Friedrich Nietzsche

 

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philologist and philosopher in the nineteenth century. He was a pioneer of western nihilistic views, frequently questioning the existence of god, and the purpose and the usefulness of religion in society throughout his life. He also observed, and was a critic of the German culture that was developing.

Nietzsche was born in the Prussian city of Röcken on October 15^th of 1844. He developed an interest in philology, the study of classical languages, at a young age. Nietzsche studied philology at the University of Bonn with the goal of eventually becoming a minister. However, after just one semester, Nietzsche discontinued his theological studies due to a loss of faith. Friedrich Nietzsche had grown up in a highly religious family because his father was a Lutheran minister and this halting of his pursuit of a career as a minister as well caused a divide between him and his family. At this time, Nietzsche began writing essays on the topic of religion. He argued that historical research had totally discredited the teachings of Christianity. He was offered a professor’s position at the University of Basel in that space in 1869 at age 24, before he had even completed his doctorate, becoming the youngest chair of classical philology in the university’s history. Before moving to Basel, Nietzsche renounced his Prussian citizenship. Despite this, he would go on to serve in the Prussian forces in the Franco-Prussian war a year later. Nietzsche served as a medical orderly and saw the horrors of war first-hand. As well as the emotional impact, Nietzsche contracted a handful of serious medical issues such as dysentery and syphilis that would worsen the health issues that had plagued him his entire life.  Upon returning to Basel, Nietzsche published his first book, “The Birth of Tragedy”. He strayed away from the usual classical philological voice and took a more speculative stance. The book was largely unpopular, especially with his colleagues. Nietzsche began to feel out of place in the philological community and tried unsuccessfully to move in to the philosophical area of study at the University of Basel. Despite the unpopularity of his work, Nietzsche continued his writing by publishing a collection of essays criticizing the German culture that was developing around him. He then went on to publish “Human, All Too Human”, a book that contained observations on topics like metaphysics, morality, religion, gender studies and more. This would be the last work Nietzsche would publish at Basel. His health issues forced him to resign in 1879.

After Basel, Nietzsche lived off his pension from the university and financial aid from his friends. He travelled between cities constantly, seeking climates that accommodated his declining health, often spending his summers in Switzerland and his winters in Italy or France. Due to his failing eyesight, Nietzsche recruited his former student, Peter Gast, as a private secretary to proofread and type out his essays and books. During this period of his life, he would publish at least one book or major work a year, and as many as five in one year. Nietzsche’s work became increasingly erratic and alienating and was not received well by the public. In 1883, he tried to return to teaching at the University of Leipzig but failed to secure a post because of his views on Christianity. Nietzsche became bitter and isolated after this failure as his health continued to rapidly decline. In January of 1889, Nietzsche suffered a complete mental breakdown in Turin, Italy and was brought back to Basel where he fell totally into serious mental illness. The cause of his illness was linked to his syphilis and he began developing a stroke disorder. His strokes left him totally paralyzed in 1899 and after contracting pneumonia in August of 1900, he died.

Nietzsche’s works did not reach a significant audience during his lifetime, but in the century-plus after his death he has been recognized as an important figure in philosophy. He is considered the precursor to existentialism, post-modernism and other philosophical theories.

Duncan Simmons

 

Bibliography

Anderson, R. Lanier. 2017. “Friedrich Nietzsche.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. March 17. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/.

Hindley, Meredith. 2012. “Nietzsche.” Humanities, July/August.

Magnus, Bernd. 1999. “Friedrich Nietzsche.” Encyclopedia Britannica. July 26. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Nietzsche.

The School of Life. 2014. PHILOSOPHY-Nietzsche. October 10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHWbZmg2hzU.

Wilkerson, Dale. n.d. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://www.iep.utm.edu/nietzsch/#H8.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was born December 11, 1918 in Kislovodsk, Russia and died August 3, 2008 in Troitse-Lykovo, near Moscow (Aleksandr Isayevich). In the 1930s, Solzhenitsyn attended the University of Rostov, where he studied mathematics (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn). Through correspondence, Solzhenitsyn also studied at the “Institute of History, Philosophy and Literature in Moscow” (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn). The years he spent studying as a mathematician would later help him survive the eight years he spent in camps and exile where he was able to teach mathematics and physics, which helped to ease his existence and made it possible for him to write (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn). In 1941, shortly after graduating university, Solzhenitsyn was “detailed to serve as a driver of horsedrawn vehicles” (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) for a year. Due to his extensive mathematical knowledge, he was later put in command of an artillery position, serving in the front line until he was arrested in February of 1945 (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn). Solzhenitsyn was arrested on “the grounds of what the censorship had found during the years 1944-1945 in [a] correspondence with a school friend, mainly because of certain disrespectful remarks about Stalin” (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn). In 1970, Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novels, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” “The First Circle” and “The Cancer Ward” (Solzhenitsyn Is). He was given the award, “for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature” (Solzhenitsyn Is). Solzhenitsyn’s novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, published in 1962, takes place in a camp run by “the Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps and Settlements, better known by the Russian acronym: GULAG” (About One). These camps were created in collaboration with Siberia, under the administration of the secret police (About One). “It is estimated that by 1929, there were already more than 1 million prisoners in these camps, mainly for political reasons” (About One). The publication of this novel inspired many others to “produce accounts of their imprisonment under Stalin’s regime” (Aleksandr Isayevich). While incarcerated in camps, Solzhenitsyn was operated on for a tumor and received radiotherapy and recovered (Coulehan). The Cancer Ward, published in 1966, tells a tale about Soviet society after Stalin’s death. “Cancer is a metaphor for the totalitarian state” (Coulehan). The novel recounts the various responses of “scientists at work on research for the secret police as they must decide whether to cooperate with the authorities and thus remain within the research prison” (Aleksandr Isayevich) or refuse and be put back into the labor camps. The First Circle, published in 1968, “the prisoners are not particularly ill-treated, but are working on state projects designed to elongate the life of the Communist system that they know to be utterly morally and intellectually bankrupt” (Roberts). Despite the consequences of speaking the truth about the Soviet Union and Stalin, Solzhenitsyn continuously chose to share his story, as well as others, through his various novels, in an attempt to shed light to what they were doing to their citizens.

Natalie Schalo

 

Works Cited

“About One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” Cliff Notes, www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/one-day-in-the-life-of-ivan-denisovich

/about-one-day-in-the-life-of-ivan-denisovich.

“Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc., 19 Apr. 2017.

“Alexandr Solzhenitsyn – Biographical.” Nobelprize.org, www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-bio.html.

Coulehan, Jack . “The Cancer Ward.” NYU School of Medicine, 5 Feb. 1998, medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/401.

Roberts, Andrew. “Book Of A Lifetime: The First Circle, By Alexander Solzhenitsyn.” Independent , 30 July 2009, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books

/reviews/book-of-a-lifetime-the-first-circle-by-alexander-

solzhenitsyn-1764866.html.

“ Solzhenitsyn Is Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature.” The New York Times, The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/solz-prize.html.

Georges Sorel

Georges Sorel

2nd November, 1847 to 29th August, 1922

 

Georges Sorel was a French writer and engineer who was an outspoken Socialist that drew heavily upon Marxist ideals. His most famous work was called “Reflections of Violence,” and was published in 1906. Sorel is best know for his extreme interpretation and views on Marxism; which included heavily anti-elitist, anti-deterministic, and anti-Semitic thoughts and ideals.

One of Sorel’s heaviest concentration of followers, and thus one of his largest areas of influence was in prewar Italy, with Mussolini and the other Fascists there. It should be pointed out however, that even within this group, their views on Sorel’s rhetoric and their implementation of his ideals was not consistent (Roth. 30). Sorel first began expressing interest in Italy’s social and political workings after reading articles written by Cesare Lombroso about the psychology of what he called political crime. Although he had announced his conversion to Marxism a few years earlier, as Sorel continued his discourse with Italian writers and theorists, he eventually started a critique of Marxism, which he began to call social poetry. At this point his ties to Italy grew even stronger as he saw them as the only country that was serious in its critique of Marxism (Roth, 32). He disagreed most fundamentally about Marxism when he introduced his concept of Myth, which he identified as a method for converting what he saw as typical Marxian individualistic tendencies into more social ones (Ton, 336). All of this led to Mussolini’s adherence to and expressed admiration for Sorel’s “catastrophic revolution” and “morale of producers” as he called them. The historical significance of Sorel influencing the mind of one of the world’s most infamous dictators to the point of public acclamation should be clear.

Another of Sorel’s ideals that gained traction and influence in certain countries was his antisemitism preaching. One class of people in particular was unwelcome in the Sorelian community, and that was financiers, who according to Sorel, were an unproductive group who employed the rationalist ideology of democracy to dupe the French classes (Antliff, 56). This led Sorel’s follower’s to concur that Jews were immoral beings who lived off the hard work of others, especially after his antisemitism reached its highest point in 1910 (Antliff, 57). The most openly announced and public demonstration of Sorel’s views on this matter was the opera, in The Legend of St Christopher, where the saint is fighting a corrupt King of Gold, who is represented by a Jew (Antliff, 58).

From this brief look into Sorel’s ideals and the following they gathered we can see just how influential he became in his time. Because of the messages he was trying to spread, it aided the rhetoric of dictators that would arise in various countries in the next few years, particularly in Italy. 2 of his main ideas were discussed here as they pertain to the world state at that time and in the years to come, namely his fostering of extreme socialism that encouraged blameless violence, and his preaching of antisemitism, which would come to a disastrous head only a short while later.

 

Lucas Bongers

 

Works Cited

1. Roth, Jack J. “The Roots of Italian Fascism: Sorel and Sorelismo.”The Journal of Modern History 39, no. 1 (1967): 30-45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1877666.
2. James Jay Hamil Ton. “Georges Sorel and the Inconsistencies of a Bergsonian Marxism.”Political Theory 1, no. 3 (1973): 329-40. http://www.jstor.org/stable/190592.
3. Antliff, Mark. “The Jew as Anti-Artist: Georges Sorel, Anti-Semitism, and the Aesthetics of Class Consciousness.”Oxford Art Journal 20, no. 1 (1997): 50-67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1360715.

Environmentalism

Identification

Environmentalism is an ecological term coined in 1972 during a period of radical change brought upon by the industrial revolution of the 19^th century. Factories, atom bombs, automobiles—products of industrialization—thrust humanity into a vacillating reality of terrifying destruction and incredible development. The separation of man from the natural world began during the first urbanization period around 500 B.C.E. and reached its zenith in modern times, culminating under a globalized society. The environmentalism movements that spawned during the late twentieth century were self-conscious reactions to the increasing risks involved with rampant technological innovation, leading to the proposal that mankind could be the cause of its own destruction.

Historical Significance 

Ancient Greek thinkers were the first to grapple with natural law distinct from mystical traditions. Their culminated knowledge, which resulted in an early explanation of the atom, set the foundation for western scientific tradition, seeking to understand the fundamental nature of matter. The Judeo-Christian tradition that followed shared in the anthropocentric worldview of the Greeks but lent more credence to spirituality over reason, stressing man’s dominion over nature. When Christian-European settlers arrived in North America, they sought to erect Western civilization on the wide plains and dense forests of the new world. A religion bent on the domination of man clashed with animistic Natives who expressed a deep respect for the natural world, resulting in the near extinction of their entire population. The subsequent colonizing of the Americas, governed under the assumption that nature was valuable insofar that it was productive for man, set the stage for the industrial revolution. It wasn’t until the twentieth century when a coherent philosophy would be established that questioned and critiqued the adverse effects of unmitigated “progress” since the Enlightenment. The environmentalism movements spawned during this period represented an awakening to the reality of a symbiotic power relationship between man and nature, which reasoned—for the first time—methods and practices aimed towards the creation of a harmonious relationship between human beings and the natural world.

Key Historical Proponents

The two foremost environmentalists of the early 20^th century both arose from a personal reverence and concern for the natural world and its increasing destruction. Scottish immigrant and poet John Muir envisioned the first national park in Yosemite with the help of Theodore Roosevelt after finding himself enamored by America’s natural beauty and disgusted by the gross logging practices carried out by his fellow citizens. Yale graduate and acquaintance of Muir, Gifford Pinchot, became increasingly interested in sustainable foresting practices, promoting methods in which logging practices could be monitored and controlled so as to ensure the livelihood of forests. Although oriented towards the same purpose, the disagreements of Muir and Pinchot sparked the initial environmentalism debate between preservation and conservation, which ultimately concerned man’s role in the natural world. The former supposes that nature should be left alone and the latter proposes that nature should be harvested for human needs efficiently and sustainably. In the late 20^th century, U.S. senator and former vice president Al Gore championed worldwide contribution and political action through his controversial books and films. Critics of any environmentalism movement still echo the disagreement between Muir and Pinchot who found themselves as we find ourselves now: hungry human beings yielding immense power over a volatile natural world that serves to serve us as much as we serve it.

Jacob Krone

 

Bibliography:

Martinez, J. Michael. American Environmentalism Philosophy, History, and Public Policy. CRC Press, a Part of the Taylor & Francis Group, 2014.

Cannavò, P. F. & Lane, J. H. & Barry, J..Engaging Nature: Environmentalism and the Political Theory Canon.Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2014. Project MUSE,

Paliewicz, Nicholas S. and George F. (Guy) McHendry. “When Good Arguments Do Not Work: Post-Dialectics, Argument Assemblages, and the Networks of Climate Skepticism.” Argumentation & Advocacy, vol. 53, no. 4, Nov. 2017, pp. 287-309. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00028533.2017.1375738.