Thursday, September 2, 2010

Fragmentary writings in studying Nietzsche

From Martin Heidegger’s The New Nietzsche

1) So does Heidegger’s “thinking metaphysically” mean thinking of oneself as a Being as entrenched in the essence or nature of all beings en generale?

Heidegger claims that modern metaphysics is preoccupied with “Being of beings” i.e. its nature, its character etc and that all thought (or reflection) of one’s being is always necessarily related to “the Being of beings” as will and that one always relates to beings to be sustained in his Being. On page 70, he claims that man’s reflection is always thinking in relation to all beings. What is the significance of this and how is this “representation of thinking” related to Nietzsche’s “spirit of revenge?”

From Martin Heidegger’s The New Nietzsche

2) What is Heidegger claiming? Is he claiming that Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence of the same i.e. the most abysmal thought of always becoming is not sufficient?

Upon reading the text, I am constantly prompted with the feeling of Heiddeger’s urge for us to break free from the metaphysical conception of our Being in relation to other beings. This in my opinion was how he interpreted Nietzsche: So although our will is averse to time since time always implies transience; becoming past; ceasing to be and is therefore averse to our will (which is why our will hates time and wants revenge on time), since we cannot will what has passed (i.e. we lose control). In the temporal, our will will always be degraded into non-being (past time). So the solution is a “deliverance from the repugnant, resistant and degrading in a will (into our non-being)”. Herein seems to lie the difference between Nietzsche and Heidegger. For Nietzsche, we do not stop willing. We simply stop willing a “no” (transience in time that leads to our non-being) and start willing a “yes” (always coming into being or the selfsame coming in time) – the advocate of the circle; the eternal recurrence of the same. But for Heidegger, does he think we should stop willing in relation to society or life or the Being of all Beings because it is insufficient as though we will constantly be entrapped in some vicious cycle? If so, why is that bad?

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