Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by JimC » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:29 pm

Sean Hayden wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 7:26 pm
You can't beat Nietzsche on Christian morality.
As he castigates them, a certain definite tinge of fascism appears...
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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Sean Hayden » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:48 pm

Oh, it's far from pretty. But if I could only have as a favorite philosopher or writer those who never get it wrong or go off the deep end, then I'd have no favorites at all.

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Hermit » Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:57 pm

JimC wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:29 pm
Sean Hayden wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 7:26 pm
You can't beat Nietzsche on Christian morality.
As he castigates them, a certain definite tinge of fascism appears...
Definite tinge of fascism? Can you actually cite an example or are you just repeating crap you heard others say or write?
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by JimC » Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:30 pm

Only in a very general sense, I suppose. The qualities he favoured tended to be macho - man and superman, not superwoman... :tea:

I was careful not to say that he was a fascist, simply that the bits and pieces of his writings that I have read have a flavour of some of the posturing bravado of the European right of his day...
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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by laklak » Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:39 am

Old white German dude. Of fucking course he was a Nazi. We need to BAN him! Burn his fucking books! Tear down his statues! Rename any street, building, or whatever named after him! Expunge his racist old white ass from history! Anyone reading Nietzsche should immediately be sent to the re-education camps and forced to color pictures of oppressed black people and play with non-gender specific puppies until they learn to behave properly. Fuck it, kill ALL the old white dudes. Just fucking erase them.
Yeah well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Hermit » Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:19 am

JimC wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:30 pm
Only in a very general sense, I suppose. The qualities he favoured tended to be macho - man and superman, not superwoman... :tea:
You clearly have either not read any of his writings, or you have not understood a word of it. What fascists conceptualised as Übermensch has not even a remote semblance to what Nietzsche meant with it. The Nazis conceptualised the word in genetic, racist terms, the philosopher in terms of anti-Christianity. In fact, Nietzsche explicitly opposed both antisemitism and nationalism, and especially German nationalism. He insisted that he was a pure-blooded Pole, that anything good about Germany is due to the Poles and that if he had his way he'd have all antisemites shot.

I don't expect you to read Also sprach Zarathustra or any of its poor translations, but to save you from further embarrassing yourself on the topic I suggest you read the Wikipedia's shortish articles titled Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Übermensch.
JimC wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 10:30 pm
I was careful not to say that he was a fascist, simply that the bits and pieces of his writings that I have read have a flavour of some of the posturing bravado of the European right of his day...
Considering that Mussolini was 17 years old and the founding of the first fascist party lay 15 years in the future when Nietzsche died in 1900, there may not have been any of the posturing bravado of the European right of his day. Not unless you classify sabre rattling royalists as such.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by pErvinalia » Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:23 am

I spake Thus Spake Zarathustra once...
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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Sean Hayden » Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:34 am

Yeah Jim, ya fucking dumbass.

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Jason » Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:53 am

pErvinalia wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:23 am
I spake Thus Spake Zarathustra once...
That's like... a zen koan.

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by pErvinalia » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:09 am

Sean Hayden wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:34 am
Yeah Jim, ya fucking dumbass.
:lol:
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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Sean Hayden » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:09 am

:hehe:

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Brian Peacock » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:18 am

Dennet is good, but I've gone right off Harris since he lost his pretty boy looks and went all naturalistic fallacy.
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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Sean Hayden » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:30 am

I've never enjoyed Harris. I read The Moral Landscape and hated it. I think I might have mentioned that here at the time. Dennett's universal acid is good stuff.

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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by Brian Peacock » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:34 am

Twas The Moral Landscape which broke Harris for me too. He surged to the top of the mountain but came off on the first corner of the descent.
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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Favourite Atheist Philosopher/Writer

Post by JimC » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:36 am

Sean Hayden wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:30 am
I've never enjoyed Harris. I read The Moral Landscape and hated it. I think I might have mentioned that here at the time. Dennett's universal acid is good stuff.
The Moral Landscape seemed to be a very confused book, full of contradictions...
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