Don't Be a Slave: Nietzsche on Philosophy and Slavery

This episode delves into the deep philosophical contrasts between the concepts of philosophy and slavery, drawing heavily on Nietzsche's insights from The Gay Science.

1. Philosophy and slavery are diametrically opposed; one represents freedom and the pursuit of truth, while the other symbolizes conformity and servitude.
2. Even in modern times, where traditional slavery is abolished, societal norms and pressures can impose a form of intellectual and existential slavery.
3. The philosophical life is not just an intellectual pursuit but a form of living that asserts freedom from societal expectations.
4. Historical figures like Plato and Nietzsche emphasized the importance of recognizing and rejecting the slavish aspects of life to preserve one's nobility and freedom.
5. Recognizing the subtle forms of modern slavery is crucial for cultivating a life of genuine liberty and intellectual fulfillment.

1. Introduction to Philosophy vs. Slavery

Justin Murphy introduces the theme of the episode, discussing Nietzsche's perspective on the stark contrast between philosophical life and slavery. This section sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the concepts. Justin Murphy: "Most of us spend most of our days doing things for certain rational purposes. But so long as you're optimizing for some kind of external criterion, you're essentially obeying someone else's rules."

2. Historical Perspectives

This chapter delves into how historical philosophers viewed and critiqued the societal structures that enforced figurative slavery. Peter Attia: "It is only philosophy, which is roughly the honest pursuit of the truth, the highest contemplation of the highest things in leisure, which is a kind of cultivated, disinterested way of being that has no ulterior motives."

3. Modern Slavery and Nobility

Discussion on how modern societal structures perpetuate a form of slavery and how understanding historical context can enlighten current perceptions of freedom and servitude. Matthew Walker: "In the abolition come generalization of slavery, we rendered nobility more alien, more difficult to fathom, to even speak of nobility today. It rings hollow, affected many people doubt that it means anything at all."

1. Cultivate Philosophical Thinking: Engage regularly in philosophical reading and reflection to foster a mindset free from societal pressures.
2. Recognize Modern Slavery: Be aware of how modern life can impose constraints similar to slavery, such as excessive work without purpose.
3. Pursue Intellectual Freedom: Make deliberate choices that prioritize intellectual growth and personal freedom over societal expectations.
4. Embrace Historical Insights: Study the thoughts and lifestyles of historical philosophers to understand the essence of a truly free life.
5. Challenge Social Norms: Actively question and challenge the norms and values that dictate conformist behavior and suppress individual freedom.

For references, see Nietzsche on the Pride of the Philosopher in Contrast to the Slave

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People

Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato, Seneca

Books

The Gay Science

Content Warnings:

None

Peter Attia

Alright, what's up, everybody? Today I want to talk about philosophy and slavery, specifically the philosopher, in contrast to slavery, according to an absolutely fascinating section of Nietzsche's book, the Gay Science. I'm going to read to you some selections, but let me put it in context. If you read Plato, and I've talked about this in recent essay, if you read Plato, Plato is absolutely clear that you pretty much as a human being, have to choose whether or not you're going to be a philosopher or else you're going to be a slave. He's really dramatic about it and he does not pull any punches here.

It's a very extraordinary and aggressive ultimatum that he puts to us. Essentially, anything short of the philosophical life is essentially a life of civility. And if you think about it, it makes sense. Most of us spend most of our days doing things for certain rational purposes. But so long as you're optimizing for some kind of external criterion, you're essentially obeying someone else's rules.

You're obeying dictates from a vague, distributed system of social signals. And that's what most people do, even powerful people, even people who are wealthy. Who we consider to be very cool. And smart and who have successful lives, even a lot of those people, if you really look at what they're doing and how they spend their time and what they're working on, a lot of it boils down to a kind of highly embellished civility. It is only philosophy, which is roughly the honest pursuit of the truth, the highest contemplation of the highest things in leisure, which is a kind of cultivated, disinterested way of being that has no ulterior motives.

It is not holding itself to some external criterion that it's trying to optimize for it is only the philosophical life that is a free life. And so I wrote about this recently. It's very clear in Plato, and in fact, you see this everywhere. You see this in Seneca. We recently read some seneca in the community, and you see very clear hints of this intuition in his essay on the shortness of life.

Even more contemporary theorists like Bata is very interested in this sort of reign of civility, the generalization of civility that capitalism represents under the guise of freedom. Anyway, I recently came across a very salient and poignant section of Nietzsche, which I want to break down and really analyze in more detail because I think it's very provocative, but it really explains in more detail and from a unique angle what you have to understand about the difference between philosophy and slavery. If you want to explore the references or save this for reference, just go to the newsletter otherlife Co and I'll put a link in the show notes. But ultimately, the upshot is this. If you read Plato and Nietzsche and these great thinkers and you feel called in any way, if this resonates with you, you have to remember that you have a very different nature than most other people, and you have to constantly remind yourself of that.

You need to learn to see slavery everywhere, and you need to learn to. Be horrified by it. That's the real lesson of Nietzsche's observation here. We modern people have become too familiar with normalized slavery. We've allowed it to infect us.

And one of the first requirements to preserving what is most noble in your own soul, to protect and nourish your highest aspirations and the highest form that you're capable of giving to your life. One of the first and most important steps is to become ruthlessly clarified about the difference between slavery and philosophy. And that's what I'm going to try to drive home for you today. In the past, brutal cruelty made its opposite shine brighter. The existence of slavery increased the intensity of noble feeling among those who enjoyed thoughtful leisure.

Matthew Walker

As Nietzsche explains in the gay science quote, the specific cue which nobility had in the ancient world is absent in ours, because the ancient slave is absent from our sensibility. A Greek of noble descent found such immense intermediate stages and such a distance between his own height and that ultimate baseness, that he could barely see the slave clearly anymore. Not even Plato could really see him. It is different with us, accustomed as we are to the doctrine of human equality, if not also to equality itself. A creature who is not at its own disposal and who lacks leisure is by no means something despicable to us.

On that account, perhaps each of us possesses too much of such slavishness in accordance with the conditions of our social order and activity, which are utterly different from those of the ancients. The gay science book one, number 18.

In the abolition come generalization of slavery, we rendered nobility more alien, more difficult to fathom, to even speak of nobility today. It rings hollow, affected many people doubt that it means anything at all. And yet it does. It always did. It always will.

There are higher ways to live, and there are lower ways to live. Perhaps most alien today is the idea, obvious to great thinkers from Plato to Nietzsche, that the highest form of life is simply the free study of the highest questions. As I discussed in return to the. Future of classical education, Plato was emphatic. Anyone concerned with usefulness is essentially a slave.

It is only through liberal education, it. Is only through becoming a philosopher, in. Other words, that one becomes a truly free man. Philosophy, as the highest way to live recognizes itself originally in contrast to slavery. As Nietzsche points out, quote, the greek philosopher went through life feeling secretly that there were far more slaves than one might think, namely, that everyone who was not a philosopher was a slave.

His pride overflowed when he considered that even the mightiest men on earth might be his slaves. This pride, too, is foreign and impossible for us. Not even metaphorically does the word slave possess for us its full force. That's from the same item in the gay science. It is only in the modern world that we today imagine that a harried businessman lives a higher form of life than, say, a poor tradesman who studies Plato in the evening.

If slaves worked the fields, we would not make this mistake, because the poor tradesman studying Plato would more strongly feel the truth that he is higher, and the hairy businessman would more strongly feel the truth that he is lower. I do not propose that we revive slavery, but I do propose we become more sensitive toward the slavishness in our midst. Not for clout on social media, not through ridiculous charades of public outrage, but in that area where the most courage is required in our own lives, with ourselves, with people we know and care about, to be always removing those traces of slavishness within ourselves, so that we once again feel that a creature who is not at its own disposal and who lacks leisure is indeed something despicable to us. If we are unable to remember the distance between philosophy and slavery, it is no help or charity to ancient or modern slaves. It is not kind or compassionate to flatter and submit to slavery, past or present.

We should learn once again to recoil in horror at modern slaves with that almost otherworldly pride which is proper to philosophy in order to preserve what might still be noble among us.

Peter Attia

All right, everybody, thanks for listening today. I hope you found this meaningful. I'm super pumped to be back on the grind. I appreciate all the support and kind words that people sent me after some of my recent podcasts. Other life is now back to its roots as the weird kind of art project that it probably always has been.

Matthew Walker

Probably always should have been. I'm going to keep sharing with you the most interesting ideas that I find in philosophy, social science, my own explorations and reflections. And together as a community of independent. Readers and writers, we will continue to. Bootstrap this remarkable, unique network we have going here.

All right, that's all for now. Over and out.