Combat and Classics is a series of podcasts and online seminars that explores the nature of man in conflict and cooperation through socratic dialogue and the great books. For more info visit 
Lise, Jeff, and Brian discuss Nietzsche’s first two sections of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which conclude with the famous line “God is dead.”
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Episode 214: More Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Part Two)
Concluding Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885).
What’s the wise way to live? We start in earnest into part three, treating the “spirit of gravity,” where socially imposed values cover over your uniqueness; omni-satisfaction vs. being choosy; “Old and New Tablets,” where Nietzsche explores various ethical and meta-ethical issues (e.g., is self-overcoming a matter of one-time self-actualization or is it continual?); and more on the Overman and eternal recurrence.
Listen to part one first, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
End song: “Upright Man” by Rachel Taylor Brown, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #91.
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Episode 214: More Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Part One)
On the remainder of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885).
How can we keep our spirits up and avoid nihilism? We consider Nietzsche’s “solution” of eternal recurrence, why he uses a poetic, allegoric style, and more.
Don’t wait for part 2. Get the full, ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!
Sponsor: Get $10 off a Skylight Frame in time for Mother’s Day at skylightframe.com using promo code PEL.
Episode 214: More Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Citizen Edition)
On the remainder of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885).
How can we keep our spirits up and avoid nihilism? We consider Nietzsche’s “solution” of eternal recurrence, why he uses a poetic, allegoric style, and his “new tablets” that tell us what habitual and destructive ideas we have to flush out of our systems before we can be vital and creative. And don’t count on reaching overman status; innovators are generally sacrifices to the future and only get the goal half right.
End song: “Upright Man” by Rachel Taylor Brown, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #91.
Episode 213: Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Part Two)
Continuing on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).
We talk through Nietzsche’s symbolism (tightrope walkers and gravediggers and snakes, oh my!), the path toward the overman, his screed against the state, the Will to Power as the will to overcome oneself by reconciling oneself with the past, and more.
Listen to part one first or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
Sponsors: Please visit calm.com/pel, thegreatcoursesplus.com/PEL, and openculture.com.
Episode 213: Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Part One)
On Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).
What is wisdom? In this text whose style parodies the Bible, we get pithy advice and allegorical imagery to guide us away from self-defeating, life-denying attitudes and orient us toward creative self-overcoming (i.e., exertion of the Will to Power). The Last Man who no longer knows how to give birth to a dancing star is a rotten egg!
Don’t wait for part 2! Get your ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!
Sponsors: St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi. Listen to the Hi-Phi Nation podcast at hiphination.org.
Episode 213: Nietzsche’s Zarathustra (Citizen Edition)
On Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, books 1 and 2 (1883).
What is wisdom? In this text whose style parodies the Bible, we get pithy advice and allegorical imagery to guide us away from self-defeating, life-denying attitudes and orient us toward creative self-overcoming (i.e., exertion of the Will to Power). The Last Man who no longer knows how to give birth to a dancing star is a rotten egg!
End song: “Sacrilicious” by Hedflux, i.e., Steve Young, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #92.
To Be Re-Bourne: Breathing New Life into the Prophetic Philosophy of Randolph Bourne
Randolph Bourne died 100 years ago this December at the age of 32. While his legacy lives on, to properly pay homage to his work we can recover the spirit of his prophetic philosophy, which has too often been overlooked or misapprehended.
PREVIEWS-Eps 192-193 Allan Bloom & Liberal Education Follow-Ups
Hear highlights from two supporter-only discussions: Allan Bloom on Nietzsche/Freud/etc. and Leo Strauss vs. Richard Rorty on liberal education and democracy.
The Panpsycast Christmas Special
Mark joins the folks at the Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast for a two-part holiday special on everyone’s favorite yuletide character, Friedrich Nietzsche!
Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: “Twilight of the Idols” (Part Two)
Continuing on Nietzsche’s 1888 book. Is there any ground from which we could judge life as a whole to be good or bad? Is N. more about saying “yes” to life or saying “no” to all the numerous things that piss him off? We also talk Becoming, whether producing great art is more important than being nice to everyone, and whether Nietzsche is ultimately someone we’d want to hang around.
End song: “Oblivion” by Tyler Hislop, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #24.
Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: “Twilight of the Idols” (Part One)
On Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1888 book summarizing his thought and critiquing the founding myths of his society. He defends “spiritualized” instinct and frenzied creativity, but also Napoleon and war. We try to figure out what kind of social critic he’d be today. Would we actually like him?
Episode 178: Nietzsche as Social Critic: “Twilight of the Idols” (Citizen Edition)
On Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1888 book summarizing his thought and critiquing the founding myths of his society. He defends “spiritualized” instinct and frenzied creativity, but also Napoleon and war. We try to figure out what kind of social critic he’d be today. Would we actually like him?
End song: “Oblivion” by Tyler Hislop, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #24.
Academic Suffering and Mere Curiosity
What is the “lust of the mind” and how does it fit in with the modern university?
Louis C.K., Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche on How to Suffer and Be Happy
Why does happiness so often present itself as a problem?
The Walk to Kallipolis
A philosophical dialogue on the nature of art.
Playing God: The Rise of the Actor and the Decline of Tragic Art
In The Birth of Tragedy, Friedrich Nietzsche argues that, through his protégé Euripides, Socrates had injected into Greek tragedy the seed of questioning doubt that brought an end to the religious animus of drama, the fire that fueled its creation and sustained it. Thus, cold reason killed tragedy. Although he would later modify this view, it remains a powerful and influential polemic in the history of aesthetics.
What Do Existentialists Think about Love?
Given the existentialist emphasis on concrete personal experience, freedom, authenticity, responsibility, awareness of death, and personal determination of values, it is not surprising that existentialist philosophers should also consider the question of romantic love.
Truth and Authenticity in Michael Haneke’s Caché
The films of Austrian director Michael Haneke seem to start out “normally” and then slowly descend into an abyss—but what if that abyss is in fact living authentically? Could we see Haneke’s award-winning Caché (2005) as an exemplification of Sartrean existentialism? And what are some other philosophical influences in his work?
Not School April: Dennett and Germans and Aristotle
Come get involved in the coming month with a Not School group, or propose your own!
Is “Hungernachdeutschphilosophie” a made up word? Maybe, but it works.