Tips for Reading Nietzsche

* Nietzsche often places his most central and important ideas in the middle of a
section of aphorisms. When we look at “Part One” of Beyond Good and Evil (BGE
One) we find aphorisms 10, 11, & 12. BGE 10 presents us with a cast of characters,
several of which represent philosophical movements of the time that take themselves
to be carrying on in the Kantian tradition: Puritanical Fanatics of Conscience,
Skeptical Anti-Realists, Positivists, Reality-Philosophasters (note - some of these
might be the same groups…!). And we also see Nietzsche taking sides with one of
these groups against the others (though that is not to say that he agrees with them
totally). Then in BGE 11, we get what appears to be a criticism of Kant (is it? Also
note the resonances between the language of this passage and that found in BGE 3
& 4). Finally, we have BGE 12, which provides clues to Nietzsche’s project of retaining
and revising the doctrine of the “soul.” The best example of placing the most
important material in the middle of a text is found in On the Genealogy of Morality,
“Second Treatise.” (GM II) In GM II:12 (The center aphorisms of the center treatise of
the book) where we find another important distinction that is crucial for reading
Nietzsche:

* The distinction between a the origin or existence of some thing, or practice, and the
understanding of its purpose; alternately, the cause of something coming into
existence and its final usefulness, i.e. whatever the thing in question is, and its
perceived meaning. Central to making this distinction is the role of interpretation, so
we can add that it is marks the distinction between a text and its interpretation. This
is (most likely) the single most important passage for understanding Nietzsche’s
overall work. After presenting the central idea he then proceeds to show its
application by applying to a practice – the various procedures that have been used to
make wrongdoers/criminals suffer for their crimes – and the various expected
outcomes (and thus meanings) that have been interpreted onto these practices, that
make them “punishment.”

* Similarly, GM III offers an example of how to interpret one of Nietzsche’s aphorisms

(he tells us this in the preface). The aphorism that is interpreted is GM III:1 – not the
quote from Thus Spake Zarathustra that appears below the title. All of the aphorisms
that follow (GM III:2-28) are an un-packing, and commentary on that first aphorism.
Note the presentation of the various types of people that may have some relation to
the ascetic ideal: artists, philosophers and scholars, 2omen, the physiologically
failed, priests, and saints. While he doesn’t say much about women or saints, he
starts with Wagner (an artist), goes to Schopenhauer (a philosopher), moves to the
ascetic priests and their relationship to the slave class, etc.

* When you are reading Nietzsche and find him either praising or criticizing a particular
person or tradition you need to keep your eyes open for when he does the opposite.
He clearly has many obviously nasty things to say about the priests, but he also says
that philosophers and priests are brothers. He clearly criticizes Christianity heavily,
but he also claims that it was a work of genius, and was responsible for saving the
 human will from suicidal nihilism. He thinks that Martin Luther was a boorish
commoner who had no understanding of nobility, or what a church is really supposed
to be, but he also praises him for having the courage to move out of the asceticism of
the Roman Catholic idea of the priesthood, and embrace human sexuality. There are
a handful of people of whom he says something positive and nothing negative
(Boscovich), or something negative and nothing positive (George Sand), but these are
peripheral figures. Which brings us to the next tip:

* Nietzsche criticizes most, those who are closest to his own view. It seems that he
can’t resist making fun of Kant – even when he’s siding with Kant over other
philosophers. He’s really harsh towards Darwin – but that’s because he accepts the
theory of natural descent, and thinks that Darwin didn’t address at least one very
important factor that affects the evolutionary process: the development of self-
conscious, reasons-responsive, value-creating animals.

* In many places Nietzsche is addressing his own previous ideas and positions (not
always explicitly, but sometimes he points the reader to specific passages) and it
should be noted that he both endorses some of his earlier positions, but also
dramatically revises other positions as his work develops. Ecce Homo gives at least a
few hints about where he stands with regard to his earlier books, if you have a
chance to peruse it. The central idea that shapes his overall work is:

* Providing an explanation of the origins of our moral prejudices (ultimately, a

genealogy) that will help clear the ground and enable us to engage in a critique of our
own moral values.

* Pay attention to his use of punctuation. Nietzsche was a fan of music, an amateur
composer (Wagner made fun of his compositions), apparently a fairly gifted keyboard
player (piano or harpsichord). He uses punctuation the way that a composer uses
notation in a musical score – it’s meant to provide emphasis, dictate tempo, signal
“key changes”, thematic changes, etc. and, most importantly, to provide clues as to
where he expects the reader to engage in more thinking, to connect the dots, to
consider whether Nietzsche endorses the claim made or not, to connect the idea
presented to some other idea that is merely alluded to, or might be present in some
other part of the text. Pay attention to those m-dashes, ellipses, and scare-quotes.

* Note: in addition to Nietzsche’s punctuation, pay attention to abrupt thematic/topical

changes that occur in the text. Sometimes Nietzsche may seem like he’s indulging in
a digression, where there actually something really important hidden inside that
seeming non-sequitur.

* Finally, Nietzsche tells us that BGE and GM are companion pieces. GM is a more
focused development of ideas found in BGE. GM presumes that you, the reader,
understand what he was on about in BGE, especially his doctrine of the soul.