Hey /lit/, sorry for the pleb question, but is this a decent

I apologize for the gap between Untimely Meditations and Human, All Too Human. It is pissing me the fuck off.

>>8167437
Did you read Schopenhauer?

File: IMG-20151209-WA0017.jpg (22KB, 380x395px) Image search: [Google]

22KB, 380x395px

I'd start with twilight of the idols, ecce homo and zarathustra.

>>8167437

Read Plato. Then, start with Twilight Of The Idols. Probably Beyond Good & Evil or Genealogy of Morals after that.

>>8167476

This too.

Also, what is your philosophy background? People who have never read any philosophy always seem to start with Nietzsche, who is a terrible starting point for philosophy in general. Not trying to condescend- I suggested you read Plato first because you prefaced your question by calling yourself a pleb. Nietzsche spends lots of time attacking other philosophers' ideas, so if you aren't familiar with the philosophers he's writing about, you won't get very much out of his books.

>>8167555
What Plato should I read?

>>8167566

Hackett publishes a collection called "Five Dialogues". I'd start there. Read Republic too (Reeve and Bloom translations are good) at minimum. After that, it's up to you, but you'll probably want to read more. Plato is extremely readable and entertaining. Symposium is my favorite.

Nietzsche references Plato constantly, so your time won't be wasted toward that end either and you'll be in a much better position to understand Nietzsche's position when you do read him. Plato is probably the best philosopher to read to understand western philosophy in general, as many important philosophers are responding to him in various ways. It just so happens that his dialogues are a pleasure to read as well. Good luck!

>>8167555
OP here, yeah I've read the Apology, Euthyphro, Phaedo, Symposium, and the Republic. Are there any other dialogues you think I should get to?

And as to Schopenhauer, no I haven't read him yet. Should I just get straight into the World as Will and Representation?

>>8167585
bump

This is a great thread.

>>8167585
>>8168521
Other guy here. You have a pretty solid Plato background. If you want, you could read his SEP page and get a more well-rounded view. Otherwise, you should be pretty familiar with his ideas.

I am a Philosophy major at school and haven't read Shopenhauer yet, but I want to address philosophical background reading on a broader scale.

This is a generalization, but there is too much emphasis on background reading within philosophy. Consider if all of Plato's writings were lost. Only an idiot would say, "Well, we shouldn't bother learning Aristotle anymore." Nevertheless, we always recommend Plato before starting Aristotle, because it is helpful and you can understand how Aristotle is a student of Plato. Acknowledge background reading can help, but don't become a slave to chronology. All philosopher's ideas are critiques and responses of past ideas, but they also stand on their own on some level.

However, despite all this, Nietzsche particularly demands lengthy background reading. He loved Classical societies, especially the Greeks. So knowing as much Greek philosophy as you can before you begin will only help you. But this board is full of pseuds who worry more about arguing about reading orders and charts than actually reading. Just jump in the sea of Nietzsche and you'll find stuff you like and stuff you don't understand, and you can always come back and get another perspective when you have more background.

If you're a philosophy major (i.e. not trying to enjoy the style and prose of his thought primarily, but the philosophical meat) I would definitely start with genealogy. Its his most complete and "systemic" statement of the, for lack of a better word, Nietzschean idea in philosophical terms. Once you understand genealogy you will see most his other books are just rifts on the theme or prototypes of it, stated in more personal or literary terms. Other books are just taking the idea and applying it to more specific topics

how fucked am I if I read BG&E first

>>8167437
Preparation:
Have Heraclitus down, know Plato well, know the bible reasonably well, go over cliffnotes on Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Spinoza

Early Nietzsche (important for understanding and watching his core thought emerge):
BOT
Meditations
HATH
TGS

Core Nietzsche (nobody has an excuse to not read these two books):
BGE
GM
Zarathustra

Late Nietzsche (he had already blown his load by this point but these books elaborate on the core in interesting and worthwhile ways)
Twilight
Antichrist
Ecce Homo

Optional:
All of his butthurt works on Wagner (all of his disputes with Wagner should be quite clear by the end of TGS and these are just him explaining those more clearly)
WTP (not published and compiled by him, good stuff here but you cannot seriously take it as important to his thought other than as a view into his thought processes. Heidegger loved it though.)

Order should be chronological mostly, if you intend to read everything. If not pretty much everything important is in the middle period, his late period works are quite enjoyable since he loses what few inhibitions he had in his later years and was clearly nuts when he wrote Ecce Homo. BE CAREFUL about taking his aphoristic works as being fragmentary in nature. He has a grander narrative with how he arranged his aphorisms. He only used the aphoristic style because it was incredibly hard for him to write for sustained periods and because it tamped down on any attempt to systematize his philosophy.