tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post7797668131933325030..comments2023-12-31T03:18:37.403-06:00Comments on "E pur si muove!": Is Moral Philosophy Bad for Your Character?Lester Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-39067843011520811542007-01-17T21:01:00.000-06:002007-01-17T21:01:00.000-06:00There probably is, for what I have in mind. I thi...There probably is, for what I have in mind. I think one of the best ways to understand a creative thinker, and one that isn't used enough, is to look at the period in their lives (often its their early twenties) when they became person were to be. With N, this would take into the period when he was a professor, maybe even to the end of it. There's probably plenty of primary source material to read -- this was a guy who wrote his lectures out, after all!Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-86016684784615173752007-01-16T21:30:00.000-06:002007-01-16T21:30:00.000-06:00"I'd also note that he only came to lack the physi..."I'd also note that he only came to lack the physical brand of adventurousness after his break in health (following his stint in the Prussian army); he seems to have been an adventurous enough fellow theretofore."<br /><br />You know, I'd never thought of that before, but you are quite right. As I recall, he did volunteer for war service, didn't he? I don't remember the details, but since he was residing in Switzerland at the time, I would think he could have gotten out of service one way or another, had he wanted to. <br /><br />I bet a very valuable book could be written on the young Nietzsche. I don't know of anything in English.Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-28570343797683430972007-01-16T19:32:00.000-06:002007-01-16T19:32:00.000-06:00Sorry -- I didn't realize that the two comments ab...Sorry -- I didn't realize that the two comments above were by the same person!<br /><br />"I'm going to disagree, on two grounds. First, as it happens, the professors that taught moral philosophy at my alma mater were among the best-natured people in the department"<br /><br />... and my two ethics colleagues are sterling individuals as well. <br /><br />"Second, I'm just plain having trouble making sense of the "wider theory" you propound. People attracted to physics study physics, then become physicists; people attracted to law study law, then become lawyers; people attracted to music study music, then become musicians; usw.:"<br /><br />Yes, this theory only applies to fields that study some one human quality, or some group of them that cohere in some relevant way. If I try to apply it the physics, say, and try to figure out what lack drives people to study energy and matter, the only answers I can come up with are, well, pretty silly.<br /><br />"'Lust' in the common sense wasn't of peculiar interest to him, and 'power' (in the Nietzschean sense) and adventurousness were hardly qualities he lacked."<br /><br />Nietzsche's thinking was powerful and adventuresome, but his day-to-day life was orderly, quiet -- in fact, almost boring. He thrived on routine. Note that Nietzsche's conception of power was not spiritual and cultural <i>to the exclusion of</i> the physical and political. As far as I know, he only ever had good things to say about Napoleon. And yet his own personality was the opposite of Napoleonic! (Which is to his credit, in my view!)Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-88196504571075720102007-01-16T18:59:00.000-06:002007-01-16T18:59:00.000-06:00"'Nietzsche and the Origin of Virtue.' Ever heard ..."'Nietzsche and the Origin of Virtue.' Ever heard of it?"<br /><br />Sounds disreputable. Proceed with caution!<br /><br />Seriously, thanks for looking at my book. I need all the readers I can get!<br /><br />L.Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-44009187598974587532007-01-16T10:49:00.000-06:002007-01-16T10:49:00.000-06:00Thanks for sharing your interesting thoughts on ou...Thanks for sharing your interesting thoughts on our questionnaire, Lester! Your theory about people being attracted to research areas connected to problematic aspects of their personal lives is a commonplace in informal discussion in psychology departments: The clinical psychologists are a bit crazy, the social psychologists are hopelessly awkward, the developmental psychologists act like children -- or so it's teasingly said. Whether there's any actual, substantive research on this, though, I don't know!Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.com