From: zatavu-AT-excite.com
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 16:54:19 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: Question..



On Mon, 19 Jun 2000 10:57:42 -0700, nietzsche-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
wrote:

>  At 07:45 PM 6/15/00 -0700, you wrote:
>  >
>  >You are, of course, correct, but I think reading Nietzsche is like
reading a
>  >great novelist: there are multiple ways of interpreting any one thing.
>  >Nietzsche's way of writing philosophy came closest to the way novelists
>  >write novels of any philosopher. So, while you are unquestionably
correct, I
>  >don't think it too much a stretch to say Nietzsche may have
inadvertantly
>  >stumbled upon something Einstein discovered on purpose.
>  
>  One could assume here, Troy, that you mean the curved space theory, where
>  there are no straight lines that don't bend and intersect sooner or
later.
>  But I disagree that Einstein set out discover that, for him too intuition
>  forced itself on him and he didn't have much choice in the matter. And
who
>  knows, perhaps he had read Nietzsche's ideas of the eternal return and
was
>  inspired by it. To me, it doesn't matter, since the eternal return can be
>  psychological even if not scientific.

Well, I agree Einstein did not exactly set out to discover the curviture of
space, but it was much more purposeful than Nietzsche's ideas, based on
mathematical formulae, etc. That's all I meant. It would not surprise me if
Einstein did happen across Nietzsche's theories on the Eternal return and
was inspired by it. If Freud's theories of the id, ego, and superego can be
inspired by Plato's Republic, then Einstein being influenced by Nietzsche is
hardly a stretch. I don't know of anyone who has theorized along those
lines, or if anyone knows if Einstein even read a single word of Nietzsche,
but sometimes the Zeitgeist pulls us along, even when we are geniuses like
NIetzsche and Einstein. I agree too that the psychological ramifications of
Nietzsche's theory is what is most important - but Einstein's theory, to my
mind, only makes what Nietzsche said more concrete, and thus the
psychological ramifications more concrete as well. Nietzsche said, "If the
universe were like this, what would it mean?" Einstein showed that the
universe indeed was like that, which means that we have to deal with
Nietzsche's consequences.

Troy Camplin





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