h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Nietzsche - A2759358
Author: eudemonia - U763255

Hi everyone. I attempted this analysis of Nietzsche's ideas on cultural deconstruction because as far as i can tell there is no existing article dealing specifically with Nietzsche in the edited guide. I realise its a bit lenghty but given the complexity of Nietzsche's work this can't really be helped.

On the contrary, it isn't lengthy enough. It's showing plenty of promise, but if I as a first year Philosophy student think some of the references could do with clarification as regards their relevance to Nietzsche, it's probably safe to assume that the Entry assumes rather a lot of knowledge on the reader's part. There's a reference to 'the evolutionary philosophy of Hegel' that isn't elaborated on; use of the word 'deconstructed' that I assume refers to deconstruction in Continental philosophy, but is thrown in without comment; what look like references to the correspondence and coherence theories of truth; and so on.

The Entry looks quite heavily interpretative; if, as the title implies, it's meant to be a general introduction to Nietzsche, it could do with more straightforward biographical details. If it is an analysis of a specific area or aspect of his work, then it would be best to change the title to reflect this. Either way, I your setting Nietzshe in his historical context, but if you're going to do that you'll have to explain the context more fully.

I think it's worth using lots of headers and subheaders to structure the entry. People are more likely to read difficult entries if there is a clear structure and fewer blocks of text. I'd also echo RFJS' point about assuming prior knowledge. The idea of the edited guide is that entries should be accessible to the lay person.

When deciding whether to make this entry either a biography or a study of specific aspects of Nietzsche's ideas, it might be worth bearing in mind the fact that many people read h2g2 for general interest rather than for research purposes. Looking at other entries on h2g2 about philosophers - Ludwig Wittgenstein (A1024156) for example - it certainly seems that mixing exciting biographical content in with the heavy ideas has been effective in creating an entry of interest to a variety of people.

If the entry is intended to be of a more biographical nature, it might be a good idea to include:

- Nietzsche's full name and dates of birth and death
- A few details of his life, such as where he was born, his insanity etc
- A brief bullet-point list of definitions of Nietzsche's most famous ideas eg. Ubermensch etc
- A link to 'Thus spake Zarathustra' (or any other of his works, if you prefer) at Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/1998

As Otto said, subheaders and headers will make the entry a lot easier to read. On h2g2 GuideML is used to put headers, lists, tables, quotes and all the other cool stuff into entries. Also, it might help to use the tag to break up some of the paragraphs with long Nietzsche quotes in (see the Wittgenstein entry for effective examples of this).

The <./>GuideML-Clinic</.> explains all you need to know about using GuideML. Just ask for help if you get into trouble

Anyway, feel free to ignore some/all of my suggestions if you want.

I'm not sure the bullet-point list would be the best way of explaining the ideas; there's quite a risk of oversimplification. Otherwise I'm inclined to agree.

Or don't add too much biographical stuff (just the main data, like full name and date and place of birth, as suggested above) and just change the title to something in the lines of 'The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche'.

In my opinion, the advantage of letting big biographical concoctions out of this Entry is that it will stay focussed as it is already. It'd also leave space for a more standard biography Entry on Nietzsche, that would deal with his person, ancestry, his relationship to women, his madness, his friends etc... rather than with his philosophical ideas, or teachings.


My 2p

HELL

Like they said.

Well written and interesting, but dense for a lay reader.

Sadly, this appears to be another of our "one day wonders" -- the author doesn't appear to have been back to hootoo since this was first posted to PR. Should we consider moving this thread to the Flea Market?

I, too, propose a move to FM.

And I do the e-mail