Credit: Nietzsche, by Edvard Munch. 1906, at the Munich Museum. Public domain.
Did you ever go down a rabbit hole in search of an idea, or an author? I just climbed out of one. This week I read (actually listened to) Nietzsche and the Nazis by Stephen Hicks, on Youtube. This book kept popping up on my search engine for a while and I ignored it (as many of my readers might be tempted to do). But, once I started listening to Professor Hicks, I couldn't stop.
Please note: Quotes from Nietzsche in this blog were taken from the audio book, and verified with other sources. The author, Stephen Hicks, reads the book in an engaging manner. It is presented on the CEE Video Channel
Nazis have been a popular point of reference for at least the last century. People are intrigued by how such a movement could have taken hold in a highly educated society such as Germany was in the early 20th century (and is today). Hicks offers us some insight into this conundrum as he examines the intellectual underpinning of the Nazi regime. That underpinning, he believes, may be found in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Dr. Hicks is not alone in making a connection between Nazis and Nietzsche. Charles M. Yablon, writing in the Cardozo Law Review, asserts that the Nazi (National Socialist German Workers' Party) regime extensively adopted Nietzsche's philosophy. Here is a relevant quote from Yablon's essay:
Nietzsche was...utilized by the Nazis as a source and justification for their ideology. Nietszchean concepts pervade Nazi propaganda, as well as the more academic work of Nazi philosophers.
Friedrich Nietzsche and His Mother
Credit: Original uploader was Sturm at pt.wikipedia. The picture was taken sometime in the mid 19th century. Public domain. In suggesting clues to a subject's complex personality, critics often point to the mother. According to the Paris Review, in Nietzsche's case this might be a productive area to pursue. When he was thirty-eight, Nietzsche wrote to a friend, "I don't like my mother".
The analysis of the Nazi/Nietzsche connection offered by Stephen Hicks is refreshing because the author does not overtly inject his opinions. However, it is worthwhile to point out that Hicks does have a particular perspective. He is a Senior Scholar at the Atlas Society, an organization dedicated to promoting the teachings of Ayn Rand. In reading more essays written by Hicks (yes, I did!) I noted that much of his analysis, even of other philosophers, considers the importance of the individual vs. society. This possibly reflects the emphasis on individual rights in Rand's philosophy.
On a website dedicated to the writings of Ayn Rand (The Ayn Rand Institute) one finds a description of her thoughts on individual rights/obligations:
At the foundation of a free society...is the metaphysical-epistemological principle that the individual survives by choosing to use his mind and the moral principle that the good is to pursue his self-interest and achieve his own happiness.
Given Rand's world view, which is called Objectivism, it is not surprising that much of Stephen Hicks' discussions focuses on the role of the individual in society. When it comes to Nietzsche and the Nazis, Hicks' conclusion is unambiguous: Both advocated for collectivism over individual rights.
Drawing of Nietzsche Near the End of His Life
Credit: Hans Olde (1855-1917), 1899. Nietzsche had a complete mental breakdown when he was forty-four, and was suffering from dementia when this portrait was drawn. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: "Nietzsche collapsed in the streets of Turin, Italy, in January 1889, having lost control of his mental faculties completely".
Hicks explains in his book that for Nietzsche, the individual, even the special individual (the so-called Übermensch), is not an end in itself. The individual's only value is to serve the greater good, the good of the group, of the species. It is the subordination of individual good to the group that Hicks sees as supporting the Nazi view of individuals not as ends in themselves, but as members of a group. This collectivist principle, in Hicks' view, helped the Nazis to formulate such horrific policies such as extermination and sterilization.
Hicks offers quotes from Nietzsche which express the philosopher's belief in the importance of group identification over individual rights. In Part 7 of Nietzsche and the Nazis, entitled, Nietzsche as a Proto-Nazi, Hicks offers quotes which demonstrate Nietzsche's 'biological' determinism:
One cannot erase from the soul of a human being what his ancestors like most to do and did most constantly....One does not choose or shape oneself significantly."
and
My philosophy aims at an ordering of rank: not at an individualistic morality
and
Mankind in the mass sacrificed to the prosperity of a single
stronger species of man—that would be an advance
Besides subordination of the individual to the group, there are other areas in which Nietzsche's philosophy supported Nazi policies (according to Hicks). Conflict is one of these. Hicks explains, that, for both Nietzsche and the Nazis, "conflict is the fundamental human reality...life is a matter of some individuals and groups gaining at the expense of others". Hicks asserts that because of the belief that conflict was essential, the Nazis could not live in harmony with other groups, such as Jews or liberal capitalist nations.
Hicks offers quotes from Nietzsche's writing that address the role of conflict in human interaction. Here are a few:
The well-being of the majority and the well-being of the few are opposite viewpoints of value
Hicks explains that for Nietzsche, conflict is a zero sum game with winners and losers. Two more quotes:
Life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange and weak, suppression, severity, obtrusion of peculiar forms, incorporation, and at the least, putting it mildest, exploitation.
and
Life always exists at the expense of other life.
Hicks offers us another parallel between Nietzsche's philosophy and Nazi policy: the role of war in society. According to Hicks:
The Nazis committed fundamentally to war as their primary means of self regeneration and dominance over the rest of the world.
He compares this perspective to Nietzsche's statement about war and the cost it exacts in lives lost:
All too many live. Would that a storm come to shake this worm-eaten rot from the tree.
Also:
The beginnings of everything great on earth are soaked in blood thoroughly, and for a very long time.
Luminaries of Pantheism, Venice, CA
Credit:Levi Ponce. Used under CC International license 4.0 Nietzsche has a great following. His picture on the mural is on the second row, first place.
After finishing Nietzsche and the Nazis I decided to read other sources that deal with the connection between Nietzsche and Nazis. Many sources do not agree with Dr. Hicks. These sources believe that applying Nietzsche's philosophy to Nazi policy is misappropriation. For example, Scotty Hendricks writes of the Nazis, (on the 'Big Think' website):
They adored his ideas, and anointed him as the prophet of their ideology.
And most of it was due to misunderstandings and willful changes.
Also, in an essay on the Princeton University website, Jacob Golomb and Robert S. Wistrich place responsibility for Nazi appropriation of Nietzsche's ideas at the feet of his sister. When Nietzsche was physically incapacitated, his manuscripts were in his sister's care. She, the authors explain, saw in the writing justification for fascism. She, they explain, invited Hitler to view the material.
Elisabeth Förster, Nietzsche's Sister
Credit: a Mr. Hertel. 1894. Public domain
Conclusion
I find Hicks' discussion persuasive. I have limited familiarity with Nietzsche's work, but I don't see any way around some of his statements. Nietzsche has contempt for humans. He wrote that the more people who die, the better. Frankly, it seems to me that much of what he wrote was influenced by his mental illness. If he had been less talented, less brilliant, we probably would dismiss his writings as antisocial ravings.
As for Professor Hicks himself: He is amazing. Catch him on Youtube in any number of discussions. He is always in full command of the material. I have listened to several of his videos. Ayn Rand's philosophy is a turnoff for me, but that doesn't take away from Dr. Hicks' brilliance. He just happens to have a point of view that is different from mine.
Nietzsche and the Nazis is available in hardcover on Amazon, for $17.95. It is also available as a Kindle for $9.99.
Some Sources You Might Find Interesting
- Stephen Hicks, PhD, Philosopher
- The Neurological Illness of Nietzsche
- Post Modernism Explained by Dr. Hicks
- The Impact of National Socialism on the Philosophy of Nietzsche
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