Friedrich Nietzsche

Broschiertes Buch

Sword of the Spirit

An Offering of Nietzschean Philosophy to the Soldiers of the Third Reich

Beschreibung

Commissioned by the Third Reich, Sword of the Spirit, is a collection of aphorisms by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The sole purpose of this collection served as an offering to Wehrmacht soldiers on the front lines during WWII. Original copies of Sword of the Spirit, those that most likely never left the Fatherland, can still be found scattered across Germany in homes and antique book-stores. The copies that went to the front were likely riddled with bullets, obliterated by bombs or burned by the soldiers themselves for warmth in the freezing conditions of the Russian front. For the Wehrmacht soldiers who probably knew little of Nietzsche, Sword of the Spirit served as a firm stepping stone to grasp Nietzsche's philosophy, while reminding them that Nietzsche made it perfectly clear how he felt about the necessity of war, the sickness of liberalism and democracy, and not least the morality and values of the herd. Throughout his often perilous life, Nietzsche waged philosophical warfare against the "slave morality" rooted in man's long-standing desire to quell the many forms of life's inescapable pain and suffering by means of religion, alcohol and submission to the herd, which he personified via his last man. He thereby created the Superman, born from "master morality," able to take life's struggles, pain and suffering and cultivate something valuable, beautiful and timeless from it. Nietzsche's emphasis on this is hammered throughout in Sword of the Spirit. The purpose was to turn the drafted soldier, confronted by the horrors of war, into a warrior who would fight with reverence to the full spectrum of life and embrace their life, and even their death, in battle with a whole heart.

Autor

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, born on October 15, 1844, in Röcken, Prussia, was a German philosopher and classical philologist whose ideas profoundly influenced modern intellectual history. At 24, he became the youngest individual to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in Switzerland. However, due to persistent health issues, he resigned in 1879 and dedicated the next decade to his philosophical writings.Nietzsche's work is characterized by a radical critique of traditional values and a deep exploration of human existence. He introduced influential concepts such as the "will to power," the "Übermensch," and the proclamation that "God is dead," challenging the foundations of religion, morality, and culture. His distinctive style, marked by aphorisms and irony, set his writings apart from those of his contemporaries.In 1889, Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse, leading to a complete loss of his cognitive faculties, likely due to vascular dementia. He spent his remaining years under the care of his mother and later his sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, until his death on August 25, 1900, in Weimar, Germany. Posthumously, his sister edited and published his works, sometimes controversially, influencing the interpretation and reception of his philosophy.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Sanctuary Press Ltd
• Seitenzahl: 144
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juli 2019
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 140mm x 8mm
• Gewicht: 191g
• ISBN-13: 9781913176617
• ISBN-10: 1913176614
• Artikelnr.: 57528592