The Toronto Philosophy Meetup

"Perhaps no philosopher is more of a conundrum than Nietzsche, the solitary rebel, poet, wayfarer, anti-revolutionary Aufklärer and theorist of aristocratic radicalism. His accusers identify in his 'superman' the origins of Nazism, and thus issue an irrevocable condemnation; his defenders pursue a hermeneutics of innocence founded ultimately in allegory. In a work widely regarded as the most important contribution to Nietzschean studies in recent decades, Domenico Losurdo instead pursues a less reductive strategy..." (See here for the full blurb about the book)

Hello Everyone and welcome to this meetup series on the book:

• Nietzsche, the Aristocratic Rebel: Intellectual Biography and Critical Balance-Sheet by Domenico Losurdo (2021, originally published in Italian in 2002) — Scroll down 👇 for the reading schedule and materials.

Some philosophers attempt to express their philosophical views in the most straightforward way possible. Nietzsche is not that kind of philosopher! Nietzsche puts forward a philosophy (or maybe a variety of related philosophies) in which the very notion of what it means to present a philosophy is played with. Nietzsche as a philosopher (as well as Zarathustra and the various other characters in his works who could be labeled as philosophers) seems to suggest that such things as hiding one's views, practicing subterfuge, putting one's views in the mouths of many characters so as to undermine the idea of a single coherent presentation of these views, etc. are all valid tools that a philosopher can and should employ. Even a philosopher like Kant who sincerely tried to put forward his views in the most straightforward way possible is difficult to interpret. So just imagine how difficult it is to interpret Nietzsche!

As if that were not enough, it is not clear that Nietzsche's philosophy is first and foremost a philosophy one should interpret. It is entirely possible that the best thing one can do with Nietzsche's philosophy is not to interpret it in the sense of trying to figure out what it actually says, but rather to let it shape your life in a way that is personal to you.

As a result, there is absolutely no consensus on how best to think about or philosophize with Nietzsche. Nevertheless, some of you may be familiar with stances on Nietzsche that see him (or want to see him) as apolitical, as Walter Kaufman does. And some of you may be familiar with stances on Nietzsche that see him (or want to see him) as a force for some kind of egalitarian anti-fascism, as Deleuze does.

If so, Domenico Losurdo's book may come as a bit of a surprise. Losurdo sees Nietzsche as first and foremost a political thinker. Not in the sense that Nietzsche wanted to form a political party, or put forward a specific political doctrine, but rather in the sense that Nietzsche (above all else) wanted to bring about a change in how human lives are organized and lived. And he wanted to bring about a change in the nature and character of those who would rule.

Domenico Losurdo's approach in his book is rather interesting: Losurdo is a Marxist who thinks that left wing thinkers have for the most part utterly misunderstood Nietzsche. Losurdo sees Nietsche's numerous and various right wing interpreters as having understood Nietzsche much better. Losurdo's project is to present these (in his view) accurate interpretations of Nietzsche and make them available to people of all political stances (including his own far left stance).

In this meetup, polite people of all political stripes are welcome! Participants are more than welcome to disagree with Lusurdo (in a polite way of course).

If you would like to get a taste of what Losurdo's magisterial book "Nietzsche, the Aristocratic Rebel" is all about, you could read this much shorter book aimed at a popular audience. This book is heavily indebted to Lusurdo's larger work but is highly interesting in its own right. It is available as an audiobook and works well in that format in my opinion: How to Read Like a Parasite: Why the Left Got High on Nietzsche by Daniel Tutt

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In this meetup the format will be my usual "accelerated live read" format. What this means is that each participant will be expected to read roughly 25-30 pages before each session. (This is a biography after all so it should not be too onerous to read that many pages). Each participant will have the option of picking a few paragraphs they especially want to focus on. We will then do a live read on the paragraphs that the participants found most interesting when they did the assigned reading. When you are choosing your passages, please try to lean in the direction of picking passages with philosophical content rather than mere historical interest. But I can be flexible about this.

In addition to the Losurdo book, it would be good if we all shared at least one Nietzsche text and if we all read it in a translation that does not illegitimately expunge Nietzsche's political views. It is my hope that after we have been meeting for a few months, some sort of consensus may emerge as to which book that should be.

People who have not done the reading are welcome to attend this meetup. However if you want to TALK during the meetup it is essential that you do the reading. I mean it! It is essential that the direction of the conversation be influenced only by people who have actually done the reading. You may think you are so brilliant and wonderful that you can come up with great points even if you do not do the reading. You probably are brilliant and wonderful — no argument there. But you still have to do the reading if you want to talk in this meetup. Really.

Please note that this is a "raise hands" meetup and has a highly structured format, not an anarchy-based one. This is partly for philosophical reasons: I want to discourage a simple-minded rapid fire "gotcha!" approach to philosophy. But our highly structured format is also for disability related reasons that I can explain if required.

This series will happen every second Wednesday and will alternate with the Wednesday Foucault series. The READING SCHEDULE for Losurdo's Nietzsche is below:

• Oct 8: Read the quotations, Harrison Fluss' Introduction, and up to page 23 in the main part of the book.
• Oct 22: Read up to page 34
• Nov 5: Read up to page 45
• Nov 19: Read pages 45-67
• Dec 3: Read pages 67-86 [Canceled]
• Dec 17: Read pages 67-86
• Dec. 31st, Celebrate and bring in the New Year with Nietzsche! Read pages 86-108

A pdf of the text is available here.

After we get a better sense of what pace works best for this meetup, further readings will be posted.

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One last thing: It is a shame it has to come to this, but:

I am Canadian and like many Canadians my relationship with America has changed drastically in the last 10 months or so. In this meetup, no discussion of the current US political situation will be allowed. This is unfortunate, but that is how it must be. When talking about Losurdo's Nietzsche there will no doubt be a strong desire to talk about politics. No problem! It is a big old world and the political situations of literally every other country on planet earth are fair game for discussion in this meetup, including their right wing populist movements. Just not that of the USA. The political situation in the USA is now a topic for Canadians to think about in a very practical, strategic manner as we fight to prevent our democracy from being destroyed, and our land and resources stolen. The time may come when a Canadian like me can talk about this topic in an abstract philosophical way, but I suspect that time is at least 6 years away. If you are looking for a place to talk about current US politics, I hope you find it. But this meetup is not that place.

In general, discussions of current US politics tend to derail meetups, and so I am not allowing such discussions in any of my meetups. This Nietzsche meetup is a special case since many of the architects of the current US right wing populists have been heavily influenced by Nietzsche, either by reading him (as Steve Bannon has) or via more circuitous routes of influence. Nevertheless, this is an aspect of Luscurdo's Nietzsche that we will not be discussing. Maybe this is not a significant loss since a case could be made that the right wing populism of, say, France's National Front with its emphasis on restoring high culture may actually be more Nietzschean in outlook. Perhaps we will get a better sense of Nietzsche's influence by looking at the current situation in France or other countries. I can recommend some excellent books on right-wing populism in France and other countries if people want me to.