Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Friedrich Nietzsche

2008-12-11T04:57:04Z

JPEngozi:

"Insane" is an antiquated and imprecise term; it's just not used anymore. And the origins of Nietzsche's mental breakdown probably had something to do with a brain tumor, or syphillis, or mental breakdown.

The "joke" from the magazine seems out-of-place for an entry so thin. Oh, and the time magazine cover is from April 8, 1966, not 1965.

--[[User:WOVcenter|WOVcenter]] 18:09, 6 March 2007 (EST)

I think the last paragraph regarding the perception of the joke need not be eliminated. If it was reworded to be less-combative and opinionated, it would be an informative counter-point.--[[User:Dave3172|Dave3172]] 16:25, 10 March 2007 (EST)

I agree, especially if the person explained ''why'' this was a distortion of Nietzsche's philosophy rather than just taking a cheap shot at Christianity. [[User:MountainDew|MountainDew]] 16:27, 10 March 2007 (EST)

How is that a cheap shot at Christianity? This joke makes us look stupid and insecure; Nietzsche would have loved it. It takes up a huge portion of the page on the philosopher, which is clearly written by someone who has never read anything he wrote. Nietzsche's "god is dead" quote is not a major point of his philosophy, only a part of a larger point he was making, and to write an encyclopedia article focused on it is to reveal a serious and embarrassing ignorance of his work. I think the popularity of this simple play on words does reveal a great deal about his thought, pointing to the insecurity of Christians when faced with philosophical challenges. Read Nietzsche and write a serious repudiation appropriate for an encyclopedia, or remove that joke.

I think you can have the joke stay - after all, it is probably the most universally-known reference to him. But you can still write a criticism of that joke, and the thinking behind it, provided it's not combative and opinion instead of fact. I think the edits you made to the first paragraph were great; I'd love to see what you could write about the joke.--[[User:Dave3172|Dave3172]] 16:43, 10 March 2007 (EST)

== About the section retitled On Politics ==

As much as I like the quote about liberals, it's disingenuous to try and use it in a modern context. [[User:Cbrad|Cbrad]] 23:37, 24 June 2007 (EDT)

== on nietzsche's views of christianity ==

The section regarding the first appearance of "God is dead" is factually wrong. Reference to the actual text will show the phrase appears in Aphorism 108, at the very beginning of Book III, as the entry now reflects. The rest of the entry displayed a misguided attempt to downplay the degree of Nietzsche's antagonism towards Christianity. [[User:Cbrad|Cbrad]] 23:37, 24 June 2007 (EDT)

:"Christianity is the point of all weakness".
:So, why does he hate Christianity so much? o_0 [[User:Kektklik|Fuzzy|AFD]] 17:18, 12 April 2008 (EDT)

::Try reading his books. He explains quite clearly why he dislikes Christianity. The "God is dead" claim has been subtly misinterpreted in this article.

==Madman and the Death of God==
In the text I have, it says the "Madman and the Death of God" appears in ''[[Joyful Wisdom]]'', not ''[[The Gay Science]]''. +_+ [[User:Kektklik|Fuzzy|AFD]] 17:44, 13 April 2008 (EDT)

:They are the same book, but the titles have been translated differently from the original German. Gay means joyful.

== Block Quote? ==

I removed the block quote, even though the article qualifies that Eva Forester Nietzsche falsified Nietzsche's writing as a political maneuver to secure her rise in the Nazi party, although not explicitly as it should. The quote gives clemency to the argument that Nietzsche had anything to do with Fascism, which is completely untrue. --[[User:JPEngozi|JPEngozi]] 23:57, 10 December 2008 (EST)

Friedrich Nietzsche

2008-12-11T04:54:32Z

JPEngozi:

[[Image:nietzsche2.jpg|right|250px|thumb]]
'''Friedrich Nietzsche''' (1844-1900) was a [[Germany|German]] [[atheism|atheist]] [[philosopher]] whose work set a foundation for the [[existentialism|existentialist]] movement of the 1900s.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/ Stanford's Biography on Nietzsche].</ref> Nietzsche later went insane, most probably due to a [[brain]] tumor. <ref>[http://wais.stanford.edu/General/general_individualsniezsche.htm Another Stanford Biography on Nietzsche]</ref>

Nietzsche was critical of [[religion]] in general, though especially [[Christianity]], which he described as the "religion of pity."<ref>[http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Friedrich_Nietzsche/ Nietzsche Quotations]</ref> Nietzsche is perhaps most famous for his declaration that “God is dead,” which, rather than a [[theological]] argument, suggests that Western culture seemed no longer rooted in Christian dogmatism and a faith-based worldview. Without [[God]], the idea of absolutes are difficult to come by, and Nietzsche thus suggested ways for people to cope with this loss of "[[Good]]" and "[[Evil]]".

Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse in 1889, and spent the last ten years of his life unable to care for himself. During this time, his sister Elizabeth Förster-Nietzsche took over his affairs, and worked to falsify and re-edit his writings in order to support her virulent Antisemitism (a view which Nietzsche arguably abhorred, and often mocked, during his lifetime). It was her distorted version of culled and misquoted statements which later provided an intellectual fig leaf for the [[Nazi]]s and [[Italian]] [[Fascist]]s.

The ''Übermensch'' (overhuman, superhuman) was a literary device used in his magnum opus, "[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]". The Overman was to be a new kind of being which would overcome resentment and affirm the Eternal Recurrence of the same.

The statement "God is dead" first appeared in Nietzsche's "[[The Gay Science]]", in Aphorism 108, titled "New Struggles". This aphorism introduces Nietzsche's famous Madman, who runs out into the street shouting, "God is dead!" Yet, to his dismay, the Madman sees "he has come too soon," for people have not realized this cultural revelation for themselves and are blind to it. They consider the Madman's seemingly theological claim as absurd for they misunderstand him; it is no argument about the existence of God, but a claim of how [[secular]] society has become. Nietzsche was no friend to Christian beliefs, and no doubt considered the Christian God to be a mere myth. This passage shows his hope for a [[philosophy]] of the future, one he imagined would be emptied of coarse objective rationalizing, which he characterized as God and associated with Christianity. Nietzsche, in other words, felt his message of subjective truth came too soon and hoped, as the Madman, that he would be understood someday.

Nietzsche's father Carl Ludwig Nietzsche, was a [[Lutheran]] pastor.

In his first Papal Encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" (God is Charity/Love) [[Pope Benedict XVI]] quotes from Nietzsche's ''Beyond Good and Evil'', taking very seriously Nietzsche's claim that the Church has poisoned ''eros'' (love) with dogma, and responding to it.

==On Morality==
Friedrich Nietzsche argued that [[rational egalitarianism]] denies [[creativity]], and reason cannot create values and [[morality]], attempt to do so would only lead to [[nihilism]]. Therefore morality has been imposed.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.", "With morality, the individual can only ascribe value to himself as a function of the herd", "I submit that egoism belongs to the essence of a noble soul ... and has its basis in the primary law of things", "all morality is partisan; just as any legal system will favor certain behavior against others", "who else should we wish to serve, if not ourselves?" and "Whoever battles monsters should take care not to become a monster too, for if you stare long enough into the Abyss, the Abyss stares back into you."

==On Science and Knowledge==
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "I mistrust all systemizers and avoid them; the will to systematize is a lack of integrity", "there is no pre-established harmony between the furtherance of truth and the well-being of mankind", "the free-spirit is brought into disrepute chiefly by scholars who miss their thoroughness and ant-like industry in his art of regarding things", "there are many things I do not wish to know, wisdom sets a limit on knowledge too", "the fact that science as we practice it today is possible proves that the elementary instinct which protect life have ceased to function", "we have arranged for ourselves a world in which we are able to live with postulation of bodies, lines, surfaces, causes, and effects, motion and rest, form and content: without these articles of faith, nobody could manage to live", "the irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition for it", "[too much knowledge causes us to] choke on our own reason", "creed of nihilism which I see everywhere is the result of too much learning" and "Any truth which threatens life is no truth at all, it is an error".

==On Politics==
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "As a political subject, it is an illusion to ask myself what I require from the state. In reality, it is a question of what the state requires from me", "culture and the state are antagonistic", "clearly, the individual will is forfeit to the demands of government - a kind of political Darwinism. The herd triumphs again, this time under the banner of the state", "socialism is the fantastic younger brother of an almost decrepit despotism, which it wants to succeeded", "the doctrine of free will is an invention of the ruling classes" and "madness is something rare in individuals; but in groups, parties, ages, it is the rule".

==On Women==
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "Women are essentially unpeaceful" and "Man is for woman a means; the purpose is always a child. But what is woman for man?"

==On Philosophy==
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote "Philosophy is the dressing-up in rational argument of moral beliefs, intuitions and desires".

==On Religion==
Friedrich Nietzsche was born to a long line of Protestant Lutheran ministers. His grandfather, Friedrich August Ludwig Nietzsche, was in fact an established Protestant scholar whose writings argued the “everlasting survival of Christianity.” From an early age Friedrich Nietzsche maintained a dedication to Lutheranism and continued his passion for theology in university. In the year 1864, Nietzsche entered the University of Bonn as a theology and philology student with a particular interest in the translation and interpretation of Biblical texts. Nietzsche's views on religion are scattered amongst his earliest works in the 1860s well up until the time of his death in 1889. As such, his views concerning religion, morality, and human nature are not outlined definitively and are thus the subject of scholarly debate.

However, Nietzsche spoke out against Islam citing that it was a force subsisting wholly on the denial of the individual. He posed in his work "The Birth of Tragedy" that Islam (among other religions) utilizes the restriction of necessary human desires such as love as a means of securing their permanence as a force of control.

Thus Friedrich Nietzsche viewed [[Mohammed]], [[Buddah]], [[Homer]] etc, not as religious figures, but as creators of rigid moral frameworks, who lost their authority as [[Europe]] severed ties with its diverse religious tradition.

==See Also==
*[[Nihilism]]

==References==
<references/>
*[https://www.dartmouth.edu/~fnchron/index.html Nietzsche Chronicle]
*[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/452786.html Nietzsche: The Problem of Autumn]
*[http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=816224 "The Case for Nietzschean Moral Psychology"]
*[http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html#_ftnref1 ''Deus Caritas Est'', from the Vatican website]
*[http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Nietzsche-Third-Introducing-Laurence/dp/1840466278/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-5268663-4749443?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179639544&sr=1-1 Introducing Nietzsche, Third Edition by Laurence Gane]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nietzsche, Friedrich}}

[[category:German Philosophers]]
[[Category:Children of Clergy]]

Dover

2008-12-11T04:49:50Z

JPEngozi:

'''Dover''' is the name of a number of towns and cities.

In the [[United States]] it is the capital city of [[Delaware]]. It is also a small town in Pennsylvania where Creationists were handed their most humiliating defeat. Specifically, a Bush appointee determined that <blockquote>
his case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy.

(Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Dist., 400 F.Supp.2d 707, 765 (M.D. Pa. 2005))[http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/09/the_politically_legal.html].
</blockquote>

In [[England]], it is an [[English Channel]] port in the county of [[Kent]], notable for it white chalk cliffs - one of Britain's most well-known natural landmarks - and its proximity to [[France]].

[[Category:United States Cities and Towns]]
[[Category:US State Capitals]]
[[Category:Delaware]]

Talk:Marquis de Sade

2008-12-11T04:46:12Z

JPEngozi: New page: Many of these sources are non-academic and thus illegitimate, I suggest we wipe the page and start over? --~~~~

Many of these sources are non-academic and thus illegitimate, I suggest we wipe the page and start over? --[[User:JPEngozi|JPEngozi]] 23:46, 10 December 2008 (EST)

Marquis de Sade

2008-12-11T04:45:10Z

JPEngozi:

[[Image:115523-004-FA619CA3.jpg|thumb|right|251px| Intelligent and Noble Marquis de Sade wrongfully inprisoned, 18th century line engraving.]]
Donatien Alphonse François, '''Marquis de Sade''' (1740-1814) was an infamous French [[aristocrat]] and [[author]] of heavily [[philosophy|philosophical]] [[pornography]], as well as more traditional [[essays]] on [[philosophy]].
[[Sadism]], a [[paraphilia]] in which pleasure is derived from inflicting pain or seeing pain being inflicted on others, is named after him. The debauched lifestyle of the Marquis de Sade caused him to have periods of imprisonment. <ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A676190</ref> Marquis de Sade was an [[atheism|atheist]]. <ref>http://www.trivia-library.com/a/biography-of-famous-atheist-marquis-de-sade.htm</ref>

His books featured [[murder]], [[torture]], [[blasphemy]] and grotesque, [[violent]], and ritualistic sex. His more major works remain banned in many countries to the present day, even though some of them have been highly influential; ''Juliet'', a book released early in his career, has been imitated right up until the present, most recently by radical [[feminism|feminist]] [[Andrea Dworkin]].

''The 120 Days of Sodom'', perhaps his most notorious book, was written by the Marquis whilst imprisoned in the [[Bastille]], where he witnessed daily executions from his window during the [[Reign of Terror]]. This book was adapted by controversial director Pier Paolo Pasolini in that director's magnum opus <ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073650/</ref> The last years of the Marquis' life were spent in an [[insanity|insane]] asylum, though the reasons for this vary depending on the source. His years in the asylum have been dramatised in the critically-acclaimed play (and later film) ''Marat/Sade'',<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180073/</ref> as well as in the dramatic film ''Quills''.<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180073/</ref>

His work was largely banned in the [[USA]] until the relaxation of obscenity laws in the 1950s and 1960s.

===References===

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sade, Marquis de}}

[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:French People]]

Kangaroo

2008-12-11T04:43:19Z

JPEngozi: /* Creationism */

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|image=Redkangaroo1.png
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|class=Mammalia
|subclass=Marsupialia
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|order=Diprotodontia
|suborder=Macropodiformes
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'''Kangaroos''' are the largest [[marsupial]]s alive today. Excluding specimens sent overseas, they are only found on the continent of [[Australia]] apart from some species in some areas of [[Papua New Guinea]]<ref>[http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/kangaroos.html Australia's kangaroos], Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.</ref>. There are at least sixty-nine [[species]] of kangaroo <ref name="kangbio">[http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/wild-harvest/kangaroo/biology.html "Kangaroo Biology"], Australian Government</ref>, which include [[wallabies]] and tree-kangaroos.

==Description==

Kangaroos have large ears on top of their small heads, a long snout, and short arms with clawed fingers. Their legs are strong, powerful, and are made for leaping. Their feet have four toes at the end of elongated metatarsi that they rest on when standing. They also have a powerful, thick tail that is used as support when standing, a third-leg when walking slowly, and for counterbalance while leaping. Like all Marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch on their stomachs in which they carry their young.

===Diet===

Kangaroos are [[herbivore]]s, eating grass, roots, and shrubs. They have a chambered stomach similar to [[sheep]] and [[cattle]]. They are able to regurgitate their food, chew it again as [[cud]], and then swallow it for digestion.

===Social Order===

Kangaroos travel in [[mob | mobs]] of about ten or more males and females. The leader of the mob, called a "boomer", is a male determined by age and size. The boomer has access to females in his mob for mating and will wander around the mob intimidating any other males who try to mate with his harem.

===Reproduction===

Female kangaroos usually only have one baby kangaroo (called a "joey") at a time. The newborn joey weighs as little as 0.03 ounces when first born, after which it crawls into its mothers pouch where it will nurse, grow, and develop. Red Kangaroo joeys will stay in their mothers pouch for about eight months and Grey Kangaroo joeys stay in there for about one year.

==Origins==

===Creationism===
Consistent with their view that the fossil record as a whole does not support the evolutionary position<ref>[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/fossils.asp "Fossils Questions and Answers"], Answers In Genesis</ref><ref>[http://members.iinet.net.au/~sejones/fsslrcrd.html Creation/Evolution Quotes: Fossil Record]</ref>, creationists state that there is a lack of transitional fossils showing an evolutionary origin of kangaroos. Rebecca Driver writes:

{{QuoteBox|The Macropod family is alleged to have evolved from either the Phalangeridae (possums) or Burramyidae (pygmy-possums)...<br />However, there are no fossils of animals which appear to be intermediate between possums and kangaroos. ''Wabularoo naughtoni'', supposed ancestor of all the macropods, was clearly a kangaroo (it greatly resembles the potoroos which dwell in Victoria’s forests). If modern kangaroos really did come from it, all this shows is the same as we see happening today, namely that kangaroos come from kangaroos, "after their kind." <ref>Driver, Rebecca, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/755/ Kangaroos: God's amazing craftsmanship], ''Creation'' 20(3):28–31, June 1998.</ref>}}

According to the [[origins theory]] model used by [[young earth creation theorists]], modern kangaroos are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard [[Noah's Ark]] prior to the [[Great Flood]]. It has not yet been determined by [[baraminology | baraminologists]] whether kangaroos form a [[holobaramin]] with the [[wallaby]], [[tree-kangaroo]], [[wallaroo]], [[pademelon]] and [[quokka]], or if all these species are in fact [[Baraminology|apobaramin]]ic or [[Baraminology|polybaramin]]ic.

After the Flood, these kangaroos, bred from the Ark passengers, migrated to Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land<ref name="cab17">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/images/pdfs/cabook/chapter17.pdf "How did animals get from the Ark to places such as Australia"], Chapter 17, of ''The Creation Answers Book'', by Don Batten (Ed.)</ref> with lower sea levels during the post-flood [[ice age]], or before the super-continent of [[Pangea]] broke apart.<ref>[http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2808 "Pangea and the Flood"], Apologetics Press</ref>

The idea that God simply generated kangaroos into existence there is considered by most creation researchers to be contra-Biblical.

===Evolution===
The [[Evolution|evolutionary]] view is that kangaroos and other marsupials evolved from a common marsupial ancestor which lived hundreds of millions of years ago.<ref>[http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEPC/WWC/1995/australia.html "Australian Mammals: Evolutionary Development as a Result of Geographic Isolation"]</ref>

===Dreamtime===
Some [[Australian Aborigines]] believe that kangaroos were sung into existence by their ancestors during the [[Dreamtime]].<ref>[http://www.painsley.org.uk/RE/signposts/y8/1-1creationandenvironment/c-abor.htm "An Aborigine Creation Story"]</ref>

== External Links ==
*[http://www.exzooberance.com/virtual%20zoo/they%20walk/kangaroo/kangaroo.htm Kangaroo facts]
*[http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/kangaroos.html Answers About Kangaroos]
*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/migration.asp How did animals get from the Ark to places such as Australia?]

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Marsupials]]
[[Category:Australia]]