Date: Fri, 11 Aug 1995 20:03:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard W Hancuff <cuff-AT-gwis2.circ.gwu.edu> Subject: Re: atheism and recuperatio On Fri, 11 Aug 1995, Steven E. Callihan wrote: > On Fri, 11 Aug 1995 Chris wrote: > > >Nietzsche's attempt to destabilize identity was not something, i think, > >he was willing to extend to the general masses, nor something he thought > >would ever even appeal to the masses. He was not, and never tried to be, > >a philosopher of the people. Contemporary philosophers of a Nietzschean > Chris, > [deleted text] > is liable to break _all_ of the china, in other words). The > whole question of "elites" in Nietzsche is, I think, highly > problematic. That what is valuable is more generally rare does > _not_ mean that the rare in and of itself necessarily has value. > Present day socio-political elites I can't help but feel would be > dismissed by him as simply "slaves become master," pure and > simple. A decadent rump-elite, if you will, without an ounce of [...] > words, for a full-throated Dionysian guffaw. Ultimately, in > Nietzsche an "elite" only has justification if it is _value > creating_. Otherwise, it is only a usurpation, merely "slaves > become masters." > ==============================================================================> Steven E. Callihan -- callihan-AT-callihan.seanet.com > I'm currently writing a paper on this issue of Nietzschean elite and its relation to academia and the political namecalling (cultural elite) going on in American politics...and I have come to the conclusion that Nietzsche's elite are pretty much what Steven says--valuable only as creators...in other words, elite (which I am equating, and hopefully not confusing with N's "higher man") doesn't exist within the confines of our society's traditional "elites": money, power, family background; elite rather exists in an ability to divorce oneself from present beliefs and habits and to, as Steve said, create values for oneself...what I find myself doing is defending a kind of created elitism such as results from, say seven or more years of graduate work and beyond (not that all who complete such work are elite or that not doing so disqualifies one, but only as a simple and _constructed_ example of acquired elitism). Basically, one who immerses him or herself in intense education (formal or not) and succeeds (how to judge that?) places a barrier between him or herself and the mass of humanity -- for ex, Einstein, who theorized way beyond his time... Anyway, Nietzsche says it better in BGE section 29... Rich Hancuff --- from list nietzsche-AT-jefferson.village.virginia.edu --- ------------------
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