/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15399154]

"I had kind of an existential crisis, and I was reading books trying to figure out the meaning of life... because it seemed quite meaningless. We happened to have some books by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer in the house, which you should not read at age 14. It's bad. It's really negative. But then I read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was quite positive."

[Anonymous No.15399167]

[Anonymous No.15399174]

[Anonymous No.15399336]

At what age did YOU read Nietzsche and/or Schopenhauer, /lit/?

[Anonymous No.15399343]

>>15399336
Around the same age as he did. He's right, it fucks you up.

[Anonymous No.15399344]

>>15399336
from 22 to 25

[Anonymous No.15399373]

>>15399336
NEET 17, Schopie 19

[Anonymous No.15399375]

>>15399154
zoomr problems

[Anonymous No.15399409]

>>15399154

Oh so Elon is that kid who didn't outgrow Nietzsche after high school
This explains some things

[Anonymous No.15399427]

you really missed the messages of Nietzsche if you think it’s depressing at all, it’s the opposite.

[Anonymous No.15399440]

>>15399427
Yeah, I don't know how people can find his life-affirming philosophy depressing. He more than any other writer helped me improve my life.

[Anonymous No.15399441]

>>15399154
Please don't be real

[Anonymous No.15399458]

>>15399427
It's not his message it's the problem he tackles. Being confronted with meaninglessness is the worst thing that can happen to you in your teenage years, at least if you don't have strong enough appetites to keep you going.

[Anonymous No.15399471]

>>15399336
At 16 when a teacher gave me a copy of Zarathustra and The World as Will and Representation.

[Anonymous No.15399478]

>>15399154
literally me
but im not rich so i became a communist instead

[Anonymous No.15399486]

>outgrowing Nietzsche
his problem is still relevant, how do you outgrow that?

[Anonymous No.15399491]

>>15399154
>Interviewer: What were some of your favorite [books].

>Musk: Umm... Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit and stuff. Then when I was 14 I started reading "the philosophers" like Nietzsche (go figure) and Schopenhauer, you know two 19th century ultra-pessimistic Germans into eugenics...

>Interviewer: Interesting. Is there a specific book from Nietzsche or Schopenhauer, or any philosophy quote from them or other philosophers that stands out to you?

>They wrote more than one book? Umm...you know who else was good, Douglas Adams. He wrote the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy...

>... Interviewer: Errr...okay...Anything else from all those thousands of books you'd like to mention?

>Musk: Yeah. Dostoevsky sucks. I tried to read Crime and Punishment once. It was way too negative. That's why I like Nietzsche and Schopenhauer so much. They are nice, positive guys.

It seems to me he is either a retarded pleb or a patrician in disguise.

[Anonymous No.15399497]

>>15399154

[Anonymous No.15399501]

>>15399427
I say this every time I see him on the doomer lit charts. Him and Camus legit saved me.
>>15399458
Hmmm maybe it's because I got into phil when I was 22, and I had long known shit be meaningless.

[Anonymous No.15399522]

>>15399336
Nietzsche 19-21
I will read Schopenhauer eventually, but he just seems like an insufferable incel

[Anonymous No.15399533]

>>15399522
Retards are discouraged from reading philosophy.

[Anonymous No.15399672]

>>15399486
by bein a philistine and watchin netflix

[Anonymous No.15399682]

life affirming and life denying are some of the most pathetic buzzwords in all of philosophy

[Anonymous No.15399791]

At first I thought he was manufacturing a brand, just presenting himself as this guy who had read everything but came out of it all saying that being a Redditor was The Good and all the Big Thinkers were trash so he could appeal to the "I FUCKING LOVE SCIENCE" crowd, but now I'm pretty convinced that he really did read half of Zarathustra when he was 14 and got bored and instead invested his identity in genre fiction and meme shit. He actually is a redditor that just stumbled into being a baron of industry.

[Anonymous No.15399798]

>>15399682
this.

[Anonymous No.15399806]

>>15399154
>Nietzsche
>Really negative
nigga what

[Anonymous No.15399873]

One could say that Nietzsche is optimistic BUT he is optimistic because of his amor fati. He knows what lies ahead is the greatest doom for the greatest overcoming. Now THAT could honestly not sound very optimistic to some people, after all the worst doom is not there yet.

[Anonymous No.15399918]

>>15399336

Nietzsche at 16, barely understood anything anyways.

[Anonymous No.15399981]

Nobody can truly understand those works at 14 years of age. Philosophy requires some life experience

[Anonymous No.15400000]

>>15399336
mid-20s, which felt ideal

[Anonymous No.15400034]

>>15399336
>reading them at all
Sounds like you plebs got filtered yet again.

[Anonymous No.15400090]

>>15399873

he is not that apocalyptic

the point is overcoming. why does it have to be the greatest overcoming? at least for most people, they can at least find that message in neitzsche

[Anonymous No.15400326]

>>15399336
My parents gave me N's collected works for my birthday last month, I only have Morgenröte, 3/4ths of Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, and a few essays left.

[Anonymous No.15400338]

>>15399336

I haven't yet. Honestly they look really hard and I'm bad at reading complicated books.

[Anonymous No.15400343]

>>15400338
based humility poster
unironically if you start with the greeks and go up to them they will not be hard, approached in that way

[Anonymous No.15400387]

>>15400338
There's a collection of essays by Schopenhauer called The Wisdom of Life that is pretty easy to read.

[Anonymous No.15400390]

>>15400338
Nietzsche is not difficult. His work is not carefully structured like Kant or whatever. It's loose and fun.

[Anonymous No.15400402]

>>15399336
Schopenhauer at 15/16, Nietzsche not until 20.

[Anonymous No.15400404]

My dudes
where do I start with Nietzsche?

[Anonymous No.15400417]

>>15399154
>looking for the meaning of life in edgelord shit from pretentious philsophers like nietzshe
>looking for the meaning of life in a kids book
what a pleb. the true meaning of life lies in the study ancient religious texts and all the mythology and stories of those ancient people.

[Anonymous No.15400422]

>>15400404

i started with beyond good and evil. its great, and there are a ton of psychological layers to it.

I have also read geneaology of morals. still interesting, but a lot more straightforward imo.

[Anonymous No.15400430]

>>15399522
I would argue that Nietzsche is the incelike philosopher. Schopenhauer is a loner.

[Anonymous No.15400433]

>>15400404
philosophy is a waste of time. study religion and cultures.

[Anonymous No.15400443]

>>15400433

uhhhhh

philosophy isnt culture? religion is not philosophy?

[Anonymous No.15400454]

>>15400343
>unironically if you start with the greeks and go up to them they will not be hard

I tried reading Plato and Aristotle and they were both hard. The only philosophy books I've ever read and understood were (pls don't make fun) some Bertrand Russell essay collections.

[Anonymous No.15400457]

>>15400443
culture and religion both contain philosophy, yes, which is why you should study those instead of so called "philosophers" who fellate themselves on doing nothing besides sitting in a chair and writing garbage and jerking off over how much of an intellectual they are.

[Anonymous No.15400591]

>>15400404
Gay science -> Beyond Good and evil -> Genealogy of Morals

then whatever you want

[Anonymous No.15400612]

>>15400591
>Gay science

It's called, The Joyous Science, homophobe.

[Anonymous No.15401944]

>>15399427
>contemporary morality is the morality of slaves
>master morals requires one to be cunning, decietful, and excercise their will to power
>blackpills on the nature of women
>potrayal of life as a brutal struggle for power

You're either naive or fucked in the head if you think Nietzsche is "uplifting". It's particularly distressing if you're a young person bereft of wealth or talent.

[Anonymous No.15402098]

>>15399336
>Nietzsche
When I was 16
>Schopenhauer
At age 30

[Anonymous No.15402136]

>>15400457

when you read philosophy, there is no reason to take what they are saying seriously.

On one level, sure, what they say might be important. But psychoanalyzing them can be so much fun (and culturally insightful).

E.g. understanding that Plato is a fascist rationalist terrified of life's inherent ugliness is a much more culturally relevant/interesting observation than that one's mind can be thought of as split between three parts.

[Anonymous No.15402156]

>>15401944
Read the Gay Science. It's uplifting, sincerely.

[Anonymous No.15402420]

>>15399336
28

[Anonymous No.15402446]

>>15401944
Lmao, Nietzsche is famously the most radically pro-life Vitalist writer in the Western canon. If you can't see that you will make zero progress in comprehending the rest of German Idealism. Try Ludwig Klages instead if you want to unlock the positive thrust of Nietzschean lifeliness.

[Anonymous No.15402479]

>>15402446
most of Klages isnt translated into English, or apparently any other European languages

[Anonymous No.15402504]

>>15401944
>>15402446
An alternative to Klages would be Deleuze's book on Nietzsche.

[Anonymous No.15402513]

>>15399336
started with the greeks and thus rather enjoyed the birth of tragedy. but found zarathustra inaccessible at that time, having read no other philosophy

[Anonymous No.15402524]

>>15399440
>. He more than any other writer helped me improve my life.

How so?

[Anonymous No.15402568]

>>15400454
Try this. it's history of philosophy book and I thought the guy explained the concepts very nicely(even though he is sort of skeptic of most things). Written by a journalist, not an actual philosopher.

You can download the epub/pdf online.

[Anonymous No.15402622]

>>15402479
Of Cosmogonic Eros, Cosmogonic Reflections and The Biocentric Worldview are all available in English.

>>15402479
Also, Sloterdijk's short work "Nietzsche Apostle."

[Anonymous No.15402628]

i can't believe elon ever finished a book from cover to cover. he doesn't have the attention span for that.

[Anonymous No.15402629]

>>15402504
>>15402479
Oops

[Anonymous No.15402641]

>>15402622
Der Geist als Widersacher der Seele is not translated and it seems like the most important work to understand him

[Anonymous No.15402662]

>>15402641
True, there is an essay on Soul vs Spirit in the Biocentric Worldview though, so that alone is not a barrier.

[Anonymous No.15402675]

>>15399154
I’ve been trying to decide over the past week or so if I like Musk or hate him. It’s utterly retarded quotes of his like this that baffle me

[Anonymous No.15402787]

>>15399336
17, but I was already fucked up and reading him helped me over time.

[Anonymous No.15402790]

>>15399336
Started at 17

[Anonymous No.15402867]

>>15399491
Is he trolling or retarded?

[Anonymous No.15402873]

>>15399458
>Being confronted with meaninglessness is the worst thing that can happen to you in your teenage years
Being confronted with meaninglessness sucks no matter how old you are.

[Anonymous No.15402946]

>>15402136

Awful, midwit take. Probably a woman.

[Anonymous No.15402956]

>>15402136
surely this post is bait

[Anonymous No.15402985]

>In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
t. Arthur Schopenhauer

[Anonymous No.15403019]

>>15400000
checked

[Anonymous No.15403274]

musk will go down as the greatest car salesman of all time

[Anonymous No.15403280]

Im sensing a lot of jealousy itt from people who don't make rockets

[Anonymous No.15403295]

>>15403280
people on 4chan don't even think space exists

[Anonymous No.15403338]

>go to buy car
>looking around
>salesmen comes outside
>"so what can I help you with anon"
>ah just buying a car
>need to get to work, groceries, etc...
>"well if you buy this one you save the world"
>"have you seen star trek"
>"if you buy this it means we explore the universe for eternity"
>"we become a level 3 civ on the Kardashev scale"
>well can't argue with that

[Anonymous No.15403379]

>>15402867
are YOU trolling or are you just retarded is the real question here.

[Anonymous No.15403509]

>>15402675
there is literally nothing to like about this man. He's an insecure, self centered conman whos only reason of success is the societies tendency to praise mediocrities. He is as dumb as a pile of rocks and it makes me laugh that anyoneolder than 15 praises this fraud.

[Anonymous No.15403520]

>>15399154
>>15403233

[Anonymous No.15403941]

>>15400034
Reading.

Pfggffgg

[Anonymous No.15403950]

>>15399336
I'm 18 and I'll read Zarathustra later this year.

[Anonymous No.15404461]

>>15399491
this guy has to be retarded. where the fuck did his bugmen following come from?

[Anonymous No.15404661]

>>15399427
I followed 4 Nietzsche books up with Conan and it was a good combo. Some good lore to accompany the philosophy.

I thought Nietzsche was negative at first too but now I know it’s only negative in the context of modern morality. Ludwig Klages was good too in that regard.

[Anonymous No.15404859]

>>15399522
Don't bother your brain is full of memes

[Anonymous No.15404911]

>>15402156
You're a gay science.

[Anonymous No.15404918]

>>15403295
I don't think anyone on 4chan denies the reality of space or a round globe.

The real debates on here really mirror real life more than you think, and creation vs. evolution is a great example of that.

[Anonymous No.15405445]

>>15399336

early twenties.

[Anonymous No.15405539]

>>15400454
it is hard but you just have to keep reading. Don't worry if some things don't make sense right away and keep rereading it but don't get bogged down in it either. A lot of these things make sense when you get further along in it

[Anonymous No.15405560]

>>15399981
>Philosophy requires some life experience
Which these browsers lack in the first place.

[Anonymous No.15405715]

>>15399491
>>15402867
>>15404461
He's borderline autistic (watch him speak), who would he be trolling? Of course he's retarded.

[Anonymous No.15405727]

"I had kind of a meme, and I was reading memes trying to figure out the meme... because it seemed quite memeingless. We happened to have some memes by meme writers in the house, which you should not meme at age 14. It's bad. It's really a meme. But then I read a meme guide, which was quite positive"

what a meme billionaire

[Anonymous No.15405735]

>>15399336
>Schopenhauer
16

[Anonymous No.15405891]

>>15405715
>He's borderline autistic
Nah, it's the low IQ retarded shit he comes out with that's the problem. I know a fair number of aspies and while they're a pain to talk to sometimes they're able to hold a meaningful conversation better than this.

[Anonymous No.15405994]

>>15399791
This is likely true. He comes off as begin the same brand of intellectual idiot that Sam Harris is.

[Anonymous No.15406017]

What is Elon Musk even doing besides being a CEO of some company and embarrassing himself on the internet? Is he an engineer, or an inventor? Why is regarded as IRL Tony Stark?

[Anonymous No.15406039]

>>15406017
He own a shitton of capital.

[Anonymous No.15406069]

>>15399491
>I tried to read Crime and Punishment once. It was way too negative.

[Anonymous No.15406127]

He has a point, frankly. Even Nietzsche’s own philosophy could more or less lead someone to that conclusion. For a 14 year old, it makes perfect sense.

[Anonymous No.15406171]

Kinda off topic but whatever: I really want to read philosophy but every time I feel like a brainlet. I've read Sisyphus by Camus and Fear by Kierkegaard and I didn't get shit. I've read a couple of Plato dialogues and they were based. Where should I start with philosophy?
>inb4 greeks

[Anonymous No.15406176]

>>15406127
>He has a point, frankly.
He does not, educate yourself before posting.

[Anonymous No.15406188]

>>15406171
start with whatever interests you.

[Anonymous No.15406191]

>>15406017
>Is he an engineer, or an inventor?
He uses his paypal money to bully people into calling him such things. He claims to be every kind of engineer under the sun.
>Why is regarded as IRL Tony Stark?
Branding, he used his money to get cameos and mentions in the Marvel movies and shows like TBBT

[Anonymous No.15406230]

will to power cured my depression

[Anonymous No.15406605]

What translation of Crime and Punishment do I go for or does it not matter.

[Anonymous No.15406613]

>>15406605
Chads go for P&V, trannies choose soft feminine touch of Garnett

[Anonymous No.15407190]

>>15402136
Plato is facist hoooly ahaha

[Anonymous No.15407575]

>>15401944
>blackpills on the nature of women
Oh anon, do you not remember BGE? "Supposing truth is a woman, what then?" I guess its a blackpill, but if you're taking it negatively, you might catch a waft of ressentiment on your breath.

[Anonymous No.15407586]

>>15399873
>>15400090
isn't the whole point to demonstrate to the reader "this is what is happening, if this upsets you, you're welcome, I've finally shown you what the problem is"

[Anonymous No.15407594]

>>15399336
20's