Nietzschean Readings

by Peter Saint-Andre

2003-06-08

I just now finished my project of reading the complete works of Nietzsche translated into English (or at least all the works I know of: perhaps there exist translations of his letters and such -- I'll need to pursue that). Phase two of my Nietzsche research project will be to organize and collate all the passages I've marked in his many books, in preparation for completing several projects related to his ideas. One such project will be an essay that chronicles his changing evaluation of Epicurus (from early enthusiasm in Human, All Too Human to disillusionment and disagreement starting, I think, at the end of The Gay Science). Another project will explore his influence on the Russian-American novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand -- I originally thought of writing just one essay on this topic, but I've come to realize that any one essay will merely scratch the surface, and that a book-length study is needed here (I'm not sure whether I'll be the one to write that). Another possible project is, as I've mentioned before, a "Nietzsche Reader" that brings together a selection of his "aphorisms" and essays; this reader would best be organized by topic and within each topic chronologically, so that one can trace the history of his reflections on past thinkers (Socrates, Jesus, Epicurus, Voltaire), cultural periods (Classical Greece, the Renaissance), human pursuits (art, science, philosophy, religion), and areas of philosophy (ethics, politics, education, epistemology).


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