Monday, August 22, 2016

A Book For No One vs. A Book for Any One

The subtitle of Thus Spoke Zarathustra is translated by Hollingdale as "A Book for Everyone and No One", and by Kaufmann as "A Book for All and None".  The subtle distinction that is perhaps greatly significant is that "no one" more precisely continues the anti-Atomist theme introduced in The Gay Science, in which Zarathustra first appears, than does "none".  It, thus, more precisely establishes a counterpoint to the Meditations, the proto-Atomist book of Modern Philosophy, which can be correspondingly subtitled as a "Book for Any One".  For, while Descartes' protagonist, an anonymous I--someone sitting in a chair in front of a fire, not to be confused with Descartes at a desk, writing--isolates himself from Life, Nietzsche's submerges himself in it, and, overcoming his personal prejudice, affirms fellowship with even mediocre humans.

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