Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

For our May meeting, we will discuss Twilight of the Idols, one of Friedrich Nietzsche's last published essays. Although published towards the end of his career, it includes themes which permeate all periods of his philosophy and is a great introduction and/or summation of his work.

We'll be at Axelrad, sitting outside on the upstairs deck.

Below is a link to a PDF version of the reading, followed by a brief description of the work:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD READING

"Twilight of the Idols is a ‘grand declaration of war’ on reason, psychology and theology that combines highly charged personal attacks on his contemporaries with a lightning tour of his own philosophy. Nietzsche's own unabashed appraisal of this late work intended that it serve as a short introduction to the whole of his philosophy, and at the same time as the most synoptic of all his books. It bristles with a register of vocabulary derived from physiology, pathology, symptomatalogy and medicine. Twilight of the Idols presents a vivid, compressed overview of many of Nietzsche’s mature ideas, including his attack on Plato’s Socrates and on the Platonic legacy in Western philosophy and culture."