web02.fireside.fm Sat, 02 May 2026 11:30:34 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Friedrich Nietzsche” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/friedrich%20nietzsche Wed, 19 Jun 2019 11:00:00 -0400 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 49: Out of Time: Nietzsche on History https://www.weirdstudies.com/49 8431a7b5-5238-4d17-82f4-6dd892747d8a Wed, 19 Jun 2019 11:00:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 49 Out of Time: Nietzsche on History full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF discuss Nietzsche's seminal essay, "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," from Untimely Meditations. 1:22:01 yes In his essay "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," Nietzsche attacks the notion that humans are totally determined by the historical forces that shape their physical and mental environment. Where other philosophers like Plato saw virtue in remembering eternal truths that earthly existence had wiped from our memories, Nietzsche extolled the virtues of forgetting, of becoming "untimely" and creating a zone where something new could arise. For Nietzsche, history was useful only if it served Life. Because we live in an age which constantly reifies history (through movies, news, social media, etc.) while also tricking us into thinking we somehow exist outside of history, the essay remains as relevant today as it was when Nietzsche wrote it a century and a half ago. REFERENCES Nietzsche, "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life" in [Untimely Meditations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UntimelyMeditations)_ Epic Rap Battles of History: Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N_RO-jL-90) Ernest Newman, Life of Wagner (https://www.amazon.com/Life-Wagner-Volumes-Ernest-Newman/dp/0521291496) Alexander Nehamas, [Nietzsche: Life as Literature](https://www.amazon.com/Nietzsche-Life-Literature-Alexander-Nehamas/dp/0674624262/ref=sr11?keywords=Nietzsche%3A+Life+as+Literature&qid=1560911442&s=books&sr=1-1) Alfred Korzybski, Manhood of Humanity (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25457/25457-pdf.pdf) Michael Foucault, "What is Englightenment?" (https://leap.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2017/01/Foucault-What-is-enlightenment.pdf) Antinatalism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinatalism) Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1998/1998-h/1998-h.htm) James Carse, [Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FiniteandInfiniteGames)_ P. J. O’Rourke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke), American writer Richard Pryor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pryor), American comedian Nietzsche, untimely, history, memory, forgetting, weird In his essay "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," Nietzsche attacks the notion that humans are totally determined by the historical forces that shape their physical and mental environment. Where other philosophers like Plato saw virtue in remembering eternal truths that earthly existence had wiped from our memories, Nietzsche extolled the virtues of forgetting, of becoming "untimely" and creating a zone where something new could arise. For Nietzsche, history was useful only if it served Life. Because we live in an age which constantly reifies history (through movies, news, social media, etc.) while also tricking us into thinking we somehow exist outside of history, the essay remains as relevant today as it was when Nietzsche wrote it a century and a half ago.

REFERENCES

Nietzsche, "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life" in Untimely Meditations
Epic Rap Battles of History: Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers
Ernest Newman, Life of Wagner
Alexander Nehamas, Nietzsche: Life as Literature
Alfred Korzybski, Manhood of Humanity
Michael Foucault, "What is Englightenment?"
Antinatalism
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility
P. J. O’Rourke, American writer
Richard Pryor, American comedian

]]> In his essay "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," Nietzsche attacks the notion that humans are totally determined by the historical forces that shape their physical and mental environment. Where other philosophers like Plato saw virtue in remembering eternal truths that earthly existence had wiped from our memories, Nietzsche extolled the virtues of forgetting, of becoming "untimely" and creating a zone where something new could arise. For Nietzsche, history was useful only if it served Life. Because we live in an age which constantly reifies history (through movies, news, social media, etc.) while also tricking us into thinking we somehow exist outside of history, the essay remains as relevant today as it was when Nietzsche wrote it a century and a half ago.

REFERENCES

Nietzsche, "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life" in Untimely Meditations
Epic Rap Battles of History: Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers
Ernest Newman, Life of Wagner
Alexander Nehamas, Nietzsche: Life as Literature
Alfred Korzybski, Manhood of Humanity
Michael Foucault, "What is Englightenment?"
Antinatalism
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility
P. J. O’Rourke, American writer
Richard Pryor, American comedian

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