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Summary: After having read the book...
Review: and having glanced over some reviews I have come to a conclusion, particularly about C. Khidr's review- Penguin classics was right- misinterpretation is very abundant... The text with many aphorisms and the fascinating prose that distinguishes Nietzsche from a multitude of other writers "dances"- however the dance comes at a price to the reader-
the dance is esoteric. For those who say that the antireligious-antigod argument is weak, perhaps you'll be best served reading the Antichrist. Some Freud will do you well to explain psychology and how it leads to religion. Those who find psychological proofs unconvincing against God, are pretty much fools, as namely these arguments unravel the fabrication easily by showing the psychology behind the creation. As for the child-separated-from-the-mother, and thirst-leads-to-water arguments, I couldn't agree less. These are all physical arguments, while clearly religion and belief in God has rooted itself in spirituality; religion is far from praising physical attributes. Also, if you read psychology, the baby doesn't cry for its mother!-the baby cries for itself. Similarly, humans don't worship god!-they worship themselves. Besides haven't many authors already proven that creation of gods has been a means of control of power to actually disagree with Nietzsche on this point? And, thirst leads us to water? Hardly- I have never heard of anyone following their nose in a desert to water. Plus, once again this is a physical need while religion is spiritual. It seems that the only weak argument here is C. Khidr's. As for the dominating-perspective anti-Nietzsche argument, this is clearly false also. Nietzsche himself states in Beyond Good and Evil, should you care to look, that this is only HIS perspective on truth. How worshipping animals leads us to divine I do not understand. I hardly comprehend how the forms listed by C.Khidr manifest animal worship. Nietzsche says, and I agree, religion and current forms of government are anti natural, not to mention contradictive (have you ever though that in democracy freedom, equality, rights, and unity are incompatible?). And aren't animals part of nature? He doesn't question his suppositions you say? Why, of course he does. If you have cared to read the introduction by r.j. hollingdale to Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he says that Nietzsche was forced to qualify, agree, or negate opinions within his own text because of the lack of audience at that time. Remember, Nietzsche is not something to dive in head first and make immediate conclusions about.
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Summary: No serious bookreader
Review: can come away from this book without it getting uder your skin. The Gay Science is Nietzsche's first "must-read" book, full of the danger and viciousness that is his true signature. The human experience, full of delusions, is Nietzsche's victim-and advocates a science of joy and laughter at the manifold and ever changing nature of man. It is no wonder our young nihilists and anarchists are enraptured by this supreme iconoclast;there is no one who advocates chimerical individuality and solitude with such eloquence, so much that one falls in love with these ideas that are so impossible to keep hold of in today's ever more connected world. This book will shake all your foundations as you read-it'll go away in a few days(if you're lucky), but prepare to go on trial for your beliefs as you turn the pages. This and "Beyond Good And Evil" should be held up as benchmarks for great philosophy. No other philosopher I have read since Rand has been more consistently compelling. Read it and weep, or be gay about the truth, little men.
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Summary: THE FAVOURITE: JOY THANKS TO LUCIDITY
Review: For the admirers of Nietzsche and those who love to read him, "The Gay Science" is somehow their FAVOURITE BOOK. In this work the hughe, great German philosopher and psychologist (honour to whom it deserves!) confronts us with a rather fleet-footed, almost "dancing" way of writing about his eternal themes that never ever have left his thoughts, his way of thinking and his brilliant pen.
HERE is a work that is EXTREMELY RICH, OF GREAT VALUE:
* For the FIRST TIME he announces the death of God;
* For the FIRST TIME his thoughts about eternal rebirth are formulated;
* He introduces the reader into his theory of "THE DANGEROUS LIFE": the author even recommends this to his readers (see too: "Thus spake Zarathustra", "Beyond Good And Evil" and his splendid "Antichrist").
At the same time I have to say that this however fabulous work, is a VERY CONTROVERSIAL writing of Nietzsche. At many places in the book he is dealing with - what I will call here "DELICATE THEMES" as there are for example "THE JEW" and "THE WOMAN". Passages where every reader of these days (early 21st century) cannot read those paragraphs without frowning the eyebrows, not to say will be "feeling uncomfortable with".
Now, quite REMARKABLE is that "THIS FAVOURITE" was written in the years 1881-1882, so about the same period the author "created" his "Zarathustra"! Knowing this AND knowing the subjects of Nietzsche, I cannot say elsehow - about the writer as a man as well as about his eternal themes - that right here "we" meet/deal with the greatest of all contrasts in his entire, well-filled life and work. In fact "THE CONTRAST" which cannot be found elsewhere in his oeuvre, is the "HEAVY PROPHETISM" of his "Zarathustra" versus "The Gay Science" of which the character is to be defined "RATHER AIRY, LIGHT-HEARTED AND PLAYFUL".
BUT: do NEVER let this contrast be the (false) reason not to read this beautiful "product", ON THE CONTRARY!!! No more, no less it is showing THE REAL GENIUS of the author (there exist/are/were far more less than one would like to think or thinks!). Without any doubt this PHENOMENON OF CONTRAST must be seen, interpreted as the REAL, IMMENSELY GREAT TALENT of Nietzsche: as well concerning the literary point of view as to his INEXHAUSTIVE, UNLIMITED CAPABILITY to play with words and thoughts. JUST AS IF it were the most common thing on earth to do so, while in fact this GENIUS (noblesse oblige!) is playing, juggling with the most difficult items of philosophy, psychology, even theology, in a way ... it can be read by all.
ESPECIALLY HERE, ABOUT "THE GAY SCIENCE", this has to be said all over again - whether one is PRO or CONTRA Nietzsche: the phenomenon of his GENIUS will and can never be denied. It is INTELLECTUAL HONESTY that makes, requires one to consider him that like. The book is AGAIN one of his "creatings" that is very well readable AND that will be re-read. RECOMMENDED FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART AND REASON, MY WHOLE BEING!
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Summary: Essential Nietzsche
Review: I would have to say that this is my favorite piece of literature from Nietzsche. This book is where the Myth of Eternal Recurrence is first explicitly mentioned in the aphorism of the daemon visiter. It also contains the famous aphorism declaring that "God is Dead." The Myth of Eternal Recurrence is Nietzsche's most important idea and these two aphorisms lay the groundwork. In saying "God is dead," Nietzsche was not spitting on the grave, he was lamenting it. The madman making the declaration indeed is carrying a lit lantern at noon and declaring that the world is spinning out of control. Nietzsche is telling us that without God, we have no center of gravity to hold our world in place or to truly see. The Myth of Eternal Recurrence is what Nietzsche saw as the solution. That is an anchor that will hold the world together if you were doomed (or blessed) to repeat (and in fact already have repeated) every action into eternity. The rest of the book is great, too. Feel free to skip the songs, though ;).
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Summary: RE: "God is dead"
Review: If you have heard this phrase and never done a critical reading of Nietzsche you may understandably be confused! He is saying the authority (moral, scientific, etc.)previuosly accorded "god" (also religious institution)belongs properly to man.
"Man is the measure" and, thanks to historical movements like Romanticism and the Enlightenment, we are free, rational (lower case 'r') beings not dependent on "god" for our grounding. Hence, "God is dead."
Disclaimer, there are numerous readings of Nz, I think this reading is accurate, especially when contextualized, but...I did learn Nz from a positivist.
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Summary: An Under-rated piece of work?
Review: It has to be said that from all of Nietzsche's works, the "Gaya Scienza" has to be the most under-rated of Nietzsche's works. (It is in the "Gay Science" in which the prelude of the now famous proclaimation "God is dead" first appears) With his usual "aphoristic" style, Nietzsche creates delightfull read, his message is both profane and profound. It's a book I recomend to all...
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Summary: A Pretty Serious Gay Science
Review: It's hard to give a cursory review of a book of aphorisms. This edition of 'The Gay Science' however comes with observations by the superlative Nietzschian commentator, Walter Kaufmann, who says that "this book is a microcosm in which we find almost all of Nietzsche: epigrams and songs, aphorisms and...philosophical problems, ethics and theory of knowledge, reflections on art and on the death of God, the eternal recurrence and even Zarathustra." This is about as good a review of 'The Gay Science' as any. I must say that of the 4 other Nietzschian works I have read (BG&E, Geneology of Morals, BOT, and Antichrist) this is the best, most complete, and most enjoyable so far. This book showcases Nietzsche for what is probably his most noticable strength: his ability as a psychologist and sociologist. He seems to have a good understanding of the types of innate moves people possess and utilize in their respective environments. Probably his understanding of exatcly what that environment is, namely, his sense of objective reality, is what allows him to comment so precisely on human nature. True, he's an indefensibly offensive misogynist and war monger, and that notwhithstanding, many of his observations are still germane in this day and age, which suggests an accute sense of psychology and anthropology on his part; although naturally a bit dated. Of course, I believe that in modern America we tend to discount the utter sagacity of 19th century Europeans in their pragmatism. Perhaps Nietzsche just seems sagacious compared to the discourse of present day America. His comments on hegemony, or how the ruling class manipulates the masses into cooperation are great. Nietzsche's love of science and his comments on the silliness of self-proclaimed objective types is excellent too. The opening aphorism of Book Two, entited "To the Realists-" is a clarion mockery to those so enamoured with logic that they deny, zombie-like, their own humanity and necessary (if not intentional) delusion. Previously I was confused by Nietzsche's style. After hearing some lectures by professor Bob Solomon I came to understand how utterly ironic Nietzsche is trying to be in his writing from the outset. The title of this book, the 'Gay' science is trying to tell us that. Only by not taking Nietzsche seriously, by understanding his intentional irony and sarcasm, can one begin to hear him seriously. For all this book's sturm und drang it is frivolous and insignificant; and what of life isn't? so be gay and carefree my friends (while keeping watch with a jaundiced eye)! hence the nascent, cheerful, crushing existentialism of Nietzsche. Life is a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing, so let's go have a beer and catch some of the performance art of the wise, having ourselves a good laugh over their wardrobes and posturing. In this context, in his clever craftiness and irony, Nietzsche's message congeals to reveal the mind of, if not a mentally deranged person (who of us isn't after all), then a mind twisted into a sage of sorts who, motivated and feuled by an almost divine derangement, serves as a valuable alterego sibling. Nietzsche burns the midnight oil as a sibyl for our collective subconscious. This is the best work by Nietzsche I have read yet.
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Summary: Mature Philsophy of Nietzsch Takes Its Shape
Review: Most of the concepts of Nietzsche's mature philosophy can be found in this book. Nevertheless, the book is not overly serious or dull, Nietzsche is trying to be ticklish and light-hearted, hence the title "The Gay Science." As with most of his other works, N. succeeds in being psychologically insightful, but also has some of the ideas that do not resonate well with modern readers. For example, he philosophizes about "health" and implies that his contemporaries are not healthy enough for Plato's insights and philosophical courage. At one point, he also implies that physics explains everything, and therefore, "long live physcis!" But he himself has never tried his hand in it, nor is it obvious that physics does in fact explain everything. In this book, Nietzsche is not yet as shrill as he would become in his last four works, written in 1888. He seeks joyful wisdom and can give plesure to his readers and insights for the curious mind.
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Summary: Amor Fati
Review: Nietzsche's The Gay Science proposes an antidote to the condition of contemporary scholarship. As opposed to what he saw as contemporary scholars' ant-like drudgery in amassing facts, he recommends "the gay science," a kind of scholarship that would be lighthearted and deliberately "superficial--out of profundity" as he claims that the Greeks were. Aware of the murkier aspects of human existence, the ancient Athenians responded by taking aesthetic delight in life and becoming "adorers of forms, tones, of words." In his own era, in which many felt incapable of transforming reality, Nietzsche proposed that this would be the appropriate convalescence for scholars, as it had been for him in his own personal life. In The Gay Science, the infamous statement "God is dead" appears for the first time. The most important mention of this belief comes in the section called "The Madman." The madman in this section appears in the marketplace and makes the announcement "God is dead" to the scientific atheists who have gathered there. After the atheists merely laugh at him, the madman realizes that he has come too early, and he goes around to different towns singing funeral hymns during masses. This parable suggests the inappropriateness of the popular characterization of Nietzsche as the hardened atheist who delights in nothing more than debunking other people's beliefs. Nevertheless, the perspective that Nietzsche proposes throughout The Gay Science is naturalistic and aesthetic, in opposition to traditional religious views. Indeed, many of the work's sections might be considered practical advice for the spiritually sensitive atheist who is concerned lest he or she return to old religious habits out of desperation. Nietzsche proposes as an alternative to religious views that seek life's meaning in an afterlife, an immanent appreciation of this life in aesthetic terms. Ideal, he suggests, is the experience of amor fati (love of fate), in which one loves one's life, with all its flaws, just for what it is. Nietzsche's most complex and controversial image for the satisfaction that one would ideally take in one's earthly life is his doctrine of eternal recurrence. The concept of eternal recurrence seems to suggest that time is cyclical, with the entire sequence of all events recurring over and over again. In Nietzsche's published works, this concept is first suggested in Book Four of The Gay Science entitled "The Greatest Stress."
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Summary: The Spiritual Atheist
Review: This book contains the famous description of the madman announcing the Death of God. Obviously Nietzsche sees himself as the madman, sacrificing himself to bring humanity the awful news. What's odd is that Nietzsche was certainly not the first person to proclaim God's death; in fact, as he himself notes elsewhere, many educated people had already become either agnostic or atheistic. None of them, however, found this as earthshaking as Nietzsche. The reason, I think, is that he had an essentially religious nature. The word "spiritual" recurs throught the book. In one remarkable passage he even chastises St. Augustine for being insufficiently spiritual. The Gay Science is a pivitol book for Nietzsche because it is the first in which the tension between the spiritual seeker and the atheist becomes manifest. Gone is the skeptical pose of "Human All Too Human"; instead we have the anguish of a man torn between two conflicting ideals. The tension, while it ravaged Nietzsche, did produce some brilliant ideas and unforgettable prose, even if it did not ultimately lead to a liveable philosophy.
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