Talk:Last man
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[edit] Misc.
added...George Orwells, Nineteen Eighty-Four's, working title was "The Last Man in Europe", which is presumably a reference to Winston Smith being a tragic hero not the only man left to stand upto Big Brother.Ouroborosdross (talk) 09:32, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
If anyone has a problem with this please get in touch and I will endevour to explain what I mean.
Removed credits on article.
I added the part about Notes From Underground, which is truely a novel that describes a last man, or an "under-man." It is also a book which Nietzsche himself read and praised. "Babbit" was written after Nietzsche was dead.Karmak 19:06, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
Sorry, But Nietzsche read Dostoievsky in 1887, and the last man is in AZ (1884)...
The last man seems to be cousins with the sheep walker:http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/02/sheepwalking.html
Is that significant enough to mention? 63.226.180.162 22:49, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
Nietzsche's philosophy is often set in opposition to that of Hegel. Is it worth noting that this isn't the same as Hegel's 'last man,' or is/isn't a critical reference to Hegel by Nietzsche. 143.167.209.61 11:20, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Merge suggestion
Hello, I stumbled upon the article Tschandala while perusing random links, and while I don't know much about this subject, it seems to me that the content of the orphaned article Tschandala. might be better off if it were merged into this article. Again, I'm not familiar with Nietzsche's philosophy, so I don't know if he saw the Last Man as an archetype of the more general Tshandala or what. Some feedback would be appreciated. Thanks. --Kyoko 13:19, 18 May 2007 (UTC)
- Tschandala is no longer orphaned and would not really assimilate well into this article - the Last Man is a rather well-defined concept, and I see no harm in the two having separate articles. Oppose for now. Skomorokh incite 21:58, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
- I would also oppose the merger. Since it hasn't generated any consensus in favor of it over the past couple of months, can we remove the merge tags? RJC Talk Contribs 19:22, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Left-wing Corruption of Nietzsche
The corruption of Nietzsche's philosophy in the Wikipedia articles by radical-left activists is insane. What better way to neutralize one's enemy than to appropriate, weaken, soften and distort him? The German Rudiger Safranski, at least, has the balls to speak the truth in a world gone mad with doctrinaire socialistic political correctness. Nietzsche is clear: the "Last Man" is the inevitable dysgenic end-product of modern democratic and socialist despotism:
"According to Nietzsche, nature produces the weak and the strong, the advantaged and disadvantaged. There is no benevolent providence and no equitable distribution of chances to get ahead in life. Before this backdrop, morality can be defined as an attempt to even out the 'injustice' of nature and create counterbalances. The power of natural destinies needs to be broken. In Nietzsche's view, Christianity represented an absolutely brilliant attempt to accomplish this aim ... Nietzsche greatly admired the power of Christianity to set values, but he was not grateful to it, because its consideration for the weak and the morality of evening things out impeded the progress and development of a higher stage of mankind.
Nietzsche could envision this higher stage of mankind only as a culmination of culture in its 'peaks of rapture,' which is to say in successful individuals and achievements. The will to power unleashes the dynamics of culmination, but it is also the will to power that forms a moral alliance on the side of the weak. This alliance works at cross-purposes with the goal of culmination and ultimately, in Nietzsche's view, leads to widespread equalization and degeneration. As a modern version of the 'Christian theory of morality,' this alliance forms the backbone of democracy and socialism. Nietzsche adamantly opposed all such movements. For him, the meaning of world history was not happiness and prosperity of the greatest possible number but individual manifestations of success in life. The culture of political and social democracy was a concern of the 'last people,' whom he disparaged. He threw overboard the state-sponsored ethics of the common welfare because he regarded such ethics as an impediment to the self-configuration of great individuals. If, however, the great personalities were to vanish, the only remaining significance of history would be lost in the process. By defending the residual significance of history, Nietzsche assailed democracy and declared what mattered was 'delaying the complete appeasement of the democratic herd-animal'(11,587; WP 125) ... Nietzsche opted against democratic life organized according to the principle of welfare. For him, a world of that sort would signal the triumph of the human herd animal...
If we are content to regard this highly personal philosophy and these maneuvers of self-configuration with fascination and perhaps even admiration, but are not willing to abandon the idea of democracy and justice, it is likely that Nietzsche would have accused us of feeble compromise, indecisiveness, and epitomizing the ominous 'blinking' of the 'last men.'" Safranski, Rudiger (trans. Shelley Frisch), Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography, Norton, 2002, pp. 296-298. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.3.10.2 (talk) 14:03, 12 September 2007 (UTC)
