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The Nietzsche Podcast

The Nietzsche Podcast

Untimely Reflections 266 Episodes Aug 18, 2026

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. A few collected essays and thoughts are available on a blog.

Episodes

145: The Religion of Self-Redemption (Nietzsche vs Buddhism, pt. 1)
145: The Religion of Self-Redemption (Nietzsche vs Buddhism, pt. 1) Aug 18, 2026 01:53:08 Welcome back to The Nietzsche Podcast, Season Seven! We're beginning with a two-part episode concerning Nietzsche's view of Buddhism. This episode, we will consider some of the basic teachings of Buddhism, and explore why Nietzsche viewed Buddhism with admiration. A repeated refrain in The Antichrist concerns Buddhism's superiority over Christianity. Why is it that Nietzsche considered
Q&A #16
Q&A #16 Aug 11, 2026 02:51:16 Season seven begins soon! For now, enjoy a selection of fascinating questions.
The Gay Science #25 (V.372-393)
The Gay Science #25 (V.372-393) Aug 4, 2026 01:51:26 We've finally arrived at the conclusion of The Gay Science. The theme of these final sections is perspectivism - we have opened up a "new infinite", penetrating beyond narrow, limited views of the world that have always made grand claims to universalism but have only ever trapped us in dogmatic certainties. Nietzsche sums up his new affirmative attitude as a quest for "the great
The Gay Science #24 (V.364-371)
The Gay Science #24 (V.364-371) Jul 28, 2026 01:37:17 We incomprehensible ones - how our thought branches in every direction, how willing we are to shed our bark, to grow, to change! In this episode, we discuss, among many other sections, important passages such as "What is Romanticism" - in which Nietzsche explains how he departed from the romantic pessimism of Wagner and Schopenhauer. He opposes the theater to music, fully breaking with h
The Gay Science #23 (V.356-363)
The Gay Science #23 (V.356-363) Jul 21, 2026 02:21:37 In this chapter of our readthrough, we confront "the problem of the actor". Nietzsche predicts that things shall become ever more "artistic" in Europe, as the actor's talent self-falsification becomes developed in all members of society. Whereas in the Middle Ages, the individual was bound to his role as an unchangeable identity, the modern person picks up and discards roles: he gives the appearan
The Gay Science #22 (V.348-355)
The Gay Science #22 (V.348-355) Jul 14, 2026 01:54:33 The grand experiment continues with a series of naturalistic explanations for the origins of ideas or modes of life. The scholar's intellectual habits are inherited "in blood and instinct"; Spinoza's philosophy is sourced to his sickliness; Darwinian theories of evolution are a product of the "musty air" of English overpopulation; religious and moralistic perspectives a
The Gay Science #21 (V.343-347)
The Gay Science #21 (V.343-347) Jul 7, 2026 02:05:55 "You tremble, carcass?" After a long hiatus, we shall now fearlessly embark upon book V of The Gay Science, added to the text in 1887. In this final division of the text, we'll see Nietzsche's attempt to incorporate his late philosophy, as the conclusion of his middle period meditations. Some of the hardest-hitting sections in the book appear here. Join me on this quixotic journe
Q&A #15
Q&A #15 Jun 30, 2026 02:49:52 You know what it is. Questions get answered. The Gay Science readthrough begins in a week's time.
144: Georges Bataille, part 2 - 1944 Diaries
144: Georges Bataille, part 2 - 1944 Diaries Jun 23, 2026 01:44:22 "You, whoever you are, reading me - take your own chance. Just as, at the moment of writing, I gamble with you." The much-awaited conclusion to season six is here! The year is 1944, and we follow Georges Bataille through the months of February to August as he recounts the end of the Nazi occupation of France, while writing of his daily encounters, his inner experiences, first-hand accoun
143: Georges Bataille, part 1 - On Nietzsche
143: Georges Bataille, part 1 - On Nietzsche Jun 16, 2026 01:54:09 The two-part conclusion of season six begins. We're delving into the work of Georges Bataille, with a focus on his book, "On Nietzsche". Bataille is one of the most interesting intellectual nodes of 20th century philosophy. For a long time, his work was obscure in the English-speaking world, often eclipsed by those he influenced, such as Derrida and Foucault. However, among the postm
Untimely Reflections #46: Stuart Kendall - On Georges Bataille
Untimely Reflections #46: Stuart Kendall - On Georges Bataille Jun 9, 2026 01:20:10 Today, I'm speaking with independent scholar, translator, and lecturer, Stuart Kendall. Stuart is responsible for helping to bring new translations of Georges Bataille's work into English, and he joined me for a conversation about Georges Bataille and his influence from Friedrich Nietzsche. We discussed the notion of expenditure, the metaphor of the potlach, the will to chance, war as a
142: Commands, Symbols & Games - Nietzsche, Cassirer & Wittgenstein on Language
142: Commands, Symbols & Games - Nietzsche, Cassirer & Wittgenstein on Language Jun 2, 2026 01:37:07 In this episode we're going to explore three very different thinkers who nonetheless converge on their theories of language. We're going to see if we can't extract an intelligible whole out of the ideas generated by this trio: the Nietzschean theory of language as command, the view of Cassirer that man is a symbolic animal, and Wittgenstein's concept of the language-game.

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