willow: "this is up there as possibly the most influential passage in my life, one of those things that i’ve thoroughly integrated into my approach to the world"

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this is up there as possibly the most influential passage in my life, one of those things that i’ve thoroughly integrated into my approach to the world

nietzsche and morality, raymond geuss, pg. 186-187, in morality, culture and history

This position may seem counterintuitive because the strong impression many readers have is that one of Nietzsche's basic claims is that finally only power (in something like our everyday sense of that term) is truly admirable. I'm suggesting that when Nietzsche is at his most interesting he doesn't think that admiration is locked onto power (in the usual sense) as its object, and admiration is what is finally important for him (cf.
GM 1. 12). 'Will-to-power' is an empty, metaphysical concept.
186
Nietzsche and morality
Being vital, flourishing, being a 'higher specimen' means being able to inspire admiration. There seems also to be no single substantive trait which all higher specimens have in common by virtue of which they succeed in getting themselves admired; they are admired in different ways for different traits.
Admiration (Bewunderung) and its opposite, disgust (Ekel), are for Nietzsche two of the most powerful internal forces that move human beings (JGB §26; GM I. 11, HI. 24, II. 14 etc.).14 Both admiration and disgust in the first instance are elicited by and directed at concrete, individual objects, persons, or situa-tions, and what will be an object of admiration or of disgust varies from person to person and from time to time. In a sense the most important fact about a given person for Nietzsche is which particular objects (or people) that person finds admirable (at what time), and which disgusting, and why. There are no naturally or antecedently fixed criteria of what is worthy of admiration. It doesn't follow from this that no generalizations

March 16, 2025 at 10:57 AM

willowMar 16, 2025

i downloaded the audiobook i recorded for my flight and it just never stops hitting flight wifi isn’t good enough to grab the link for chat but 5:13:00ish is your friend :)

willowMar 17, 2024

nietzsche and morality, chapter 7 in morality, culture, and history by raymond geuss

such a good chapter

willowMar 16, 2025

as evidenced by me 2am thinking “wow i’m in love” and funneling that energy into reciting the passage from heart, with largely plagiarized verbiage to boot

willowMar 16, 2025

# diary >
willow Today at 01:35
oh !!! there was things i was gonna type before i really really am interested in relationships where there's room and pressure for me to grow
like i think that's the central core of the mini
"older women" arc
because yes that's a pretty good proxy i just don't want to be the one to do the dragging along
and honestly someone that i'm able to admire, that pushes me higher
nietzsche just cooked so hard, the hierarchical relation here is so important he often spoke of entire persons, and that has its place, but really it's most enlightening looking at aspects and features
that there is an unsurveyable array of things not antecedently specifically that can be admirative objects

willow Today at 01:43
and it doesn't have to be like so apparent that i'm deficient in some thing, it can even be as simple as an appreciation of a mode of their behavior, their way of seeing the world merely being exposed to their actions and thoughts is enough to have the right educative effect, and it doesn't even have the feeling of being deficient
just "here's a reminder that this is a way to do things", and of course it need not be, and often is not a cognitive process for the instructor either
[redacted1], [redacted2], [redacted3] have this

willowMar 16, 2025

“the most important fact about a given person for Nietzsche is which particular objects (or people) that person finds admirable, which disgusting, and why.” you’re the one i’ve experienced this in a particularly strong fashion with; my admiration for you is mediated through objects of admiration

ty for sharing yourself through curated means
idk how exactly to word it elegantly but you are opinionated (complimentary) yet still manage to find a way to connect with your recipient / create shared culture. it's an honor to be on the receiving end.
willow 2/12/25, 09:53
yes!! i'm really happy you feel this way
willow 2/12/25, 09:55
thats a really cool way to put it, i think that people's influences are like really significant and one of the more compelling ways to get familiar with someone