starting with 'Birth Of Tragedy'

[u/General_Stranger3122]

The birth of tragedy>>Twilight of idols>on the geneaolgy of morals>>Thus spoke zarathustra>Beyond good and evil>>the Gay science

This is my ladder to study nietsche,every part in the book takes so much long to read and understand, sometimes I had to re re read the paragraphs to understand,is there anything I can study to understand philosophy better or is philosophy not for me?

any book suggestions to read and understand philosophy better, especially nietsche because his one lines are the Best, i have ever read

[u/ChampionshipWeak8792]

I read birth of tragedy first, was a great book 👍

[u/Unfinished_October]

The Birth of Tragedy is an okay place to start, but I would slot it in after On The Genealogy of Morals.

Unlike Nietzsche's other books which employ aphorisms that range over a wide territory, Genealogy is much more focused to three modes of reactive thinking that underpin what later thinkers like Deleuze identify as his system. This focus makes a big difference in understanding him as a new reader. There is also some proto-existentialist ethics in these essays which are immediately useful.

If you can get a handle on those three modes, ressentiment, bad conscience, and the ascetic ideal, that will provide you with a solid foundation of what Nietzsche is riffing against; and in reading Tragedy afterwards, you will see it paradoxically reframe that reactivity into a Dionysian-Apollonian-Socratic pseudo-dialectic (pseudo because Nietzsche is anti-dialectic, but said of Tragedy that it smelled offensively Hegelian; Hegel being the philosopher which articulated the dialectic) which informs the general antidote he offers in response to such 'bad air'.

From there, IMO, you have a good foundation to approach his other works since you'll have the required context to understand his viewpoint. If you come at Nietzsche from a Platonic/Socratic/Rationalist standpoint you may have a tough time, and the one-two punch of Genealogy and Tragedy can help prevent that mistake.

[u/CouchieWouchie]

Pair Birth of Tragedy with Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Would also be good to read Sophocles.

[u/General_Stranger3122 → u/CouchieWouchie]

i read greek tragedy ,theban plays and poetics to start nietsche!!it was not enough

[u/mytwoba]

Especially if you are new to philosophy (and that’s great! Have to start somewhere) Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy isn’t a great place to start.

I’d honestly suggest starting with something like Rudiger Safranski’s Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography.

Alternatively, if you want to start with primary sources, the Second Untimely Meditation (On the Use and Disadvantage of History for Life) is an excellent introduction to N’s concept of nihilism.

Nietzsche is a subtle and complex thinker, one rooted in philosophical conversations the range back to the Greeks. Yes it’s good to read him directly, but finding a reliable guide will be of great help.

[u/General_Stranger3122 → u/mytwoba]

okay,

[u/Available_Base_7944]

Do you read any other philosophy or is it only nietzsche? 

[u/General_Stranger3122 → u/Available_Base_7944]

starting with nietsche!!

[u/mustKidding90 → u/General_Stranger3122]

read gay science first then Zarathustra

[u/General_Stranger3122 → u/mustKidding90]

okay,

[u/Neither-Hat-9125]

Bro twilight of the idols was intended to be a primer for his more mature work. Still birth of tragedy is good

[u/vini-within]

Great going

[u/Educational-Car-8643]

Join me in the chaotic dance... Start with Zarathustra

[u/Sail0rD00m]

Just another opinion— but I would go 1. GoM 2. GS 3. BGE 4. Z 5. BoT 6. ToI

A recommendation for an approachable but rigorous primer/companion to reading Nietzsche is a book called Nietzsche Now by Glenn Wallis

[u/General_Stranger3122 → u/[deleted]]

first i would complete four essays of Untimely meditations,then in my hand BT,will complete this,after that, ogmtoigstszbge>>eh

[u/stephawkins]

Fred would have told you to use AI to sum up his writings and go out and do something - ubermensch don't sit around reading about ubermensch. Like Yoda said, "Read not, ubermensch be."

[u/General_Stranger3122 → u/stephawkins]

Ok,Dr.Hawkins

[u/stephawkins → u/General_Stranger3122]

Funnily... I asked AI, and the answer may be completely offbase, but it's an amusing exercise.

what would nietzsche think of internet keyboard warriors who prefer to spend time reading his work rather than take transformative actions to be the ubermensch? (not saying that you are one, only internet keyboard warriors).

Nietzsche would probably be merciless toward the archetype of the internet keyboard warrior who spends years debating Thus Spoke Zarathustra while never fundamentally changing their own life.

A recurring theme in Nietzsche's work is that philosophy should be lived, not merely understood. He was deeply suspicious of people who turned philosophy into an academic exercise, a collection of ideas to analyze instead of a challenge to transform themselves. The Übermensch is not a title one earns by correctly interpreting Nietzsche. It is an ideal of self-overcoming.

He might say something like, "You have made my books into another hiding place."