The Nietzsche Podcast - podcast cover

The Nietzsche Podcast

Untimely Reflectionswww.patreon.com
A podcast about Nietzsche's ideas, his influences, and those he influenced. Philosophy and cultural commentary through a Nietzschean lens. Support the show at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/untimelyreflections A few collected essays and thoughts: https://untimely-reflections.blogspot.com/
Last refreshed:
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Download Metacast podcast app
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

Untimely Reflections #39: Weltgeist - Schopenhauer on History, Love, Life & Death

Delve into Schopenhauer's philosophy of history, where life is suffering and the world is mere representation, leading to concepts like antinatalism and asceticism. The discussion contrasts this with Hegel's universal history and Nietzsche's amor fati and the Übermensch, exploring whether meaning can be imposed on cyclical existence. It also touches upon Schopenhauer's complex views on suicide and the nature of rebirth.

Nov 25, 202554 minSeason 6Ep. 8

125: Reviewing John Kaag's Hiking with Nietzsche

My review of Kaag's book about Nietzsche, the Swiss Alps, and the many other philosophers who have spent time in Sils Maria. Overall a good experience, but more of a beginner read. John Kaag provides a relatively faithful analysis of Nietzsche's philosophy in his book, which will not contain many new insights for the advanced Nietzsche reader. There are some interesting parallels he provides between thinkers, however, and some more obscure anecdotes from Nietzsche's life discussed. The work is p...

Nov 18, 20251 hr 8 minSeason 6Ep. 7

Untimely Reflections #38: Jimmy Burke - Will to Joy

The Will to Joy podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0iWF6YMMEriFZ0cE0xhnFN?si=e7ee705bb1814f89 Jimmy's linktree: https://linktr.ee/willtojoy Jimmy Burke just gave a presentation this past September at the Nietzschean Society, which met this year in Belfast. We discussed his lecture, entitled, "An Economy of Bodies", as well as his work in evidence-based behavior change. According to Burke, Nietzsche's insights have proven incredibly valuable in this field, and by drawing on Nietzsche's concep...

Nov 11, 20251 hr 43 minSeason 6Ep. 6

124: Pierre Klossowski's Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle, pt 3 - The Most Beautiful Inventions of the Sick

Our series on Pierre Klossowski concludes with a look at some of the later chapters concerning Nietzsche's state of mind leading up to his breakdown in Turin, what Nietzsche's juvenalia reveals about him, and what insights we can glean from his family history. Above all, in this episode, I wanted to reverse our focus, and instead of understanding Nietzsche's valetudinary states as a window into his philosophy, here we will consider how Nietzsche's philosophy is a window into his madness.

Nov 04, 20251 hr 16 minSeason 6Ep. 5

123: Rust Cohle & The Flat Circle - Philosophy of True Detective

"Time is a flat circle." This famous quote from the series immediately calls to mind Nietzsche's Eternal Return, but it's an unusual connection to say the least, because it isn't clear that we have a "Nietzschean" plot in True Detective, nor are any of the characters of the show Nietzschean. So, what then is the philosophical content of the show? In this video, I analyze Rust, Marty & the beliefs of the cult of the Yellow King.

Oct 28, 20251 hr 36 minSeason 6Ep. 4

Confucius: On Name & Actuality

The Rectification of Names is a Confucian reinterpretation of the function of language. Confucius is usually portrayed as a stuffy moralist, but there is an intriguing notion implicit in his use of language that borders on the postmodern. Confucius does not merely give definitions of things, but seizes for the philosopher the power to redefine names according to a moral end. Michael Puett, The Path (Talks at Google): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfnSTr6-1g4Hans Georg Moeller's Channel: https:...

Oct 25, 202531 minSeason 6Ep. 3

122: Pierre Klossowski's Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle, pt 2 - The Conspiracy of the Vicious Circle

Under the sign of the Vicious Circle, Nietzsche attempts to inaugurate a conspiracy. But how can this view of the Eternal Return - as part of his project of the revaluation - square with the "high tonality of the soul" in which it was first revealed? Pierre Klossowski argues, convincingly, that the Eternal Return makes all meaning and goal into an absurdity, offering a picture of a world in which nothing can be completed, and everything that is accomplished must be re-accomplished. Nietzsche's l...

Oct 21, 20251 hr 58 minSeason 6Ep. 2

121: Pierre Klossowski's Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle, pt 1: The Semiotic of Impulses

This episode delves into Pierre Klossowski's radical interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy, "Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle," which posits that Nietzsche's work is a "sign-language of impulses." It explores how Klossowski applies Nietzsche's own methodology to his life and writings, viewing thought as a product of suffering and the body's attacks as a form of liberation. The discussion covers Nietzsche's rejection of the philosopher-teacher role, his critique of modern culture through the lens of "health" vs. "sickness" in ideas, and ultimately links his valitudinary states to his concept of the eternal return and the disunity of the self.

Oct 14, 20251 hr 32 minSeason 6Ep. 1

Q&A #13

If you would like to have your own questions answered on The Nietzsche Podcast, no matter how unusual, niche, or rambling, then join the Patreon and participate in our regular Q&As that happen about twice per season. Season six starts next week!

Oct 07, 20252 hr 12 minSeason 5Ep. 55

The Gay Science #20 (IV.328-342)

The conclusion of the main books of The Gay Science! We'll cover some of the best aphorisms so far: the greatest weight, the dying Socrates, long live physics, and many more. Thus begins Zarathustra's down-going. Episode art: Nicholas Roerich - Zarathustra (1931)

Sep 23, 20252 hr 26 minSeason 5Ep. 54

The Gay Science #19 (IV.311-327)

More aphorisms concerning drives, the way that impulses appropriate thought for their own ends, "moral pluralism", means of finding happiness, pleasure and pain as means rather than ends, and experimentation as method. Episode art: The Two Crowns (1900) by Frank Dicksee

Sep 16, 20252 hr 15 minSeason 5Ep. 53

The Gay Science #17 (IV.289-298)

Embark, philosophers! Nietzsche hopes for the discovery of many new suns - many new suns - by the philosophical explorers of future ages. For what is needful is that man may learn to be satisfied with himself. Episode art: Fresh Breeze of Sandy Hook, 1860 by William Bradford

Sep 03, 20252 hr 9 minSeason 5Ep. 51

Untimely Reflections #37: PF Jung - Enlightened Centrism

PF Jung's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PFJung If politics is in some sense determined by our psychological temperament, then from an evolutionary standpoint, perhaps there is social value to both the left and right wing perspectives. And yet, centrism remains a dirty word in online discourse, connoting a type of establishment position that favors the status quo. Pf Jung joins me to discuss his philosophy of "radical enlightened centrism", which opposes the status quo while drawing on ideas ...

Aug 26, 20251 hr 28 minSeason 5Ep. 50

The Gay Science #16 (IV.276-288)

Continuing with The Gay Science, and beginning with book IV, "Sanctus Januarius". Here, we encounter some of the most famous aphorisms: For the New Year, Preparatory Men ("Live Dangerously!") and Excelsior. Exciting times! Episode art: View of Genoa under the Snow - Eugenio Olivari (1882-1917)

Aug 19, 20251 hr 56 minSeason 5Ep. 49

120: Erich Heller, The Disinherited Mind, pt 2 - Burckhardt, Nietzsche & History

The conclusion of our two-parter on Erich Heller, and the conclusion to season five! We discuss Nietzsche's friendship with Jacob Burckhardt, and how Burckhardt's view of history can inform our understanding of Nietzsche's divergence from him. We also consider Goethe's four ages of intellectual culture, and Nietzsche's echo of Goethe in his history of European nihilism, and how he comes to differ from Goethe, Schopenhauer and all his influences in his proclamations about history, in which the Ov...

Aug 12, 20251 hr 45 minSeason 5Ep. 48

119: Erich Heller, The Disinherited Mind, pt 1 - Goethe, Schiller & The Symbol

Something happened to the human mind around the birth of modernity: the divorce of reality and the symbol. Once unified in eucharist, the symbolic and the real are now separate spheres of the human mind, and while it initially seemed that art and science might benefit by this separation, in the long run, both have ended up poorer thereby. In this episode, the two-part finale of season five, we will discuss Luther & Zwingli, and their dispute about the holy communion; Goethe & Schiller an...

Aug 05, 20251 hr 39 minSeason 5Ep. 47

Q&A #12

Additional episode will release tomorrow. Erich Heller two-parter starts next week for the season finale!

Jul 29, 20252 hr 25 minSeason 5Ep. 46

117: Max Horkheimer & Theodore Adorno - Dialectic of Enlightenment, Part 1

Foundations of Critical Theory, and an exploration of the chapters, "The Concept of Enlightenment", "The Culture Industry". We analyze how myth and enlightenment both contain one another, and why enlightenment negates itself. We explore what this means in concrete terms by examining the culture industry and how the apparent democratization of culture leads to its dissolution. Part one of two.

Jul 15, 20252 hr 4 minSeason 5Ep. 44

Special Episode: Nietzsche Podcast Reading Guide

Don't worry, we're still doing Dialectic of Enlightenment next week, but my tour schedule and personal demands on my time (I'm moving) prevented me from finishing a full episode before departing for another week. Thankfully, I had this reading guide finished and decided to release it now. Back next week with a full length episode. Cheers!

Jul 08, 202517 minSeason 5Ep. 43

116: Nietzsche’s Inaugural Address - Homer & Classical Philology

Nietzsche's inaugural lecture at Basel, given in 1869, provides an insight into the young Nietzsche's mind. Surprisingly, even here we find the groundwork laid for his later philosophical project. Nietzsche takes on the issue, rather esoteric and focused on the internal debates of classical philology, of whether or not Homer really existed, and what this means the discipline of philology if he did not exist.

Jul 01, 20251 hr 34 minSeason 5Ep. 42

Untimely Reflections #36: Tony of 1Dime - The Neoliberal Zeitgeist

I met up with Tony of 1Dime to discuss the neoliberal moment in American culture. We discuss what neoliberalism means, why there is a general discontent with it, the advantages of neoliberalism, and the potential of a vision for a future beyond neoliberalism as it inevitably comes to an end. We also psychologically analyze the left and the right from the Nietzschean standpoint, consider how many of the alternatives are magical thinking, and finally discuss the history of revolutionary movements ...

Jun 24, 20252 hr 1 min

115: Martin Heidegger, pt 3 - Will to Power as Knowledge & Metaphysics

Heidegger posits that Nietzsche's "Will to Power" functions as the single foundational thought of his philosophy, analogous to pre-Socratic arche, and completes yet destroys Western metaphysics. The episode delves into how this redefines truth not as objective correspondence, but as value estimation vital for life's growth. It examines how knowledge, science, and art are all forms of "Will to Power" that give form to chaos, with art elevated for its capacity for transfiguration. Ultimately, Heidegger challenges listeners to embrace a deeper, more engaged form of philosophical inquiry.

Jun 17, 20251 hr 52 minSeason 3Ep. 41

114: Martin Heidegger, pt 2 - The Will to Power as Art

Continuing with Heidegger, we consider his first lecture on Nietzsche, "The Will to Power as Art", in which Heidegger gives an unorthodox but very enlightening reading of will to power, then hinges the second half of his argument on a passage where Nietzsche describes art as will to power's most perspicuous manifestation.

Jun 10, 20251 hr 35 minSeason 3Ep. 40

113: Martin Heidegger, part 1 - On Nietzsche & Dasein

In this episode, we begin a three-part series on Martin Heidegger and his reading of Nietzsche. The episode begins with a discussion of the background of Heidegger's life and ideas, as well as a brief tour of the content of Being & Time in which we look at Dasein, temporality, care, being-towards-death among other core concepts. In the latter half of the episode, we turn towards an introductory discussion of how Heidegger sees Nietzsche & his place within the Western philosophical tradit...

Jun 03, 20251 hr 58 minSeason 5Ep. 39

Untimely Reflections #35: Uberboyo - Politics as Neuro-Physiology

An Irishman named Stef visited Austin recently. We met for a discussion about the revaluation of values, strange brain experiments with magnets, Gnosticism and its relation to the politics of castration, the brain's threat detection matrix as creating the "hard times strong men" cycle, the possibility of neuro-physiological centrism, and how this all relates to Dionysus v/s the Crucified.

May 27, 20251 hr 53 minSeason 5Ep. 38

Response to Philosophy Tube

This episode is an upload to Spotify of my response to Abigail Thorn's "Was Nietzsche Woke?" video. This video was previously uploaded to Youtube. Watch me spend more time than the entire length of Abigail Thorn's video explaining why it is a superficial hit piece based on strained, bizarre arguments and outright false information. There are many "creative omissions" in Philosophy Tube's video, "Was Nietzsche Woke?": rather basic information about Nietzsche's life and his ideas is left out that ...

May 13, 20251 hr 9 minSeason 5Ep. 37

Wandering Above a Sea of Fog #4

I talk about philosophy & music, my history as a musician, my new album, and give some updates about the future direction of the podcast. Stream the album today: https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2025/05/slumbering-sun-on-starmony-an-interview-with-dooms-crazy-romantics.html Album comes out tomorrow, buy it here: https://slumberingsun.bandcamp.com/ Listen to us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7znYBHw9e9cY7KKbLXpUsS...

May 08, 202549 minSeason 5Ep. 36

The Gay Science #15 (III.176-III.275)

The lightning round! The final episode of The Gay Science book III. The 100 sections we cover in this episode are all rapid-fire, short aphorisms on morality, human nature, the social life, virtue, vice, really the whole panoply of human experience!

May 06, 20253 hr 24 minSeason 5Ep. 35
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android