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Zarathustra

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  1. Firstly: As others have mentioned here, is it translated by Kaufmann? A lot of the other translators excel at awkwardifying and losing a lot of Nietzsche's wordplay. I know Kaufmann's has a little pre-part summary of every section with commentary and what-not -- very helpful. It's not a book that should be read for the sake of saying you read it...that's for sure. Take your time with it and go for a reread or two -- while Nietzsche is not "gallstone" material by any means he loves (especially in Zarathustra) to use long poetical language that expounds artificial meanings totally contrary to the deeper intention of his writing. In other words, the kraut has some fun showing off his rhetorical skills by being intentionally difficult and (at least in the German) witty. 'Beyond Good and Evil' is often been said to be Zarathustra but in a different style, so go on to that and then return to it later. Also: After becoming more familiar with his works pick up "On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo". Genealogy is very essayish and much more straightforward, and Ecce Homo is a very nice autobiographicaly work that gives a more unifying perspective between his later works. Make sure it's Kaufmann too!
  2. Yes, given your stimuli and the way his brain has been making connections with regards to its environment it made the 'decision'. Cause-->Effect. Nope, it was all laws of physics fundamentally, but they were 'his' matter so however you look at it. Maybe his particles decided to act a certain way, of course it's the only way they can. Same as first answer... Of course. But just because we can't calculate all the information he was composed of at that instant and give a probablistic determination of his exact course of action due to the uncertainty principle doesn't mean we should invoke magic. He did this also, he(his particles) 'decided' the only way they know how: according to physical laws, albeit giving a very complex result given the sheer number and various connections they have with one another. A loose pattern of condensed energy. There is no choice but to be what you are, and I mean that quite literally...in fact, only literally.
  3. Both determinism and indeterminism disimply free will. Whether the processes that compose us act in accordance to strict physical laws (determinism) or completely randomized events (indeterminism) the fact remains that we cannot control that which composes the faculties of our conciousness. Whether the dice fall according to predictable laws or in a completely arbitrarily dynamic fashion doesn't change the fact that we don't throw the dice, they throw themselves.
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