Perhaps you should clarify that the institution involved was "Temple College," a community college in Texas, as opposed to the better-known Temple University in Philadelphia.

I think that quote is old enough that it may have predated Nietzsche's death.

Hoosier and Nietzsche ist tot:
right on target.

Godel, Escher, Bach moment

I'm trying to get through that book now and it's killing me!

Oh, wait, no. That second sign could be seen as an endorsement of religion in a public institution, and therefore in violation of the Establishment Clause. Horrors!

Actually it's just silly, but I generally support Christians demonstrating publicly how petty and easily offended they can be.

Everyone knows the correct quote is "Nietzsche ist tot" Or so my pastor says.

The problem with Nietzsche is that the context of his quote is often misunderstood, and many people who bandy it about wouldn't do so if they understood where old Fred was really coming from when he penned it. I hate to quote Wikipedia, but [until somebody vandalizes it, at least] there's actually a good, concise description in Nietzsche's entry:

"Nietzsche claimed the 'death' of God would eventually lead to the loss of any universal perspective on things, and along with it any coherent sense of objective truth. Instead we would retain only our own multiple, diverse, and fluid perspectives. This view has acquired the name "perspectivism". Alternatively, the death of God may lead beyond bare perspectivism to outright nihilism, the belief that nothing has any importance and that life lacks purpose."

On another issue: Temple College is a public junior college in Texas. As a public institution, it obviously cannot infringe on speakers' First Amendment rights. Temple University in Philthydelphia (that spelling is correct, just ask any Steelers fan) is a hybrid institution that receives some state funding but is not technically a state university and remains under independent administrative control. Which would raise some interesting questions about the extent to which the First Amendment actually can be enforced against TU, had this occurred there.

Had he just replaced the Gott ist tott. posting with an abyss for everyone to stare into…

Godel, Escher, Bach moment


I'm trying to get through that book now and it's killing me!

Of course, that's how God feels reading Nietzsche.

I was typing something snarky about the ACLU and gun owners/Christers....but it wasn't really funny.

Good for FIRE.

Godel, Escher, Bach moment

I think you mean Godle, Esher, Bach. Try to be more careful next time.

"Nietzsche is dead" - God

Oh, wait, no. That second sign could be seen as an endorsement of religion in a public institution, and therefore in violation of the Establishment Clause. Horrors!

I always wondered what about "Nietzsche is dead - God" was so compelling to Christians. Did Nietzsche ever claim he wouldn't die?

More importantly, did God actually write a book announcing the death of Nietzsche? Did He hold a press conference? No? Then you're telling me a mortal man wrote "Nietzsche is dead - God"? So Nietzsche was right all along.

So Nietzsche was right all along.

Only if I freely choose that he was right. And I haven't decided yet.

Which sucks for those of us who want to believe, but don't. Because, y'know, I'd kind of like to think that there's some Greater Purpose served when I refrain from kicking many of my colleagues in the balls.

Insightful and hilarious.

...sucks for those of us who want to believe, but don't. Because, y'know, I'd kind of like to think that there's some Greater Purpose served when I refrain from kicking many of my colleagues in the balls.

LOL! Too bad it's too early to declare a winner of this thread, but based on the early exit polls, Hoosier's got a strong lead.

But from having read your posts on past threads, Hoosier, I strongly suspect your colleagues' tender parts will remain safe, regardless of the source of your personal belief system. And I won't go into the extent to which ball-busting (either literal or figurative) has been carried out in the name of various religions over the last several thousands of years.

Hoosier wrote at 11.6.2008 4:57pm:

Existentialism always confused me.

Me too, despite Hubert Dreyfus' best efforts in my misspent youth.

So if I were a professor, the sign on my door would be:

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.

And I don't even speak Italian.

Obviously, someone has not taken the time to read that passage in The Joyful Wisdom. For those who have never read the passage, but often use the quote, "God is Dead", without understanding for a moment Nietsche's intent, here it is:

The Madman

Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: "I am looking for God! I am looking for God!"

As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.

"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."

Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still travelling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."

It has been further related that on that same day the madman entered divers churches and there sang a requiem. Led out and quietened, he is said to have retorted each time: "what are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchres of God?"

Ooops, sorry for the double post.

But in the future, please translate Die fröhliche Wissenschaft as The Gay Science.

I never liked that translation, though accurate. "Joyful Wisdom" falls with a better cadence on my ear.

I've always wanted to have big-ass versions of the very seventies wood-block letters depicted on the cover of Gödel, Escher, Bach as lawn ornaments.

Actually I thought the rebuttals of Goethe and Jung to Nietzsche...

Goethe, replying to the "God is Dead" bit said, "What horror shall then befall the superman!"

Jung points out that in his experience, repressed sexual desire generally manifests as a will to power, thus at the same time negatively portraying Nietzsche and also applying Nietzsche's own question ("what does the philosophy say about the philosopher") with deadly accuracy....

... a quote or idea of Neitzsche's, but which spells his name wrong.

If you can't remember how to spell >Nitschke, then just remember that Ray wore number 66 on his jersey. That was the fourth number to be officially retired by the Green Bay Packers.

The thing I found most disturbing about this case was that from his email messages, the vice president of this college appears to be semi-literate. Look at what he wrote:

Temple College as a public institution cannot be represented as showing preference toward any religious philosophy/perspective or toward the opposite, being atheism. The same practice goes for politics. The decision to have the quote removed was that the quote can be considered very controversial and offensive to others.

FIRE also quotes a message from him that reads, "Simply posting a cartoon or note on a door that can be considered offensive, insightful [sic], and/or controversial is not a part of academic freedom and does not reflect well on Temple College...." A cartoon that is insightful? I suspect he means inciting, but I'm not sure. These are not just the usual email typos we all make; they are signs of marginal literacy in someone identified as the chief academic officer of this college.

It has always thrilled me a little bit when fundies quote the "Nietzsche is dead" jab, failing to realize that Nietzsche was saying vibrantly the same thing that their pastor banally drones on about each Sunday morning.

Good times.

He's talking about Chuck Goethe and Jung Li, they used to sit next to me in Existentialism 101. Chuck always talked that way, you should have heard him order at Wendy's: "Let us quench our glowing passions in the depths of sensuality: two frosties shall forthwith replace the vile sorcery of common fizzed water in those Old Fashioned Combos Number Two. Oh, believe me Jung Li, no human being digests the old leaven, these Combos are made for a god!"

Wow, I actually went to high school in that town (Temple, TX). I can say this doesn't surprise me very much at all. Thank God I got out of Bell County.

)
Locomotive Breath:
Let's imagine this incident if the Professor had posted a quote that said "Allah is dead". In the modern university it all depends on who is being offended.

Given the scarcity of Islam in east Bell County, I don't think too many people would have really given a c**p. After all, the nearby Baptist university has the Crusader as its mascot.

DON'T CROSS THE THREADS!

(It would be bad.)

In addition to being a great writer, Hofstadter is a great guy. I had forgotten to bring my copy of his book to one of his lectures, and when I mentioned this to him, he gave me his phone number, told me to call him the next day, and he would sign my book. He ended up signing a copy for me, one for my girlfriend, and piece of paper for a student in one of my lab sections, and then giving me 20 minutes of advice and stories about academia. I reciprocated by introducing him to xkcd :)

"The Gay Science"

I think Nietzsche just wrapped up the youth vote.

I'm fuzzy on the whole good-bad thing. What do you mean bad?

In any case, all this Walter Kauffman talk has me concerned. I read most of Kaufman's translations in the early nineties and, as my previous experience with Freddy were the early twentieth-century translation efforts, Kauffman has always been a hero of mine. Has he gone disco? Who am I supposed to be reading these days?

totally awesome names for Joy Division albums.

Uh, weren't you paying attention?

It's "Gay Division" on this thread.

yemesse bu amk


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Anyone want to bet that the outcome of this story might have been a tad different if the sign had read:

Allah is dead

"Eternal recurrence? Does that mean I have to sit through the Ice Capdes again?"

[Woody Allen, though from memory. So probably not correct.]

Such jejunosity before noon, Hoosier?

Hoosier,

My hometown hero Bootsy is likely the most un-jejune human being to ever draw breath.