very much enjoyed reading..one thing that always puzzled me about Nietzsche is that while he consistently railed against the ‘softness’ of Western societies during his time along with the degradation of the ‘martial spirit’, he was living amidst one of history’s greatest examples of a collective expression of naked ‘will to power.’ The colonial projects in Africa and SE Asia in particular were seemingly suffused with all the notions of the ‘superior’ imposing their will upon the ‘inferior.’ Certainly the vast barbarity of these public-private joint ventures embodied an enterprise that had jettisoned any moral limits in a way that seems to fit quite well Nietzsche’s core ethos. I am no Nietzsche expert, but in my cursory understanding, these two things (Nietzsche’s diagnosis and the coronial reality) always seem to sit somewhat discordantly. Again thanks for the thoughtful, insightful essay.
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! Nietzsche seemed generally to be unaware of the world beyond Europe. He knew basically nothing about ancient Egypt, which is surprising considering that Napoleon had kicked off an absolute obsession with it when he took over Alexandria. Germany did not functionally exist for most of his lifetime, and by the time it had unified, it had almost no foreign empire.
very much enjoyed reading..one thing that always puzzled me about Nietzsche is that while he consistently railed against the ‘softness’ of Western societies during his time along with the degradation of the ‘martial spirit’, he was living amidst one of history’s greatest examples of a collective expression of naked ‘will to power.’ The colonial projects in Africa and SE Asia in particular were seemingly suffused with all the notions of the ‘superior’ imposing their will upon the ‘inferior.’ Certainly the vast barbarity of these public-private joint ventures embodied an enterprise that had jettisoned any moral limits in a way that seems to fit quite well Nietzsche’s core ethos. I am no Nietzsche expert, but in my cursory understanding, these two things (Nietzsche’s diagnosis and the coronial reality) always seem to sit somewhat discordantly. Again thanks for the thoughtful, insightful essay.
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! Nietzsche seemed generally to be unaware of the world beyond Europe. He knew basically nothing about ancient Egypt, which is surprising considering that Napoleon had kicked off an absolute obsession with it when he took over Alexandria. Germany did not functionally exist for most of his lifetime, and by the time it had unified, it had almost no foreign empire.