Weltgeist

Weltgeist

Philosophy, video essays. New videos every week.

  1. 35 min ago

    Why Goethe Matters and Where to Start Reading Him

    RECOMMENDATIONS:▶ All-In One Dramatization (free w/ trial: Werther, Faust, & more): https://amzn.to/48tHcTu▶ The Essential Goethe: https://amzn.to/4pmYur7▶ The Sorrows of Young Werther: https://amzn.to/4pVbKmM▶ Goethe: Life as a Work of Art by Rüdiger Safranski: https://amzn.to/3KvJf03▶ Also as audiobook (free with trial): https://amzn.to/4a3jzlR▶ Faust performance on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qaogjXLdPow▶ Faust performance on DVD (careful to pick the right DVD option US/EU): https://amzn.to/3Mwwp21▶ Conversations with Goethe by Eckermann: https://amzn.to/48XAp4mFor Werther, Faust, Torquato Tasso, the Green Serpent, and more: get the dramatization audiobook. For Faust, Wilhelm Meister, Torquato Tasso, poems, essays on science and nature: get the Essential Goethe book.For a complete round-up: get Eckermann. TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Introduction01:27 Life as a work of art03:06 The Sorrows of Young Werther06:22 Faust, Part One12:59 Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship18:14 Torquato Tasso19:04 The Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily20:05 Conversations with Goethe21:14 ConclusionSupport us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYTOUR ANALYSES: ▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_IAt no cost to you, if you get an Audible Premium membership through the links posted here, I'll make a small commission. Thank you for supporting the channel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Why Goethe Matters and Where to Start Reading Him
  2. 1 hr ago

    NIETZSCHE Explained: Twilight of the Idols - Decadence and Socrates (pt. 2)

    Twilight of the Idols PART 1: https://youtu.be/5r2IflhebzEOne of the most elusive yet most frequently used words in Twilight of the Idols, is the word “décadence.” Interestingly, Nietzsche prefers to use the French term even though he sometimes uses German words like Verfall, Niedergang, or Entartung. In English, we can keep the French term, or use words like Degeneration or even Corruption. In this video, we will take a deeper dive into this concept, specifically as it appears in Twilight of the Idols. This is part 2 in a planned series on this late work by Nietzsche. If you want to be notified when subsequent parts come out, please consider subscribing to the channel. Broadly speaking, the term décadence denotes a process by which some entity becomes worse over time. If you stop working out and lifting weights, you will lose muscle mass, and we can say your muscles start degenerating. Nietzsche uses the term to denote the process by which individuals, or even entire societies or time periods become worse, or, degenerate. Much of Twilight of the Idols is devoted to the description of how this process and works and what that means. However, in true Nietzschean fashion, we never find a real definition or sustained analysis of what degeneration is exactly. It’s up to us, the readers, to piece things together and make a coherent picture out of disparate parts and fragments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    NIETZSCHE Explained: Twilight of the Idols - Decadence and Socrates (pt. 2)
  3. 2 hr ago

    PROMETHEUS: Find a Reason to Bear Suffering

    Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYTOUR ANALYSES: ▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_IPrometheus is a Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire to help humanity, and was violently punished for this by Zeus.The figure of Prometheus, and his story, has served as inspiration for artists and philosophers for centuries.For Goethe, Prometheus was a champion of mankind who, in his defiance of Zeus, exemplified mankind's growing to maturity as we reach Enlightenment and mankind starts to defy the Christian God just like Prometheus did Zeus.For Lord Byron, Prometheus was the exemplar of a person who finds something in life worth dying for. For his transgression and theft of the fire, he was chained to a rock for all eternity as a vulture gnaws at his liver daily. Yet Prometheus undergoes his punishment with stoicism, and knows that ultimately, despite his suffering and pain, he had given his life a purpose beyond himself: alleviating the suffering of others by granting mankind knowledge. Byron's message is that we should all find something that makes us want to bear the vulture and the chain.Finally, Nietzsche saw in the Prometheus myth the origin story of Western civilization, contrasted with the Biblical origin story of Adam and Eve. Prometheus brings knowledge to mankind through fire, just as Adam and Eve brought knowledge through the fruit. But this knowledge, in both stories, comes at a cost. For Adam and Eve, it meant banishment from paradise and original sin for mankind. For Prometheus, it meant the vulture, and the knowledge of the suffering of the world for mankind.Thus Prometheus continues to speak to the imagination of many different artists and eras who each find in his story another lesson we inherit, but ultimately the overarching lesson is this: the price for our knowledge as human beings, is that we become aware of the suffering of the world. And it's up to us to learn how to deal with that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    PROMETHEUS: Find a Reason to Bear Suffering
  4. 2 hr ago

    The Philosophy of Ghosts

    Support us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYTMore on Schopenhauer's World as Will and Representation:▶ https://youtu.be/f-djIdl8WO4OUR ANALYSES: ▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_ITIMESTAMPS:00:00 Introduction04:18 The 19th century & the paranormal12:34 Schopenhauer's supernatural experiences16:43 Schopenhauer's philosophy and the paranormal37:06 Dreams and ghosts58:38 Ghosts and dreams01:02:29 Magic and the end of philosophySchopenhauer was always fascinated with the paranormal. He had over 100 books on ghosts, magic, hypnotism, sleepwalking, dreams, etc. in his personal library. This fascination he wisely kept out of his main work of philosophy, The World as Will and Representation, but in his collection of essays, we find a veritable philosophy of "spirit apparitions." Schopenhauer is characteristically modest in this essay and offers a first step towards a more complete philosophy of the paranormal. Because he is convinced that belief in ghosts is innate in humans, and therefore, if a philosophy claims to explain the whole world and every possible experience, these human, all-too-human experiences must find a place in it also.He makes a connection with dreams, and posits that ghosts could potentially have an ideal existence (ideal as in, from transcendental idealism) as opposed to a materialist or spiritualist existence.How does that work? Through an organ in the brain that he calls the dream organ... Because dreams prove that the brain is capable of generating images without any external stimuli. In going to sleep, the brain switches between modes: it goes from dealing with the external world, to dealing with the internal world. There is an in-between moment though, when this switch happens. And there is were ghost apparitions come in. You make the room dark and quiet, the brain directs energy away from the processes that take care of the external world, and it focuses on the internal world... Sometimes it can create visions, but imperfect ones: they have a dreamlike gauze, they disappear if you focus your eye on them, they have a translucent, ethereal sheen to them... Ghosts. The subjective experience of seeing a ghosts is then mirrored in his philosophy because the subjective experience must have an objective counterpart in the Will. A ghost apparition then, requires two rare phenomena to occur together: two persons with strong connections to the world as Will who meet in the strange in-between zone of subjective and objective reality. How all of this works exactly, Schopenhauer isn't sure. But he is hopeful scientists of the future will figure it out... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The Philosophy of Ghosts
  5. 3 hr ago

    Nietzsche's Final Book - Or Is it?

    Get exclusive access to NordPass’ best offer here: http://nordpass.com/weltgeistOr, use code 'weltgeist' at the checkout to get additional 1 month for FREESupport us on Patreon, get access to exclusive videos:▶ https://www.patreon.com/WeltgeistYTBUY THE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3JZLlSHOUR ANALYSES: ▶ Beyond Good and Evil: https://youtu.be/WIHXZUltfqk▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_c▶ Genealogy of Morals: https://youtu.be/6PUx4cOfFcI▶ Twilight of the Idols: https://youtu.be/YpVr_NEvWYA▶ The Will to Power: https://youtu.be/He6ZC7ZFBt8▶ Daybreak: https://youtu.be/cOL2z7nuXdA▶ The Joyful Science: https://youtu.be/U0fTBOJ-C_I▶ The Antichrist: https://youtu.be/qej1Z8Qzq_cTIMESTAMPS:00:00 Introduction03:20 An unlikely meeting05:07 Nietzsche in Jena09:16 The clergyman11:44 My Sister and I18:35 A Freudian slip22:30 Edgy Nietzsche23:42 Christian Nietzsche25:45 Political Nietzsche29:10 Should you read this book?34:52 ConclusionMy Sister and I is an obscure book supposedly written by Nietzsche, published in 1951. So half a century after Nietzsche's death. Still, it caused quite a stir, with heated debates going back & forth over whether or not this book is authentic.This video explores the crazy story of the manuscript, and how it ended up from a mental asylum in New York City.The book is a counterpoint to Ecce Homo, Nietzsche's other work of biography. But here, the style is much more toned down. Nietzsche comes across as weak, a man completely exhausted by life, no power left, except to find rare moments of lucidity and write this book. Featuring thoughts on mortality, the afterlife, and shocking biographical revelations.It also dabbles in Nietzschean philosophy. He claims he was wrong about Tolstoy and Schopenhauer, and above all, Jesus Christ. The book hints at a possible conversion of Nietzsche.As a mirror-image of Ecce Homo, the book has some philosophical points to make. Mainly on the nature of good and evil, and the Christian faith. There is some critique of Karl Marx here as well (which is suspect, as Marx never appears directly by name in other writings by Nietzsche.) Other passages betray a Freudian influence.A curious little work well worth reading for any Nietzsche enthusiast.With music from Kevin MacLeodhttp://incompetech.com This video was sponsored by NordPass. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Nietzsche's Final Book - Or Is it?

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Philosophy, video essays. New videos every week.