[kj] OT: Competition?

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

Bette Dillinger wrote:

"Nietzche is a completely different case.  We have historical data on 
him.  Rollo May's psychological portrait of him, and of his relationship 
with Lou Salome is very insightful.  His tribe has been quite 
interesting to speak with...... "



Yeah, Nietzsche is a different case than Sun Tzu, absolutely. Nietzsche 
quoted what he claimed was a military aphorism ("from the military 
school"), and the debate/discussion was about that.

Just because we know a lot more about Nietzsche doesn't mean "we" 
understand him. There is, for example, the pretty-good book "What 
Nietzsche Really Meant." This is because Nietzsche is inconsistent over 
the course of his writings, went through his various phases, was fond of 
a cryptic turn of phrase or pun (many of which don't translate from 
German to English very well, etc.) , and left many things ambiguous on 
purpose, or hinted at stuff, and more. O the other hand, it is hard to 
imagine a similar book about an empiricist philosopher like Bertrand 
Russell called "What Bertrand Russell Really meant," because Russell 
said what he meant, explicitly, and without the cryptic allusions, 
poetic style and/or imagery used by Nietzsche, etc. -- the stuff that 
makes Nietzsche a joy to read literarily, but a pain when trying to 
extract from all his various aphorisms, maxims, quotes from Zarathustra, 
and all that, some sort of consistent philosophical weltanschauung. In 
fact, Nietzsche seemed to dislike consistency itself.

-Oliver