The Nietzsche Podcast

In this chapter of our readthrough, we confront "the problem of the actor". Nietzsche predicts that things shall become ever more "artistic" in Europe, as the actor's talent self-falsification becomes developed in all members of society. Whereas in the Middle Ages, the individual was bound to his role as an unchangeable identity, the modern person picks up and discards roles: he gives the appearance of being a given type, but is often obliged to change roles. Nietzsche continues to increasingly offer reversals of perspective, at times even differing with previous assertions in this very same work.
Episode art: Giandomenico Tiepolo, Pulcinella in Love, 1797 (A depiction of the masked actors of the Commedia dell'arte).

The grand experiment continues with a series of naturalistic explanations for the origins of ideas or modes of life. The scholar's intellectual habits are inherited "in blood and instinct"; Spinoza's philosophy is sourced to his sickliness; Darwinian theories of evolution are a product of the "musty air" of English overpopulation; religious and moralistic perspectives are the post hoc rationalizations of the weak and the tame. In this episode we'll also discuss the very important section, "On the Genius of the Species", which treats consciousness as an organ of communication.
Episode art: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman by Rembrandt

"You tremble, carcass?" After a long hiatus, we shall now fearlessly embark upon book V of The Gay Science, added to the text in 1887. In this final division of the text, we'll see Nietzsche's attempt to incorporate his late philosophy, as the conclusion of his middle period meditations. Some of the hardest-hitting sections in the book appear here. Join me on this quixotic journey for the truth... after all, we, too, are still pious!
Episode art: Portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne (1611–1675), as Marshall of France on horseback, by Charles le Brun

You know what it is. Questions get answered. The Gay Science readthrough begins in a week's time.

"You, whoever you are, reading me - take your own chance. Just as, at the moment of writing, I gamble with you."
The much-awaited conclusion to season six is here! The year is 1944, and we follow Georges Bataille through the months of February to August as he recounts the end of the Nazi occupation of France, while writing of his daily encounters, his inner experiences, first-hand accounts of the war, mad ramblings and poems - and astute, if sometimes confusing, commentary on the work of Nietzsche. In this episode we will explore the will to chance, immanence vs. transcendence, desire as "time-being", and the possibility of affirming desire in itself and for itself, having fully seen through the lie of every "end" or "goal" presented to us by the mad pursuit of passion. The Gay Science readthrough episodes coming soon!