Today we begin our analysis of Beyond Good & Evil. This episode concerns the preface, which is perhaps my favorite of Nietzsche’s, and the first five sections of chapter one: On the Prejudices of Philosophers. As always I move incredibly slowly during the opening sections because of their incredible importance for understanding the entirety of the work, but ... Show More
Aug 19
The Gay Science #16 (IV.276-288)
Continuing with The Gay Science, and beginning with book IV, "Sanctus Januarius". Here, we encounter some of the most famous aphorisms: For the New Year, Preparatory Men ("Live Dangerously!") and Excelsior. Exciting times!Episode art: View of Genoa under the Snow - Eugenio Olivar ... Show More
1h 56m
Aug 12
120: Erich Heller, The Disinherited Mind, pt 2 - Burckhardt, Nietzsche & History
The conclusion of our two-parter on Erich Heller, and the conclusion to season five! We discuss Nietzsche's friendship with Jacob Burckhardt, and how Burckhardt's view of history can inform our understanding of Nietzsche's divergence from him. We also consider Goethe's four ages ... Show More
1h 44m
Aug 5
119: Erich Heller, The Disinherited Mind, pt 1 - Goethe, Schiller & The Symbol
Something happened to the human mind around the birth of modernity: the divorce of reality and the symbol. Once unified in eucharist, the symbolic and the real are now separate spheres of the human mind, and while it initially seemed that art and science might benefit by this sep ... Show More
1h 39m
Aug 2022
WOF 345: Understanding the Present Moment #2 (Friedrich Nietzsche)
Friends, today on the “Word on Fire Show,” we continue our series of discussions called “Understanding the Present Moment.” Brandon Vogt and I are examining four massively influential figures who together help explain our present moment, how we arrived at where we are today. The ... Show More
28m 48s
Aug 2022
WOF 349: Understanding the Present Moment #4 (Michel Foucault)
Friends, today on the “Word on Fire Show,” we conclude our series of discussions called “Understanding the Present Moment.” Brandon Vogt and I have examined four massively influential figures who together help explain our present moment, how we arrived at where we are today. The ... Show More
33m 23s
Aug 2022
WOF 347: Understanding the Present Moment #3 (Jean-Paul Sartre)
Friends, today on the “Word on Fire Show,” we continue our series of discussions called “Understanding the Present Moment.” Brandon Vogt and I are examining four massively influential figures who together help explain our present moment, how we arrived at where we are today. The ... Show More
28m 28s
Feb 2021
Ep. 262: Nietzsche on Self-Denial (Part One)
On Friedrich Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals (1887), "Third essay: what do ascetic ideals mean?" Self-regulation, where we tamp down certain aspects of our personality, is necessary for disciplined action, but it can clearly go too far. Nietzsche uses this concept of ascetici ... Show More
46m 6s
Jul 2022
WOF 341: Understanding the Present Moment #1 (Karl Marx)
Friends, today on the “Word on Fire Show,” we kick off a new series of discussions called “Understanding the Present Moment.” Brandon Vogt and I will look at four massively influential figures who together help explain our present moment, how we arrived at where we are today. The ... Show More
29m 58s