Where do I start with Nietzsche? What are his easiest works?
>>7800810
Start here and.....dive in Anon
You can start by thinking and deciding for yourself. That's the best primer for starting with Nietzsche.
I dove in by starting with Thus Spoke Zarathustra and wouldn't recommend this approach. I then started reading Will to Power and would not recommend starting with that either.
I would say Human all to Human
>>7800862
>I dove in by starting with Thus Spoke Zarathustra and wouldn't recommend this approach.
Why ? I thought it was somewhat simple and a pretty good starting point. Not saying it's the best but I don't think it's a bad approach.
>>7800973
>Thus Spake Zarathustra
>somewhat simple
My sides are in orbit.
>>7800973
If you thought that book was simple you didn't understand it, lmao.
Anyways, do this
1. Start with the Greeks meme. Heraclitus and Plato in particular are important, especially Plato. Nietzsche spends more time arguing against Plato than against Christ. Have some familiarity with the bible. It's also helpful to have read The World as Will and Representation but not strictly necessary.
2. Read the cliffnotes or watch a youtube video on The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche's first work. You don't need to read it in its entirety but some of the concepts, especially the Apollonian and Dionysian.
3. Read On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, this work lays out a lot of what he thinks about metaphysics
4. (optional but recommended). Read Zarathustra, knowing that you will not understand it. Take METICULOUS notes about everything, write a sentence or two for each parable about what you think it means or write if you have no fucking clue, even if you are 99% sure you know what he is talking about.
5. Read Twilight of the Idols. This was one of the three major works he published in his last year of sanity and was what he intended to be the introductory work for those interested in him.
6. Read Human, all too Human, The Gay Science, and Beyond Good and Evil. These three works form what is in my opinion the core of his thought.
7. Read The Antichrist, Will to Power, and Ecce Homo. These are more ancillary works but continue to introduce important ideas and refine his previous work. Antichrist and Homo have some early whispers of madness seeping into them. Will to Power must be read carefully and with a grain of salt, it was a collection of notes published posthumously which he did not organize himself.
8. (optional) Read his other works, Untimely Meditations, The Dawn, The Case of Wagner, and Nietzsche Contra Wagner. These works don't cover a whole lot that he doesn't touch on in other works and are generally composed of cultural criticisms that make less sense today than they did 100 years ago, but are worth reading nonetheless. Reading some of his unpublished notes can also be informative.
9. Read Zarathustra, and still take meticulous notes. If you took notes previously, take notes below them in a different color, correct yourself, give yourself smiley face stickers, whatever. You will be surprised how much your interpretation will change.
>>7801185
Thanks, senpai.
>>7801185
>You don't need to read it in its entirety but some of the concepts, especially the Apollonian and Dionysian.
Well, how 'bout that.
>>7801185
To this I would add at least a cursory (i.e. wikipedia) knowledge on major stuff in moral philosophy. Especially Kant.
Also, read all of Hume as he was hugely influential on N (and he's easy to read).
>>7801185
There's controversy over whether we can put The Will to Power in Nietzsche canon, same thing with On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, but I love that essay so whatever.
>>7801457
I know the will to power was edited by his psycho nazi sister but what's wrong with "on truth and lies..."?
>>7801475
He never published it.
>>7801478
oh okay. I mean it sounds like classic Nietzsche and it's an excellent essay in any case so I don't see why not consider it
>>7801185
I don't see the point in why you would recommend the first Zarathustra read, can you elaborate it?
>>7801504
ppl start with zarathustra because it's a story book so it's more interesting to plebs than a 150 page critique of greek plays
>>7801495
Yea, I would agree.
>>7801514
really? I started with Tragedy because I found it the more interesting
>>7801514
I see. Pretty solid post for Nietzsche's starter pack. I would just add some briefing knowledge on Hume, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel and Schopenhauer, though.
Better if one reads all of them, but knowing their basics is kind of enough;
>>7801457
Yeah, W2P doesn't really 'fit' anywhere since he didn't actually gather it. But he does have some important ideas inside it, much moreso than stuff like untimely meditations and his anti-Wagner stuff. Heidegger considered it probably his most important work. I think Truth and Lies is good to read earlier rather than later though, even though he didn't publish it the arrangement and presentation of the text is his, and it is an amazing essay.
I TA'd for a professor who taught introductory philosophy and political science for 3 years back in undergrad and we basically taught the one class period 'Nietzsche for dummies' lesson through that essay, since assigning excerpts from Zarathustra or whatever just ends up misrepresenting him. It's amazing how much he can do with so few pages.
>>7801514
Much of it is Zarathustra's preaching. It's not easy to understand. It should really be read last.
>>7801504
Zarathustra is a work of lyrical genius and can be enjoyed to a degree without truly understanding it. Every single idea Nietzsche has is represented within Zarathustra if you know how to find it.
The thing with reading it first is it gives you some reading questions to consider and reflect on when reading his other works. It both encourages you to be more studious in your readings of his other works, and the 'unveiling' of hidden knowledge when you go back through Zarathustra can be impressive if you haven't read a lot of other interpretations.
It's not essential, but if you're the kind of person who skims more than he should, it will be helpful. Nietzsche's text tends to flow better than most philosophers which result in people falling into the trap of shitty interpretation of what he's saying. Even very intelligent men pretty frequently come away with patently false understandings of what is being said in his work. Which isn't to say that there is a universally true interpretation of the canon, but that there are some interpretations that are frankly pseud-memes.
>>7800810
>What are his easiest works?
Behold, the Last Man approacheth
>>7801591
Top kek
>>7800810
Get the Penguin Nietzsche reader. I often just read it for entertainment.
>>7801514
It's his worst book imo.
I am sure this will garner many lols but the Gay Science is accessible and incredibly good.
>tfw Human, All Too Human is underrated as fuck
>>7801639
same
>>7801663
Feels bad senpai, just finished it Monday. Better than Zarathustra dare I say
>>7801663
why are you letting the herd opinion bother you?
>>7801185
OP, read one of these:
>>6. Read Human, all too Human, The Gay Science, and Beyond Good and Evil. These three works form what is in my opinion the core of his thought.
Then Zarathustra. If you're not getting it, take a break and read another. If you want to become a disciple of Nietzsche you need his while corpus; if you only want to be acquainted with and have a good feel for his ideas these 4 are sufficient.
Can't say about how easy they are, but his main ideas (and most famous sayings) are focused on morality, so if you want to understand him it's most logical to start with corresponding works such as Beyond Good and Evil and Genealogy of Morals and only then move to more universal Zarathustra.
>>7801185
>If you thought that book was simple you didn't understand it, lmao
Wasn't speaking about the philosophical implications of it but merely the writing style, which isn't difficult. Of course it's not simple, philosophy-wise, and I found myself with a ton of notes at the end of it. I guess the difficulty of it really depends on the chapter you're reading and your affinity with the subject he's talking about.
But yeah your way to start does sound more logical.
nietzche a shit
Personally I think A Storm of Swords is very accessible, esp. if you have seen it on television
>>7801960
>Freddy where the horse would be
start with the Greeks.
>>7802793
It's written right in the preface. You're expected to read Plato, Kant, The Upanishads and one of his own earlier works first.
>>7802788
check out the chick with the whip too! damn, i wonder if freddy was into ponyplay?
