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Thank you for this, I read Kaufmann's translations first and have always been troubled by the contradictions.

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So it seems from this that Nietzsche's version of purity is closer to something like the completion of Plato's caste system in the Republic rather than a universal racial purity of blood, i.e. a greater emphasis on trait selection in individuals than things like eye/hair color in population at large, even if the latter follows the former in the long run.

If the above is roughly correct, it seems that N's point about bringing in Chinese would be more to increase the load bearing capacity of the European producer class.

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Brilliantly argued!

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Araltes, can you recommend any translators that don't pervert Nietzsche's works in the way you've shown here? Is Hollingdale any good in this sense?

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When he says "sons of mother europe who can't stand it with the old woman", isn't "old woman" referred to is mother europe, not literal "old women"? Maybe its more obvious in a gendered language where Europe is feminine

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Better:

In effect, to translate man back again into nature; to master the many vain and fanciful interpretations and subordinate meanings which have been scrawled over the eternal original text, homo natura; to ensure that man shall henceforth stand before man as he now, hardened by the discipline of science, stands before the other forms of nature, with fearless Oedipus-eyes, and closed Ulysses-ears, deaf to the siren calls of the old metaphysical bird-catchers, who have piped to him far too long: ‘You are more! You are of noble blood!’

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Yes, 'Overman' is a monstrosity. The term 'superman' is best.

Hollingdale, however, is a poor translator.

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deletedFeb 6, 2022Liked by Araltes
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