"Plato is a coward in the face of reality"

In the section “Skirmishes in a War with the Age” Paragraph (17), he is says “Species do not evolve towards perfection: the weak always prevail over the strong – simply because they are the majority.” Then he goes on to say in paragraph (18), “Everything evil which is the outcome of strength of will – maybe there is nothing evil without the strength of will.” And finally his remarks about napoleon in paragraph (48), “Napoleon was an example of a return to nature.” In Nietzsche’s sense he was progress. How would he tie these together or do they even tie together? The weak prevail over the strong, evil comes from the strength to will, if the weak are pursuing the strength to will because they prevail over the strong, how is Napoleon returning to nature? He even says that progress is “free and terrible” such as evil? Maybe I am misunderstanding him, but it seems to me that if he says that progress is Napoleon and Napoleon was evil and if he prevailed over the strong, would that make him weak – Contrary to progress?

And one of the passages I just had to laugh at was in paragraph (36) when he says, “The Doctors….they should no longer prepare prescriptions, but should every day administer a fresh dose of disgust to their patients. A new responsibility should be created, that of the doctor.” He has a good point here and it has gotten worse since his time, but to many people want others to feel sorry for them and so they go to the doctor to help them feel better and receive some pills to take. Many people depend so heavily upon medicine, when they don’t actually need it, should be told by the doctors to toughen up. and when he goes on to talk about death, I am not sure what exactly he is saying, concerning how one would die in the fashion he thinks one ought to die in.

Now that we have finished reading Nietzsche, I think he makes some very interesting and good points, on how we are prone towards following others. How people do not think for themselves, that we are a herd animal, and the “greats” that have come before us lead us astray. The philosophers who wanted us to think for ourselves in the past merely wanted us to think like they did. And his philosophy he puts forth is in fact – Individualistic. If one truly examined one’s self and believed something to be true for them self, that it does not make it true for anyone else but themselves.