Human, All-Too-Human - Nietzsche

To be honest, I am not sure what to write about this text.  The lecture by Jerry Zaslove was amazing and the in-person and e-mail discussions about the text crossed over with Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Flaubert, etc. were fantastic.  My partner asked me what I thought about the text - I said, I see why Nietzsche is considered one of the finest thinkers who ever lived.  He was obviously wise beyond his years and time.  I am not too sure what else to say...  I appreciate the points that Jerry brought up in readings to how to read a text and the 'secrets' encoded within it.  I was also intrigued by Jerry questioning if Nietzsche and/or Tolstoy can also be considered anarchists.  I remember anarchist-like ideas that were in Mencius from last term.  Ideas intertwine across time and cultures...  Since I am a little lost for words, I will instead comment on a few of the segments in Human, All-Too-Human instead.

2. "There are no eternal facts, as there are likewise no absolute truths." (p. 22)
This is very much in line with the self-reflexivity encouraged in my education in anthropology here at SFU.  There are multiple storytellers to an event, to a history.  Each writes from their own biases.  There is no objectivity.  We must use our own critical thinking skills to make our own judgements or conclusions to the multiple stories presented to us.

32. "We are from the beginning illogical, and therefore unjust beings, and can recognise this; it is one of the greatest and most inexplicable discords of existence." (p. 41)
- This speaks to the paradoxes and inconsistencies between philosophy and action that I feel in life.
- I used to think that activists and social justice fighters would all be kind, compassionate and nice people - that is, until I started to hang out with them...  This is not to say that they are not kind, compassionate and nice people, rather they burst my bubble of what was to me the idea of the ideal human being.  Instead, I discovered that they are as Nietzsche says, "human, all-too human."

70. Execution - Legalized murders - appalling indeed, the manner in which we ethically justify murders - in the name of the law.  Void of emotions.  Business as usual.  Is this our humanity?  Nietzsche lays blame on both the nature and nurture components, rather than the individual.  Who is the individual anyway without a memory of 'nature and nurture'?

94. "He lives and acts as a collective individual" (p. 70) This while segment shows like an anarchist idea now that the idea has been put into my heads my Jerry Zaslove.