Nietzsche Apostle
Peter Sloterdijk is an author that I have never once enjoyed the work of. His work The Art of Philosophy, I attempted to read one time but I just disagree with his entire project and his writing style or the translation of it is awful.
I have a particular aversion to his manner of speaking about philosophical issues and the issues he chooses to elaborate on at length. (I also attempted half-heartedly to read his work on Air and I just dislike this guy).
I remembered many years ago a quasi-religious friend of mine was really into this text for whatever reason, and I attempted reading it back in the day when it was first published.
I could not for the life of me see what value my friend saw in the work. It seems like a very plain and simple elaboration on the fact that people who write often have an ego, and at various times in history they try to emphasize or hide that egotisticalness.
The book was at a bookstore for around $6 so I thought I would snatch it up on a whim and try to read it again. The points he makes about Nietsche’s narcissistic way of writitng are entirely lost on me.
In my view all communication is fundamentally selling either yourself or some idea that you you value. The goal of any writing or speaking is to influence the mind of the person that is reading it. That is just the goal fundamentally.
There is never a moment when a person writes something that isn’t an attempt to convince or alter the mind of the person that they are speaking to. That is the point of all communication. I don’t want my words to just pass over your head unacknowledged, ever. Anyone that claims they desire this is probably a liar, or someone trying to make a very artistic statement about how much they have negated their ego.
In reality, the way in which Nietzsche attempts to perform over the top self-aggrandizement doesn’t really convince anyone of anything. It is however a kind of ‘branding’ that he places on his work, he attempts to brand himself as an egotistical person in a kind of flashy and overt way.
The idea isn’t to convince you that he is as great as he’s saying, the idea is to convince you that he is affirming his ego. Even still I don’t really see what Sloterdijk adds to the conversation really by pointing this out. Maybe I missed the point.