The Weaver Reads reviewed The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Gay Science
4 stars
The Gay Science is, more or less, the first work of Nietzsche’s more mature period. It’s markedly different from The Birth of Tragedy and essays like “Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” and “On the Use and Abuse of History for Life.” Most of the text is made up of aphorisms, but there is some good systemic engagement of things that preoccupied Nietzsche here.
For example, there’s further discussion of Nietzsche’s aesthetic philosophy where he engages with what rhythmic and melodic music meant to the ancient Greeks; a few brief discussions of the death of God and the crisis of meaning in Europe; one aphorism from the perspective of Zoroaster/Zarathustra; and the first brief discussion of eternal recurrence. He also argues a bit with Socrates, Lucretius, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Wagner.
The single most important quote, found in one aphorism partly through Part 4, is probably:
…The Gay Science is, more or less, the first work of Nietzsche’s more mature period. It’s markedly different from The Birth of Tragedy and essays like “Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” and “On the Use and Abuse of History for Life.” Most of the text is made up of aphorisms, but there is some good systemic engagement of things that preoccupied Nietzsche here.
For example, there’s further discussion of Nietzsche’s aesthetic philosophy where he engages with what rhythmic and melodic music meant to the ancient Greeks; a few brief discussions of the death of God and the crisis of meaning in Europe; one aphorism from the perspective of Zoroaster/Zarathustra; and the first brief discussion of eternal recurrence. He also argues a bit with Socrates, Lucretius, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Wagner.
The single most important quote, found in one aphorism partly through Part 4, is probably:
"I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not want to wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish only to be a yes-sayer."
In any case, super interesting stuff. Nietzsche’s has been profoundly helpful to me in getting through some difficult times.
