The Nietzsche Podcast

Nick Nielsen, a philosophy and history writer behind the Today in Philosophy of History series, joins to explore big-picture historical thought. They trace Augustine on time, contrast Hegel and Schopenhauer on progress, and unpack Renaissance rediscoveries. They debate Nietzschean monumental figures, nomothetic versus ideographic approaches, cliodynamics, deep time, and how generations remake the past.

Christopher Satoor, philosopher known as The Young Idealist who specializes in German Idealism and Schelling scholarship. He explores Schelling’s Freedom Essay and its critique of Spinoza. He traces Schelling’s ties to Hegel and Hölderlin, the dialectic of potencies and nature’s unfolding. He discusses Schelling’s influence on Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, and reflects on drifting from Deleuze and post-structuralist pitfalls.

They tackle Wittgenstein's private language puzzle and whether sensations can be named privately. Pain, toothaches, and how we teach and show sensations get close scrutiny. The beetle-in-the-box thought experiment and color qualia probe the limits of inner reference. Language games, meaning-as-use, and how words function as tools in social life are central themes.

A lively tour of Wittgenstein's life, from engineer to philosopher, and the shape of Philosophical Investigations. Short, puzzling thought experiments like the market note and builder examples get unpacked. Topics include language-games, how use shapes meaning, family resemblance for concepts, rules and rule-following, and the shift away from the earlier pictorial theory.

Joe Folley, creator of Unsolicited Advice who makes philosophy accessible, joins to discuss Albert Camus and absurdism. They compare Camus and Nietzsche, explore revolt versus resignation, trace Stoic and Descartes influences, and follow Camus’s move from solitary struggle to communal rebellion. The conversation also covers political limits, philosophical consolation, and tensions between analytic and continental approaches.

Patreon updates and plans for polls and exclusives kick things off. The overman, Zarathustra’s artistry, and contrasts with the last man get unpacked. Conversations range from Gurdjieff and Taoist archetypes to Buddhism, Spinoza, and Nietzschean affirmation. Topics also include music and Wagner, perspectivism and science, will to power versus free will, and debates about fascism and Schopenhauer’s influence.

In Marcus Tullius Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, he cites a story of Pythagoras, the man who created the term, "philosopher". His description of the philosopher is as one who comes into life not as a competitor, not in the pursuit of money or fame - but merely as a spectator, who observes and inquires into the nature of things. According to Pythagoras, this way of life is the best, by far; Cicero wholeheartedly embraces this way of understanding philosophy, as part of his consolatory project in which philosophy is seen as part and parcel with virtue. For Cicero, the worth of philosophy is that it delivers us from life's suffering. We will explore the background of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, and the Homeric convention of presenting the gods themselves as spectators. This analysis will bring us back to Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy, as well as some of the comments he makes in his later career about the theatric element of Greek culture, and the philosopher as a spectator, who "stands aside" from the world rather than acting within it. By the end of the episode, we will pose the question of whether or not Cicero's Stoic philosophy actually constitutes a life as spectating, or whether Cicero is just another actor on the philosophical stage.

A lively dive into ancient skepticism, focusing on Pyrrho’s life, anecdotes, and image of indifference. They outline Pyrrhonian practices like ataraxia, ephektos, and adiaphoria. The ten modes of Pyrrho and Agrippa’s five tropes get close attention. Connections to Socratic doubt, Hume, medicine, and the legacy through Montaigne and Hume are explored.

Devin Goure, public intellectual known as Left Nietzsche who adapts Nietzsche for left politics and mental health, explores philosophical themes in Star Trek. They discuss self-overcoming versus static utopia. They analyze captains as moral types, the threat of the Borg, the religious complexity of Deep Space Nine, and why newer Trek leans toward dystopia.

A lively comparison of Hume and Nietzsche on causality, free will, and habit. They trace how belief in cause arises from habit, projection, or moral needs. The conversation contrasts Hume’s allegiance to common sense with Nietzsche’s genealogical critique of values. It highlights differing motives behind similar arguments and explores how morality shapes perception and the invention of responsibility.