Bøger udgivet af Magister Ludi Press

The critical side of Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844-1900) philosophy was aimed at modernity: he believed that with modernization came the loss of the "highest" and "noblest" types of humans and the societal conditions to produce them. The positive side of Nietzsche's philosophy was aimed at retrieving the Worldview of ancient Greek culture. As incoherent as the critical side of Nietzsche's philosophy may seem, the positive side of his philosophy is consistent; thus, the positive side can render both sides more coherent. In tracing the history of humanity's degeneration into modernity, Nietzsche came to recognize Aristophanes' complaints against Euripides and Socrates as an original revelation of Western culture's steep decline. In other words, the philosophy of Euripides leads to a worldview in which human dignity is devalued, and the philosophy of Socrates leads to a worldview constituted by nihilism. Given our decadent modern position in the history of humanity, the original Western Worldview of the ancient Greeks may be difficult to envision. Yet, Nietzsche discovered that how the ancient Greeks understood tragedy reveals both how they understood existence and how they lived with the dignity of an authentic nobility. Ancient Greek culture honored the sense in which existence is governed by divine forces - forces which exceed the powers of mortals. Similarly, existential mysteries, such as fate, death, and love, exceed our ability to fully grasp them, and, as evidenced by their capacity to overwhelm us, they somehow involve divinity. Thus, according to Nietzsche, the ancient Greeks could exist in authentic communion with such divine forces because the Greeks had a noble relation to their own mortality. This can be envisioned from their point of view regarding tragedy, and Nietzsche called this ancient Greek perspective on existence "the Dionysian Worldview." According to the ancient Greeks: Time is a circle, Dionysus is a god, and a "god" is "that which lights up a world." Thus, on the one hand, the general response which the Dionysian Worldview calls for regarding the Eternal Recurrence of existence, including of course the tragic, may be philosophically characterized as Amor Fati. On the other hand, Full Throttle Heart characterizes the particular experience of Amor Fati in response to tragedy: a response that confirms the Dionysian Worldview by experiencing tragedy as the rapture and ecstasy of divine affectivity. This book is divided into three parts. The first part, "How to Read Nietzsche" shows Nietzsche's philosophy as sufficiently consistent such that readers should be able to turn to any passage throughout Nietzsche's writings and have their bearings. The second part presents the first edition's frolicking, romping, and exhorting dithyrambs in light of the insight that the Dionysian Worldview is the unifying principle of Nietzsche's philosophy. This includes a discussion of the Mysteries of Dionysus as they relate to Plato's dialogs and the Eleusinian Mysteries. Lastly, the third part of this book provides Scalambrino's translation of Nietzsche's so-called "Madness Letters" from January, 1889.

The term "existentialism" was coined in the 1940s. Whereas other books regarding existentialism merely repeat the platitudes that "There is no such thing as existentialism" or that "The term 'existentialism' has no coherent meaning," this book actually answers the question "What is existentialism?" Volume I introduces readers to the depth of the problem indicated by the question, "What is existentialism?" identifying the seven (7) principles of existentialism and the necessary and sufficient conditions for a philosophy to be existential. Vol. I, then, provides the "archaeological" answer to the question by showing the philosophical framework existentialism inherited from transcendental philosophy. Vol. I also provides the "genealogical" answer by tracing the history of the thematization of this framework through German Romanticism, concluding with an illustration of how the major existential philosophers: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Marcel, expressed and developed the principles of existentialism. Volume II provides a discussion of essential distinctions with which to understand and think about existentialism, including a discussion of existentialism as a kind of character ethics, existentialism as a critique of Descartes' philosophy, the difference between existential individuality and Modern subjectivity, and a discussion of the "moment of vision." Vol. II concludes with a discussion of how existential philosophy takes be-ing, as an end-in-itself, as its point of origin. Vol. II also provides a number of helpful appendices. These appendices address some miscellaneous, though important, concerns regarding existentialism, and provide charts illustrating the interrelations between the key concepts of existentialism.

The term "existentialism" was coined in the 1940s. Whereas other books regarding existentialism merely repeat the platitudes that "There is no such thing as existentialism" or that "The term 'existentialism' has no coherent meaning," this two-volume set actually answers the question "What is existentialism?" Volume I identifies the seven (7) principles of existentialism and the necessary and sufficient conditions for a philosophy to be existential, and introduces readers to the depth of the problem by showing how the question "What is existentialism?" can be answered in multiple ways, all of which are provided in this two-volume set. Vol. I, then, provides the "archaeological" answer to the question by showing the philosophical framework existentialism inherited from transcendental philosophy. Vol. I also provides the "genealogical" answer by tracing the history of the thematization of this framework through German Romanticism, concluding with an illustration of how the major existential philosophers: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and Marcel, expressed and developed the principles of existentialism. Volume II provides a discussion of essential distinctions with which to correctly understand, and formulate thoughts about, existentialism, for example, discussions of existentialism as a kind of character ethics, existentialism as a critique of Descartes' philosophy, the difference between existential individuality and modern subjectivity, and a discussion of the "moment of vision." Vol. II concludes, then, with a discussion of how existential philosophy takes be-ing, as an end-in-itself, as its point of origin. Vol. II also provides a number of helpful appendices. These appendices address some miscellaneous, though important, concerns regarding existentialism, and provide charts illustrating the interrelations between the key concepts of existentialism.