To Be Living
From Valwiki
| Author: | Friedrich Strauss. |
| Subtitle: | Examining life and existence. |
| Language: | Common. |
| Document Type: | Book. |
| Genre: | Philosophical. |
To be Living, subtitled Examining life and existence, is a book by Greendale philosopher and researcher Friedrich Strauss. A second part, To be a Wanderer, was published in when he turned 16, and a third part, To be a Shadow, followed six months later.
Reflecting an admiration of John Walte as a free spirited thinker, but also a break in his friendship with thinker Franz Hauer two years earlier, Strauss dedicated the original edition “to the memory of Walte on the celebration of the anniversary of his death.”
Contents |
Style and structure
Unlike his first philosophical work, Divine Apathy, which was written in essay style, To be Living is a collection of aphorisms, a style which he would use in many of his subsequent works. The aphoristic style was suited to many of the ideas and thoughts in the book, which are as short as a sentence, to as long as a few pages. The first installment’s 638 aphorisms are divided into nine sections by subject, and a short poem as an epilogue. The second and third installments are an additional 408 and 350 aphorisms respectively.
Of First and Last Things
In this first section Strauss deals with metaphysics, specifically its origins as relating to dreams, the dissatisfaction with oneself, and language as well.
On the History of Moral Feelings
In this section Strauss challenges the traditional idea of good and evil, and as it was philosophized by Dontien Sade Brunuois.
Excerpt:
"At the waterfall: When we see a waterfall, we think we see freedom of will and choice in the innumerable turnings, windings, breakings of the waves; but everything is necessary; each movement can be calculated mathematically. Thus it is with human actions; if one were omniscient, one would be able to calculate each individual action in advance, each step in the progress of knowledge, each error, each act of malice. To be sure the acting man is caught in his illusion of volition; if the wheel of the world were to stand still for a moment and an omniscient, calculating mind were there to take advantage of this interruption, he would be able to tell into the farthest future of each being and describe every rut that wheel will roll upon. The acting man's delusion about himself, his assumption that free will exists, is also part of the calculable mechanism."
Religious Life
Here Strauss attacks religious worship, most of all worship of Setengar and what he refers to as "The Cult of Wol", going so far as to say that “Faith wants to destroy, shatter, stun, intoxicate.”
From the Soul of Artists and Writers
Strauss uses this section to go against the idea of divine inspiration in art, claiming great art is the result of hard work and intelligence, not a higher power. This can be interpreted as a subliminal attack on his former friend Hauer (a strong believer in divine inspiration) though Strauss never mentions him by name, instead simply using the term “the artist.”
Signs of Higher and Lower Culture
Here Strauss criticizes a sort of ideal in social Darwinism...
Excerpt: "Wherever progress is to ensue, deviating natures are of greatest importance. Every progress of the whole must be preceded by a partial weakening. The strongest natures retain the type, the weaker ones help to advance it. Something similar also happens in the individual. There is rarely a degeneration, a truncation, or even a vice or any physical or moral loss without an advantage somewhere else. In a warlike and restless clan, for example, the sicklier man may have occasion to be alone, and may therefore become quieter and wiser; the one-eyed man will have one eye the stronger; the blind man will see deeper inwardly, and certainly hear better."
Strauss writes of the “Free Thinker”, and his role in society. A Free Thinker is one who goes against tradition, and “onwards along the path of wisdom” in order to better himself.
Man in Society and Women and Child
These two sections are made up of mostly very short aphorisms on man’s and women and child’s perceived roles in society. While section six is relatively mild, section seven furthers Strauss' reputation for misogyny, writing that “women are so much more personal than objective.” He also believes that Free Thinker do not marry and “prefer to fly alone.”
A Look at the State
Here Strauss studies power in a state, and speaks strongly against war and nationalism. He also speaks on Mage persecution, worrying that “in the literature of nearly all present-day nations…there is an increase in the literary misconduct that leads the Mages to the slaughterhouse, as scapegoats for every possible public and private misfortune.” He continues, saying that they have “had the most sorrowful history of all peoples”.
Man Alone with Himself
Like sections six and seven, Strauss’ aphorisms here are mostly short, but also poetic and at times could be interpreted as semi-autobiographical, in anticipation of the next volumes: “He who has come only in part to a freedom of reason cannot feel on earth otherwise than as a wanderer.”
OOC Information
A book based on Human, All Too Human by Nietzche.
Availability
Not too widely known but still regarded highly by academics and philosophers, although controversial due to the way it treats certain subjects.
