Philosophy Lesson on TeachMyself.

org:
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche

Free copies of Fridrich Nietzsche’s writings

Recommended reading
• Thus Spake Zarathustra: copy one copy two
• Beyond Good and Evil: copy one copy two

Further reading
• complete works

This lesson is comprised of 8 videos. The videos should be watched in sequence. At the
end of the lesson I hope you will have a general understanding of the historical context in
which Friedrich Nietzsche wrote and how his philosophy influenced intellectual and
historic development in the twentieth century. I hope also that you will have an
appreciation for some of the bigger themes and arguments in Nietzsche’s moral
philosophy and that the lesson is thought provoking enough to guide you into
constructing a personal opinion of his ethics and their influence.

The eight videos are briefly described below:

1. The first video is a short introduction to the lesson. Nietzsche was raised in a
community with a strong Christian morality, but his moral philosophy is a
rejection of that definition of good and evil.

2. Part two is a 25 minute documentary by Alain de Botton, on Friedrich Nietzsche.

As you watch the video I ask you to consider two questions
a. Should we take any notice of a man who was diagnosed as clinically mad?
Is it important for a philosopher to be sane, or is that immaterial to the
potential truth of his writing?
b. Secondly, according to Alain de Botton, Nietzsche seems to be saying that
we can only achieve happiness by experiencing unhappiness, does this
concept makes sense and is it true. Is unhappiness the opposite of
happiness or instead a rights of passage to happiness?

3. The third part of this starts by reviewing the concept which was discussed in part
two, that happiness can only be found through adversity and unhappiness.
Nietzsche seems to be ethically opposed to people finding pleasure in hedonistic
activities like taking drugs, or getting drunk. He also seems to see religion and
finding comfort in going to church as a similar type of mind numbing experience,
however is this argument comparable to the Christian concept of Purgatory found
in Dante’s Inferno. This part of the lesson also looks further into Nietzsche’s
concept of the Übermensch, which is his super man or iconic ethical role model.
 4. This is a video of Tony Robbins discussing the life story of Sylvester Stallone. I
offer it as an example of the Übermensch, and ask you to consider how close this
life story comes to Nietzsche’s meaning and thus whether the modern day
motivator of businessmen, Tony Robbins, is advocating the same philosophy as
Friedrich Nietzsche did a century before. In what sense is the same and in what
sense different?

5. This fifth part of the lesson tries to increase your understanding of how
Nietzsche’s philosophy was a reaction to the ‘Modern Western Philosophy’ and
strong Christian ethics which dominated his time. In this sense his philosophy is
sometimes seen as a tipping point between the ‘Modernism’ of the 18th and 19th
century and its evolution into the ‘Post-Modernism’ of 20th Century Western
Philosophy.

6. This is a sketch from the comedian Ricky Gervais who introduces the common
view that Friedrich Nietzsche is partly responsible for the rise of Adolf Hitler and
the Nazi movement a few decades after his death.

7. This is an excellent 40 minute BBC documentary on Nietzsche that will flesh out
much of your knowledge of the man as a historical figure and his philosophy.

8. This is the conclusion of the Lesson which seeks to get you thinking about
whether you agree with Nietzsche’s moral philosophy and if it is any use at all in
distinguishing between desirable and undesirable acts.

Hopefully you have enjoyed the lesson and are starting to form your opinions on
Nietzsche’s philosophy and are interested to learn more.