideal. This ideal is, presumably, a compound of many traits that N. admires (physical strength, creativity, self-control, harmony of diverse instincts, etc. etc.). To some extent, we can probably construct the Ubermensch by supplying the opposite traits to those admired by Christianity. N. appears that humanity should strive for the production of the Ubermensch. Coming down from the mountains, N.'s Zarathustra proclaims: "I teach you the Ubermensch. Man is something that shall be overcome." It must be admitted, however, that Nietzsche is quite vague and unhelpful about exactly what the Ubermensch is supposed to be like and how he is to be produced. Perhaps this is because the production of a superior person is an act of creativity and invention and there can be no blueprint for the kind of genius required for this task.

(b) Eternal Return. N. claims that everything that happens, has happened, and will happen, has already happened an infinite number of times. One should live in such a way that one would not only accept, but be joyful about, living one's life an infinite number of times: amor fati. The joyful acceptance of having to live one's life infinitely many times is another touchstone of N.'s ideal human beings. “The Greatest weight.—What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you in your lonliest lonliness and say to you: ‘This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sign and everything unutterably small and great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence in turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!’ Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: ‘You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.’ If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, ‘Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?’ would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?” (Gay Science #341.)

     © Will to Power.

N. suggests that everything (organic and inorganic) is will to power: force incessantly striving to expand and engulf whatever surrounds it. Values, philosophy, psychology, etc. are all explained in terms of will to power.

“Suppose, finally, we succeed in explaining our entire instinctive life as the development and ramification of one basic form of will—namely, of the will to power, as my proposition has it; suppose all organic functions could be traced back to this will to power and one could also find in it the solution of the problem of procreation and nourishment—it is one problem—then one would have gained the right to determine all efficient force univocally as—will to power. The world viewed from inside, the world defined according to its ‘intelligible character’—it would be ‘will to power’ and nothing else--.” (Beyond Good and Evil #36.)

IV.Elisabeth and the N. Legend

With this background, let me return to Elisabeth.

In 1885, Elisabeth had married Bernhard Forster, a prominent anti-Semitic agitator and nationalist. There seems little reasonable doubt that N. was opposed to anti-Semitism and to his sister’s marriage. This comes out most clearly in some of his letters. Consider the following letter, written to his sister in Paraguay, 1887: "One of the greatest stupidities you have committed--for yourself and for me! Your association with an anti-Semitic chief expresses a foreignness to my whole way of life which fills me ever again with ire and melancholy . . . . It is a matter of honor to me to be absolutely clean and unequivocal regarding anti-Semitism, namely opposed, as I am in my writings" (quoted by Kaufmann, p.45).

After getting into trouble for his provocative behavior, Forster hit upon a plan of founding a colony in Paraguay. He traveled to South America in order to explore the possibilities. And he wrote a book about his researches.

In 1886, He and Elizabeth led a founding party of colonists to the spot about 150 miles north of Asuncion, which they christened Nueva Germania.

Forster had made a deal with the Paraguayan government that involved his pledge to settle a large number of families in the colony before the title to the land was granted. This he was not able to do. And it turned out that he had lied to the colonists about this and about many other facets of the colonial enterprise. Things began to close in on Forster as he sank deeper into debt. He lapsed into despondency, and poisoned himself in the Hotel Del Lago, in San Bernardino, near Asuncion.

After Forster's suicide, Elisabeth returned to devote full time to her brother.

The Nietzsche “legend.” Once back home. Elisabeth began to use her energy and talents for propaganda to shape what has come to be known as the “Nietzsche legend.”

--When N. went insane (in January, 1889), his writings were at last beginning to attract attention in academic circles. E.g., Georg Brandes (1842-1927) lectured on N. in 1888 in Copenhagen; N.'s fame began to spread.

--N.'s sister Elisabeth realized this and attempted to use her brother to further her own ends (nationalism, anti-Semitism). Her attempt to graft her brother’s philosophy onto her late husband’s anti-Semitic nationalism is nicely symbolized by her changing her name to “Forster-Nietzsche.”

--With her brother insane, she became the self-appointed guardian of his thought. She obtained copyrights for N.'s works and letters. She founded the Nietzsche Archiv, her "official" institution to guard her brother's thought. She thus established herself in a position where her authority as an interpreter of her brother's thought was hard to challenge; after all, she had access to documents that no one else had. She wrote several popular biographies of her brother as well as a flood of articles. (She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.)

--Elisabeth's shaping of the public image of her brother was perhaps accomplished most successfully by her handling of N.'s Nachlass, the unpublished mass of notes and manuscripts that N. left behind when he died. She held back important material. E.g., she did not publish ECCE HOMO until 1908.

--Most important in this regard was her creation (1901, 1904, 1906), out of notes and incomplete sketches, of what she announced as N.'s magnum opus: the so-called The Will to Power. She arranged N.'s notes according to a 4 line draft that N. had in fact discarded.

--It was Elisabeth who later attempted to persuade Hitler that Nietzsche was an important philosophical precursor of Nazism. And it was she who persuaded Hitler to visit the Nietzsche Archiv (where H. posed by a bust of N. in a famous picture). The Nazis appointed several scholars [Oehler, Baumler] to "interpret" Nietzsche, which they often did by quoting him out of context and by excising words without indicating that this is what they were doing. It was by such unscholarly methods that the claim that Nietzsche was a German nationalist and racist was supported.

Nueva Germania

Nueva Germania is still there. I visited Paraguay during the Christmas break. From Asuncion, I took a five hour bus ride to the small village of Santa Rosa, on the road to the Brazilian border. From there another bus took me 20 kilometers to Nueva Germania.

The place is extremely attractive, despite the often stupifying heat ; it is framed by two beautiful rivers. And it filled with Germans. When I got into town, I poked around looking for a place to sleep. I stopped at a Brigett Kuch’s general store to inquire, and the first thing I encountered was an old woman giving German lessons to a young boy.

Most of the current inhabitants—some of whom I met and talked with--are descended from immigrants that came after Forster, although there are several descendents of original colonists left.

There seems to be little precise memory about the origins of the colony, although they have instituted an annual celebration of the colony’s foundation, part of which involves the submission of historical essays by school children. I got my hands on one, and it still associates Forster with Nietzsche’s ideas. Elisabeth had, after all, done a superb job. It’s a shame that it was a lie.