I enjoy listening to the Nietzsche Podcast and there is frequent discussion of Nietszche vis a vis the ancient Greeks. Is there a good, user-friendly podcast (or other source) for learning more about the ancient Greek philosophy, literature, mythology etc?

This quote lives rent free in my head. It’s so simple, yet so poetic and strong in its message.

Taking the death of God and this quote "there's no truth only interpretations" into account, It makes Nietzsche as the proto postmodernist, but then when he characterizes all reality as an expression of (Will to Power) isn't he resorting back to a narrative knowledge, aka a modernist position.

My question here is that is Nietzsche a full fledged postmodernist or a just a particular one, who's believes if we look into far enough, becomes a modernist again?

2. Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859–1941)

• Role: Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, ruled from 1888 to 1918 and played a central role in Germany’s aggressive foreign policy and militarization leading up to WWI. He was known for his nationalistic and militaristic rhetoric, which encouraged German expansionism.
• Influence of Nietzsche: Wilhelm II was reportedly fascinated by Nietzsche’s works, though his understanding of Nietzsche was superficial and likely influenced by Elisabeth’s nationalistic interpretations. He embraced the idea of Germany’s “will to power” as a justification for its need to assert dominance over Europe. This ideology reinforced his vision of Germany as a leading European power, guiding his support for military buildup and an aggressive foreign policy.
• Impact on Militarism and Expansionism: Wilhelm’s misinterpretation of Nietzsche contributed to the political environment in Germany that valued military power and national glory. His aggressive stance and commitment to Germany’s “destiny” fueled the tensions that would eventually lead to war.

3. Max Weber (1864–1920)

• Role: Max Weber, a prominent German sociologist, was deeply influenced by Nietzsche’s critique of traditional values and his ideas on the “will to power.” Weber was a member of the German officer corps during the war and supported German involvement, though he was critical of German imperialist aims.
• Nietzschean Influence: Weber admired Nietzsche’s critiques of modern society’s moral decay and used Nietzschean ideas to analyze the cultural crisis facing Europe. He saw the war as an opportunity for a kind of national self-overcoming that Nietzsche described in individual terms. However, Weber’s perspective was more intellectual and less nationalistic than others.
• Post-War Contributions: After the war, Weber became a leading figure in Weimar Germany and continued to grapple with Nietzsche’s ideas about meaning and values in a world he felt had lost moral grounding. He sought to rebuild German society in a way that embraced a kind of intellectual Nietzschean spirit without militarism.

4. Ernst Jünger (1895–1998)

• Role: Ernst Jünger was a German soldier and writer who fought in WWI and became one of its most famous chroniclers through his book, Storm of Steel. Jünger’s experiences in the trenches profoundly shaped his worldview, and he saw the war as a brutal but transformative force.
• Interpretation of Nietzsche: Jünger admired Nietzsche’s concept of the “will to power” and applied it to his understanding of combat as a kind of personal and national test. For Jünger, war represented the ultimate challenge that would create stronger, more resilient individuals and societies. He viewed the war as a Nietzschean process of self-overcoming, where the horrors of battle would lead to a new kind of heroism.
• Impact on German Culture: Jünger’s writing after the war popularized a romanticized view of combat that attracted nationalists and militarists in the interwar period. He saw Nietzsche’s ideas as endorsing a heroic, militaristic lifestyle, which influenced German culture as it turned toward authoritarianism in the 1930s.

5. Oswald Spengler (1880–1936)

• Role: Oswald Spengler was a German historian and philosopher best known for his work, The Decline of the West, published shortly after WWI. Spengler’s pessimistic outlook on European civilization drew from Nietzsche’s critiques of modernity and traditional values.
• Nietzschean Influence: Spengler saw WWI as a confirmation of Nietzsche’s prophecy of cultural decline and moral crisis in Europe. He argued that Western civilization was entering its final phase, and he looked to Nietzsche’s ideas for understanding this decline, particularly the idea that Europe lacked the creative, vital force needed for renewal.
• Effect on German Ideology: Spengler’s work helped spread the belief in a “crisis of civilization” that many in post-war Germany took as evidence of the need for a strong, decisive political force to restore greatness. This belief resonated with nationalist and authoritarian movements that would later gain traction.

6. General Erich Ludendorff (1865–1937)

• Role: General Erich Ludendorff was a senior German military commander during WWI who played a decisive role in military strategy and was a central figure in Germany’s war effort.
• Nietzsche’s Influence on Military Thinking: Although Ludendorff’s understanding of Nietzsche was less explicit, the military environment he operated within was infused with Nietzschean ideas of strength, power, and overcoming adversity. He viewed the war as a battle of wills that would decide the survival of the fittest nations, aligning with the social Darwinist interpretation of Nietzsche’s will to power.
• Post-War Ideology: After WWI, Ludendorff turned to nationalist and anti-Semitic politics, embracing authoritarian views. He and others in military circles saw Nietzsche’s philosophy as supporting the idea of a militarized, disciplined society led by a powerful leader—a view that would later influence the rise of the Nazi movement.

7. Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927)

• Role: Chamberlain was a British-born, German nationalist philosopher and one of the leading race theorists in Germany. Although not directly involved in the war, his racial ideology influenced German nationalist thought and was indirectly connected to Nietzsche’s ideas as interpreted by German nationalists.
• Influence on Nietzsche’s Reception: Chamberlain shared Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche’s views on German superiority and promoted a racial reading of Nietzsche that Nietzsche himself had never endorsed. He saw Germany as a superior nation with a unique cultural destiny, a belief he justified using selective Nietzschean ideas.
• Connection to WWI Nationalism: Chamberlain’s theories, along with his distorted interpretation of Nietzsche, contributed to a broader cultural environment in Germany that valorized militarism and national purity, both of which fueled Germany’s wartime ambitions.

Summary: The Influence and Misuse of Nietzsche’s Ideas

While Nietzsche was critical of German nationalism and militarism, his works were selectively appropriated and often misinterpreted by figures like Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Max Weber, Ernst Jünger, and Oswald Spengler. These individuals and others transformed Nietzsche’s philosophy into an endorsement of national and military power, which aligned with the aggressive nationalism that contributed to the outbreak of World War I.

Fear and intelligence. If it is true, as is now most definitely asserted, that the cause of black skin pigmentation is not to be sought in the action of light, could it perhaps not be the ultimate effect of frequent attacks of rage (and undercurrents of blood beneath the skin) accumulated over thousands of years? While with the other, more intelligent races an equally frequent terror and growing pallid has finally resulted in white skin? For degree of timidity is a measure of intelligence, and frequently to give way to blind rage a sign that animality is still quite close and would like to take over again. Thus the original colour of man would probably have been a brownish grey somewhat like the ape and the bear, as seems proper.

--Daybreak, 241

I sarted reading Nietzche's Genealogy of Morals, and I want to know if my interpretation so far is correct:

Nietzche thinks that 'good' originated from the aristocrats who believed all that they did and thought were 'good', and the values of anyone not an aristocrat, the poor and such, were considered 'bad.' Then later on, Nietzche thinks that once those aristocratic values decay (decay how? The end of the aristocrats prestige?), values start to and strongly become divided between 'egoistic' and 'selfless'. Then its instinct of the herd to adopt egoistic and selfless values into their expression, expression as in how they live life and act.

I'm also wondering if Nietzche considers herd mentality to be those who are both egotistical and selfless in life.

Lastly I want to know if selflessness and egoistic are necessary considered to be herd mentality. Lets say you know that egoistic and selflessness is herd instinct, but once you deeply evaluated where they origined from, as well as evaluating your own genuine values and what powers you, you realize that you are indeed selfless: that being selfless is what gives you power in life. So in that case, is one really following herd mentality, while accepting a herd instinct value but only so by critically evaluation?

I’m not sure if any of you have ever read Leo Tolstoy’s A Confession and other religious writings, but in one essay he critiques Nietzsche by pretty much saying that he is a weak individual who has a thirst for power over others. We know that Nietzsche was a genius, but Tolstoy was too. So who’s winning a debate between these two men?

“There are men who desire power simply for the sake of the happiness it will bring; these belong chiefly to political parties. Other men have the same yearning, even when power means visible disadvantages, the sacrifice of their happiness, and well-being; they are the ambitious. Other men, again, are only like dogs in a manger, and will have power only to prevent its falling into the hands of others on whom they would then be dependent.”

From The Will to Power

I see a lot of posters attracted to Nietzsche discussions who think Nietzsche was merely some kind of atheist hero or even the first atheist because of the "God is Dead" statement (they've apparently never heard of, for instance, Voltaire, who they'd probably agree with more). Meanwhile they espouse positions that are nothing but hand-me-downs from and misunderstandings of Christian morality. It's completely obtuse to think that we have a post-Christian morality because we let gays marry now. One could see concern for the environment as post-Christian and this-worldly, except that for a lot of people who care about the environment, the environment is a victim and so fits neatly into their Evil Oppressor/Noble Oppressed schema, that schema being practically a definition of slave morality (and, like all slave moralities, it's fantasized that the environment will have its "revenge" with climate change*). In general they're exactly the kind of bien pensant "freethinkers" that Nietzsche consistently denounces. I don't know how anyone can read even a few pages of Nietzsche and not understand that he's a right-wing thinker, and a challengingly profound and radical one.

*I'm not denying climate change