Suffering, Nietzsche, and Piz Corvatsch

- snow night at Piz Corvatsch

I've never liked Nietzsche, and for soooo many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons was his ideas that nothing really good comes without hardship and that tragedy can work as an affirmation of life, represented by this line from Twilight of the Idols ... What does not destroy me, makes me stronger. My own feeling, counter-intuitive as it may be, is that there are some good things that can be achieved without hardship (gifts), and that tragedy more often tends to warp and maim people.

But today I saw a post at Open Culture, Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness, that showed a video which begins with Alain de Botton climbing Piz Corvatsch, Nietzsche's favorite mountain in Switzerland, while discussing the philosopher's life and his belief that hardships make a person a better person, and I decided to give it a look ...



This video on Nietzsche is just one of several that can be found at Philosophy – Guide to Happiness about different philosophers and lessons that can be learned from their works ... Socrates on self confidence, Seneca on anger, Epicurus on happiness, Montaigne on self-esteem, and Schopenhauer on love. Enjoy :)