Nietzcshe suggested for us to become like 'Supermen' by using hardship in life to strengthen our 'Will'

Watch the first video of a six part series: Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness (Part 1) – Socrates

This is the 6th and final post featuring a series of documentaries written and presented by popular British philosopher Alain de Botton.

This 6 part series is an entertaining, practical and psychobabble-free self-help course for the philosophically minded.

Here, de Botton, brings us six thinkers who have influenced history, and their ideas about the pursuit of the happy life. Here we have then:

• Socrates
• Epicurus
• Seneca
• Michel de Montaigne
• Arthur Schopenhauer
• Friedrich Nietzsche

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The following excerpt is from an interesting article by Donald B Ardell, who feels that we can all learn to develop our minds and achieve general well-being if we applied practical philosophy at the workplace and to our everyday lives.

Ardell calls upon none other than the iconoclastic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche to demonstrate a key concept in his own philosophy on overcoming difficulties toward finding total fulfillment in life: Read more…

That Which Does Not Kill us Makes us Stronger

I’m not worried about Swine Flu killing me like the rest of the world.   With all the scaremongering from every media source you can think of you’d think I’d be running down to the pharmacy to buy me one of those silly face masks.  I’ve already seen a few people in public wearing them and I’ve got to say they look rather bizarre and funny too – it just goes to show what lengths human beings would go to when frightened.

So instead I have chosen to follow the fine example of none other than the iconoclastic Superman, Friedrich Nietzsche and grow a moustache 4 times the size than is usual.

The German philosopher, Nietzsche who was filled with nothing but sarconic wit, subversive ego and tragic wisdom suffered from illness most of his life, but he refused to to be defeated by it.

Instead, Nietzsche thought himself as a Superman who can overcome his illness and overthrow every convention of society that attempted to subjugate his own “Will to Power”.  It also seemed to me that Nietzsche’s moustache represented his own philosophy of defiance and overpowering will against all odds.

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