The Nietzsche Podcast

In Marcus Tullius Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, he cites a story of Pythagoras, the man who created the term, "philosopher". His description of the philosopher is as one who comes into life not as a competitor, not in the pursuit of money or fame - but merely as a spectator, who observes and inquires into the nature of things. According to Pythagoras, this way of life is the best, by far; Cicero wholeheartedly embraces this way of understanding philosophy, as part of his consolatory project in which philosophy is seen as part and parcel with virtue. For Cicero, the worth of philosophy is that it delivers us from life's suffering. We will explore the background of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, and the Homeric convention of presenting the gods themselves as spectators. This analysis will bring us back to Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy, as well as some of the comments he makes in his later career about the theatric element of Greek culture, and the philosopher as a spectator, who "stands aside" from the world rather than acting within it. By the end of the episode, we will pose the question of whether or not Cicero's Stoic philosophy actually constitutes a life as spectating, or whether Cicero is just another actor on the philosophical stage.

There is nothing new under the sun: it was here, already, long ago. It was here before our time. This much must be said of the ancient skeptics, who put forward perspectival, relativistic, and moral anti-realist arguments during the Hellenistic age. The central figure is Pyrrho of Elis, who is only known through secondary sources, and whose life is surrounded by a number of fascinating anecdotes which speak to an of image life guided by indifference and the pursuit of ataraxia. In this episode, we'll discuss that concepts, as well as ephektos, adiaphoria, and the possibility of viewing skepticism as a power or a practice rather than a doctrine or ideology. We will also discuss the ten skeptical tropes of Pyrrho and the five tropes of Agrippa. Primarily, we will follow the chapter on Pyrrho found in Diogenes Laertius, but I've also included some insights from A.W. Benn's "The Greek Philosophers" and Mary Mills Patrick's book on Sextus Empiricus, as well Sextus Empiricus himself (particularly the chapter on Gorgias).

Devin (Left Nietzschean) joined me to discuss the underlying philosophical themes of Star Trek, including a potential affinity with Nietzsche as regards the need for self-overcoming as opposed to utopia; the idea of moral "perfectionism", interpreted through "Schopenhauer as Educator"; interpreting the political positions and critiques of the show in their cultural context, as regards the significance of the Federation, Borg, and Dominion; the distinctive traits of each captain in classic Trek, including an interpretation of Kirk as an Odysseus figure; the depressing inability of "New Trek" to articulate a positive vision of the future, instead choosing to wallow in dystopia.

In this episode, we'll compare Nietzsche's view of causality, habit, and free will to Hume. Although, in substance, they make very similar arguments, we'll explore important differences. Nietzsche arrives at his critique of causality through his attack on free will, and the subsequent understanding of metaphysical beliefs as necessitated by moral beliefs - whereas for Hume, the issue of liberty versus necessity is secondary to the critique of reason's ability to derive necessary connexions. For Hume, habit cannot be further explained, because this would be to ignore our practical affirmation of habit and the insufficiency of reason; Nietzsche wishes to investigate the genealogy of habit as part of his critique of morals. Perhaps most importantly, Hume places his philosophy in "subserviency" to the easy and obvious philosophy of commonsense, whereas Nietzsche sets his philosophy against common sense - and everything "common".

Today we're going to become Humean, All Too Humean. This is an introduction to David Hume's life and works, brief consideration of his influences, and deep dive into Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - the work that woke Kant from his dogmatic slumber. In our analysis we discuss: Hume's 'two species of philosophy'; Hume's distinction between ideas & impressions, and between relations of ideas & matters of fact; his critique of causality; his explanation of habit, or custom as a 'guide to human life'; a brief look at his comments on probability, on free will, on miracles; and Hume's moderate skepticism versus what he calls, Pyrrhonism.