Re-Visiting Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Again) - Friedrich Nietzsche

Reasoning

After reading the journal articles, I decided I should re-visit "Of Self-Overcoming", a phrase mentioned throughout one of the articles, and "Of the Vision and the Riddle", a chapter referred too in one of the articles as the key chapter in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

My previous notes on Thus Spoke Zarathustra can be found here and here.

What I Gained

Re-reading these chapters has jogged my memory, and some of the points raised in them can be used to improve the triangulation in my essay.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Using these quotes and the journal articles from the previous post, I'm going to strengthen the discussion of the will to power, the Ubermensch, and the eternal recurrence, as well as the general triangulation in my essay.

Capitalist Realism - Mark Fisher

Reasoning

Having drafted a dot-to-dot style skeleton of quotes to form the structure of my dissertation, I've found that the triangulation of confirming capitalism as more of a Nietzschean system than communism or modernist ideology. The title and description of this book seemed like this book would raise points that would help affirm these points.

What I Gained

I found the relevant chapters of this book more interesting than necessarily useful, but they did raise a couple of important points: 

1. It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.
2. Capitalism has been shown to be the only political and economic system that works.
3. Capitalism allows modernism to exist within it, but only as an aesthetic, not an ideal.
4. Moral critiques of capitalism tend to be very naive. 

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Having now established what points I will be making with my essay, I know what sort of things I should be looking for to use as examples or case studies within the essay.

How to use Graphic Design to Sell Things, Explain Things, Make Things Look Better, Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and (Every Once in a While) Change the World - Michael Bierut

Reasoning

Having read his essay 10 Footnotes to a Manifesto, that was critical of the 2000 First Things First Manifesto, I thought reading this book would be useful, as it's only recently been published and so would contain very up-to-date information. The title of the book suggested it would be quite open in what it's themes were.

What I Gained

This book wasn't as useful as I'd hoped, it's more of a personal collection of Bierut's work than anything theoretical, and subsequently it didn't take me long to read. However, I found a couple of things that can be used as examples such as: 

1. An example of modernist design being easily replicable.
2. An example of someone who generally follows modernist principles despite being critical of First Things First.
3. A graphic designer advocating capitalism and consumerism.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

This book, despite it not really adding any new thoughts, has reminded me that I'm going to need to look for practical examples of graphic design to back up the points my essay will be making, so my next steps will involve trawling through It's Nice That and Creative Review to find such examples from a contemporary source. 

The particular page in the book that made me think this was page 41, which showed an invitation Bierut designed (below) for two different events after having the budget cut. It illustrated the point he made about content being more important than form.

BIERUT, M. International Design Center Invitation. (1984) [Invitations] Available from: http://www.aiga.org/medalist-michaelbierut/. [Accessed: 6th October 2015]

Design For Life - Nigel Ball & 10 Footnotes to a Manifesto - Michael Bierut

Reasoning

After struggling to find any more useful information on Johanna Drucker I came across this article on Eye Magazine's blog, written by Nigel Ball and citing Poynor's mentioning of Drucker. It talked about a potential (at the time of it's writing) update to FTF in 2014, something which did happen and I was completely unaware of. The article clearly stated some of the thoughts I've been recently having, which confirmed some of my own criticisms to be legitimate in my mind. It then seemed appropriate to go straight into Bierut's 10 Footnotes to a Manifesto, a text that I know to be heavily critical of FTF, given that I was already in the practice of identifying criticisms.

What I Gained

Both texts were incredibly useful in terms of backing up some of the criticisms I have of FTF that have been taken from Nietzsche's thoughts towards religion, which is very reassuring, as this is what I initially set out to do. These were: 

1. Ball states that "the manifesto had Modernist ideology at its core".
2. Ball also stated that the 2000 version was "more aggressive and vehemently against advertising".
3. Expanded on Drucker's thoughts by crediting her with the question "In whose interests and to what ends?"
4. Ball admits that he doesn't think FTF 2000 has caused the industry to change much.
5. Bierut suggests that the 'average designer' won't have hear of most of the signatories of the 2000 Manifesto and would find them unrelatable even if they did know who they were.
6. Bierut says It's very difficult for something as simple as a Manifesto to be realistically followable in real life.
7. There is a lack of focus on creativity in the Manifesto and it's based more around politics.
8. The manifesto is anti-capitalist.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Having read Bierut's essay, his most recent book, 'How to use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, make people laugh, make people cry, and (every once in a while) change the world', seems like a good place to go next. I'll also explore the 2014 FTF Manifesto a little bit.

Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design - Lucienne Roberts

Reasoning

Having looked back on last year, I found that this was the book that compared Kierkegaard to Nietzsche, and I hoped that it would prove useful in terms of establishing that society is built on Christian values. Whilst I don't know if the author is Christian or not, I do know that she was a signatory of the 2000 First Things First Manifesto, which is just as useful. 

What I Gained

This book was really useful, it reiterated many points I'd already touched upon, brought up a couple of new ones, as well as hinting at some of the reasons behind the First Things First Manifesto, such as: 

1. Money can distract a designer from their responsibilities.
2. Having creative freedom makes designers happy.
3. Historically, the church has defined what is good and bad.
4. Consumerism isn't necessarily bad from a Christian point of view.
5. Helping others is a basic part of Christianity.
6. Envy is the worst of all sins as all other sins are goodness gone wrong.
7. It's possible that capitalism is fuelling creativity, rather than the other way around.
8. Capitalism works by encouraging individual success.
9. If we accept the freedom of speech, does that mean we should be able to accept any work from any client?
10. Communication is a 2 way thing, so modernist graphic design is flawed.
11. Nietzsche's thoughts of self-empowerment relate perfectly to graphic design because any brief is a resistance to creativity that can be overcome.
12. Modernist design is founded on logic and belief in absolute rights and wrongs.
13. Garland acknowledges that not all people are in a position where accepting the directions of FTF is feasible.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Given some of Roberts' comments on Modernism, it's something I want to look into a bit deeper, and finding the video from this lecture last year would really help me with this.

Moral Man and Immoral Society - Reinhold Niebuhr

Reasoning

I was initially drawn to this book because of how it's title is somewhat accusing of society in a similar way to Nietzsche. I then read up on the author to try and establish if he was Christian or not, and while I found no conclusive answer, this article brought be to the conclusion that he almost certainly was.

What I Gained

I found that this book contained a few points that would support a Nietzschean criticism of the First Things First Manifesto when you consider it as a moral good and therefore a Christian approach to Graphic Design, mainly that: 

1. Religion is an idealistic interpretation of life.
2. "Modern communism" is a religious dream.
3. When people feel themselves to be strong they sometimes feel a sense of unjustified moral authority. 

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Writing this post has made me realise that thus far, I've found nothing to support my own claim that First Things First is based on Christianity, and so establishing this should be a priority at this point in time, as without this point it's much harder to apply Nietzsche's thoughts to it.

Fear and Trembling - Søren Kierkegaard

Reasoning

I remember reading last year in that Soren Kierkegaard is often considered similar to Nietzsche, and so I thought he might be a strong place to look next, especially after reading this article, where his wording under the subtitle 'Of Observing Scripture' he uses the phrase "we Christians", which supports the general information I found online about him being a Christian. I chose this book particularly because it's a discussion of the story of Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac to God in the Bible, which means that it's inevitably going to have some sort of philosophical discussion of Christianity with it.

What I Gained

I really enjoyed reading this book, more so than any of the others previously, although I do intend to read Thus Spoke Zarathustra again from a far more knowledgable perspective given Nietzsche's pride for it in Ecce Homo. Other than the enjoyment I gained, I found there to be a few declarations and definitions in this book from a Christian point of view, such as: 

1. Spirituality and morality isn't always clear cut in the world and isn't always something that you're able to follow.
2. Something that is ethical is universal, and therefor is always applicable.
3. All duty is ultimately duty to God.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

At this point I want to find a second source of Christianity that backs up Nietzsche's arguments to make for a more convincing argument of my own.

The Wisdom of Life & On the Suffering of the World - Arthur Schopenhauer

Reasoning

I wanted to read some of Schopenhauer's work to try and pick out some similarities between him and Nietzsche. I think it's important to see what Nietzsche's thoughts were developed from Schopenhauer's given his emphasis on creation of individual values.

I chose to read these two books in particular because they touched on the subjects of suffering, happiness, creativity and religion, topics which are appropriate given my subject and my previous readings of Nietzsche, without being too long that they could lead me of topic.

What I Gained

It's clear that Schopenhauer's thoughts formed a basis for Nietzsche to build his thoughts on, specifically that: 

1. All people will react differently to the same scenario, even if they're in the same surroundings. This is because you can only ever react to your own feelings. This idea of following your own instincts and thoughts could have lead to the idea of the overman.
2. Having natural talents and not pursuing them because you've been overcome by external forces to do something else will lead you to be unhappy. This idea of being overpowered by an external will could have lead to the idea of the will to power.
3. Doing evil things is an affirmation of the will to live by the person who does them. This could also have lead to the will to power.
4. The idea that something could be transformed by art from something that existed temporarily into something to exist "time and time again". This could have lead to the idea of the eternal recurrence.
5. On top of all these things, Schopenhauer wrote about how people are looked down on for wanting money above everything else, saying that money is the only true good thing in the world because it can be used to satisfy and need. Whilst the common phrase 'money can't buy you happiness' questions this, it is a strong point to back the consumeristic market the First Things Manifesto tries to subdue.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

I'm satisfied with the amount of reading I've done on Schopenhauer, and now want to look at other philosophers who could have had useful standpoints on either religion or consumerism. It would be particularly useful if they were Christians, as this adds relevance to their thoughts in relation to my project.

Human, All Too Human - Friedrich Nietzsche

Penguin Classics Edition Book Cover

Reasoning

I wanted to see if there was any noticable differences between this book and the others I've read, as this was written 4 years before the Gay Science. Having seen the difference between The Antichrist and the other books I've read so far, I feel like I may find things in Human, All Too Human that I missed in the other books.

I read an online copy of this book rather than a physical copy, as I'd decided to read it quite suddenly, and didn't want to wait for the book to arrive in the post. This is the copy I read.

What I Gained

I was a bit disappointed by the lack of differences between Human, All Too Human and other books, I found it covered the same topics, but often in a less cryptic way, which is to be expected given Nietzsche had at least 4 years more thought go into the other books. I did however find a few passages which supplement previous quotes I've found well, and so it's been useful for this reason.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

There were numerous references to Schopenhauer in this book, a philosopher who clearly influenced Nietzsche, so I want to read some of his work to see how he was influenced.

The Antichrist - Friedrich Nietzsche

Reasoning

I wanted to see if there was a change of tone or approach in this book from the previous ones given the name and the fact that Nietzsche was seemingly writing for himself rather than a specific audience at this point.

What I Gained

This book is noticeably more personal, and doesn't really elaborate in much depth on the will to power, overman, or the eternal recurrence: 

1. A lot of Nietzsche's criticisms in this book are repeated over and over again, it almost seems like he's being aggressive towards Christianity.
2. Many of his criticisms are aimed directly at priests rather than the religion itself, calling them lunatics amongst other things.
3. Some aphorisms contained lines that were anti-nationalist, potentially put in purposely where they otherwise mightn't have been to deter claims that his philosophy that the book promotes through it's distain for Christianity isn't in fact a Nationalist one.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Having read the books by Nietzsche I had initially earmarked, I'm going to also read Human, All Too Human, as noticing the difference between the Antichrist and his other books, I wanted to see if there was anything noticably different between Human, All Too Human and The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Beyond Good and Evil that might be useful or important.

Ecce Homo - Friedrich Nietzsche

Reasoning

I read this book to see if any of Nietzsche's thoughts on his books matched or contrasted greatly with my own, as in either of the two cases there is room to research more, particularly in the latter.

What I Gained

I found some interesting things, how useful any of them are remains to be seen: 

1. Nietzsche was incredibly proud of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, as is clear from some of the quotes I selected from the chapter. I found this odd because I found Thus Spoke Zarathustra very easy to read, and didn't sense any element of pride in it, although maybe this was down to the fact that he wrote it from Zarathustra's perspective rather than in first person.
2. He implies that from Beyond Good and Evil onwards, he wasn't necessarily writing for an audience, rather for himself, which makes me intrigued into reading the Antichrist, given it was written after this point.
3. It seems that Nietzsche's main reason for writing the Gay Science was to build a platform for Thus Spoke Zarathustra to stand on.
4. He predicted that he'd be associated with "the recollection of something frightful - of a crisis like no other before on earth", which turned out to be true due to the Nazis misrepresentation of his work.  

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

I want to read the Antichrist because of it's provocative name and the fact it was written after Nietzsche wrote "From now on all my writings are fish-hooks: perhaps I understand fishing as well as anyone? … If nothing got caught I am not to blame. There were no fish…"

Beyond Good and Evil - Friedrich Nietzsche

Reasoning

I felt like this would be a useful book to read as I've read that it covers the topics of imagination, self-assertion, originality, and creation of values.

What I Gained

I found this book to be very useful in terms of providing me with ideas that could help me link the idea of the overman to the practice of pastiche, as well as some clear criticisms of Christianity, preaching, and preachers, which I can relate to the First Things First Manifesto by comparing them with Nietzsche's reasoning.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Having read what I believe to be the three most appropriate of Nietzsche's books for my project (on the basis of the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy), I want to read Ecce Homo to see what Nietzsche has to say on these particular books.

Re-Visiting Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche

Reasoning

After reading Danto's book and the Roudledge Critical Thinkers book I know have a better idea of what Nietzsche's key thoughts were, and by revisiting certain chapters in Thus Spoke Zarathustra that came up in the two books might be helpful as I have a better idea of what to look for in the text. I want to re-read Of the Three Metamorphoses, Of the Thousand and One Goals, Of the Tarantulas, Of the Spirit of Gravity, and The Convalescent.

My previous notes on Thus Spoke Zarathustra can be found here.

What I Gained

I didn't gain as much from this as I had hoped, mainly: 

1. How important Of the Three Metamorphoses is in regards to how is ideas are introduced to the rest of book.
2. Nietzsche's insistence that religion is itself an old morality.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Beyond Good and Evil is the next book that I want to read, as I feel that there's probably not much more I can now take from a book about Nietzsche. I feel that this one in particular should be worth reading because of how the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy says it talks about imagination, self-assertion, originality and creation of values.

Nietzsche as Philosopher, an Original Study - Arthur C. Danto

Reasoning

At times I felt that the Routledge Critical Thinkers book was quite hard to read because of unnecessarily long sentences and words. Despite it's usefulness, I found that it didn't offer much subjectivity. I was attracted to this book in particular because it claimed to be "an Original Study", which suggests some subjectivity. I hoped that this would give me an idea of how some of Nietzsche's ideas could be interpreted and/or linked in a less objective manner.

The author, Arthur C. Danto was a philosopher, so probably had a fairly strong knowledge of Nietzsche's thoughts. He was also an art critic, so there may be some quotes in the book about Nietzsche's approach to art that could carry across to Graphic Design, which would be useful.

What I Gained

I found this book very useful, with some of the key points being: 

1. Society has been scared to stop following religion because they're scared that the morality will disappear with it, and they're unable to create new values.
2. Nietzsche felt that Christianity placed humanity in a debt to God that couldn't be repaid apart from through suffering, which lead to the 'Death of God'.
3. Nietzsche taught that pity made suffering infectious and contagious.
4. Nietzsche was scared of the eternal recurrence because it stops 'true creation', although it also renders the idea of a higher world (heaven) or the idea that there is a given goal to life. This allows man to live to his own ends.
5. All life is the will to power, and a living creatures could be interpreted as various wills acting in the same direction - a means to the will-to-power's end.
6. Nihilism is needed in order to make room for creation, so Nietzsche's nihilism was just a means to an end. Whereas religious nihilism has no end.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

I found this book incredibly useful to read. The reason there aren't as many quotes as from Spinks' introduction to Nietzsche is that at this point, as my understanding of Nietzsche has developed, the scope for something to be 'potentially useful' has shrunk.

I now intend to re-visit certain parts of Thus Spoke Zarathustra with my developed understanding of Nietzsche in the hope that the selected bits make more sense and are more useful in a subjective sense.

The Gay Science - Friedrich Nietzsche (with commentary by Walter Kaufmann)

Reasoning

Having been referenced a lot in the previous book I read, it made sense to read The Gay Science while the references were still fresh in my mind.

What I Gained

The main things I took from this book were:

1. An understanding of the will-to-powers relationship with religion.
2. Nietzsche makes clear that our current morality was created and affirmed by people because of their needs, and isn't an instinctual thing.
3. The Christianity makes people think of the consequences of their lives in the form of an overworld, which makes it more difficult for their followers to endure the eternal recurrence as they don't live by their own values.
4. In order to become the overman, one must accept and embrace the eternal recurrence.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

Given how useful I found it to read a secondary text after Thus Spoke Zarathustra, I intend to read another one now, in the hope that it will further increase my understanding.

Friedrich Nietzsche - Lee Spinks (Routledge Critical Thinkers)

Reasoning

The Routledge Critical Thinkers series is described by the series editor as being "designed for students who need an accessible introduction to the key figures in contemporary critical thought," which fits my needs perfectly.

What I Gained

There were three main things I took from reading this book:

1. It helped me distinguish between the superman and the 'higher men', which was a source of confusion towards the end of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
2. It introduced the concept of eternal recurrence in a less cryptic sense, which shed some light on a few parts of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
3. It highlighted to me that Nietzsche's key thoughts were the will-to-power, the eternal recurrence, and the overman.

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

The book made a lot of references to Nietzsche's The Gay Science, considerably more so than any of his other books. I decided that my next step should be to read The Gay Science, as I feel like this book has given me a solid foundation of knowledge to continue primary reading from.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche

Reasoning

I found through various sources that it generally doesn't matter what order you read Nietzsche's books in because of his lack of a clear order or system in his writings, and that Thus Spoke Zarathustra was Nietzsche's most popular book, given to the German soldiers in WW1 alongside the Bible as inspirational reading. I felt that this would be a good starting point in my investigation into Nietzsche because, having read parts of the Bible in the past, it would be a good way to start comparing Nietzsche's teachings to those of Christianity.

What I Gained

It would be difficult to clarify what I gained from this book as I had nothing to measure it against. Primarily it gave me a unique opportunity in this module, to have a truly first-hand reading of the book, which can only assist the critical aspect of the project.

It particularly made clear the below two things:

1. The similarities between Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the Bible. It could therefore be argued that Thus Spoke Zarathustra is an alternate, anti-moral (although not necessarily immoral) Bible.
2. Zarathustra is a character representative of Nietzsche himself, and the 'story' (as it could possibly be interpreted as) of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is essentially Nietzsche writing up a fictitious account of how he saw society at the time and how it would've reacted to his teaching.  

Potentially useful quotes:

Next Steps

I found myself to be somewhat confused at times throughout the book, having only previously been introduced to the fact the Nietzsche criticised Christianity for being a religion of pity. However, I feel like this has put me in a good position to develop my own opinion of Nietzsche as my first impressions of him were my own rather than someone else's.

Because of this slight confusion I will be reading a book on Nietzsche rather than by him in order to gain a more rounded knowledge and understanding on him. A series that was suggested was the Routledge Critical Thinkers books. The book on Nietzsche in particularly is written by Dr Lee Spinks, a senior lecturer in English Language at the University of Edinburgh.