It is said that Schopenhauer slept with loaded pistols beside his bed. Whether true or not, the image is of formidable accuracy. Here is reasoning represented in its virtues and its consequences! What to say? Schopenhauer, a very rare intelligence, guided by what his vigorous mind dictated, could not contain the side effects of his rational conduct. Good judgment dictates that one should always have loaded pistols near oneself, always being suspicious of life, of others, of everything!, always being in a state of alert, fearful and cautious, knowing that life tends to death, dreams to disappointment, desires to frustration, joy to pain… The consequences, however, may be against good judgment: how to consider reasonable a conduct that makes one second of sloppiness impossible? Terrible, terrible… Pistols loaded next to the pillow! To live like Schopenhauer is to uproot the possibility of peace, fostering unbearable psychological terror. Better to be a dwarf and have thousands of quiet nights before arrives the only fatal night…
Tag: philosophy
Nietzsche’s Grandiose Madness
Although Schopenhauer’s poison has already impregnated itself absolutely in my literature, I appreciate much more the grandiose madness of Nietzsche, which demands a greater effort of the spirit and rewards with honor the very few capable of achieving it. To overcome nihilism and inoculate in the mind a resounding and definitive “yes,” to despise the petty and ephemeral hardships, to transform existence into a rotund exclamation,—even if it is necessary to contradict the rational:—all this seems more beautiful and more worthy of value.
The Tragedy of Anarchist Thought
The tragedy of anarchist thought is that the common man is not worthy of freedom. It is necessary to restrain him, to punish him, to subject him to an authority that tells him what he can and cannot do. Starting from the opposite premise, the result is chaos. Rare are those who deserve freedom, those mature enough to bear its consequences. They pay for being superior… But how can we conceive of a world where the common man enjoys full freedom? No, no… no way! The world needs jails and police armed to the teeth.
Nihilism and Anarchism
Nihilism and anarchism start from understandable and justifiable premises. However, as if by an uncontrollable attraction, they both end up tending toward an unjustifiable destructive action, or rather, an action promoting a worse reality. When carried out, nihilism is forced to level a murderer to someone who does not kill,—the opposite would be to admit a moral hierarchy,—which is an effective way to produce monsters. Anarchism, when ingrained in the soul, can only result in a violent response to all kinds of authority—it efficiently destroys, but does not seem capable of erecting on the wreckage something better. They both seem, nihilism and anarchism, doctrines doomed to throw the soul into darkness and materialize terrible deeds—although, on an individual level, they can be necessary stops to reasoning and, if allied to a peaceful nature and opposed to action, can serve as food for intellectual development.