Nietzsche and Runaway Audio Consumption
Came across this today. A lot of posts bring up the issue of "how much is enough?" or "when is audio consumption justified" etc.
Does this Nietzsche aphorism apply to audio buying? You be the judge!
Friedrich Nietzsche: “Danger in riches. — Only he who has spirit ought to have possessions: otherwise possessions are a public danger. For the possessor who does not know how to make use of the free time which his possessions could purchase him will always continue to strive after possessions: this striving will constitute his entertainment, his strategy in his war against boredom.
Thus in the end the moderate possessions that would suffice the man of spirit are transformed into actual riches – riches which are in fact the glittering product of spiritual dependence and poverty. They only appear quite different from what their wretched origin would lead one to expect because they are able to mask themselves with art and culture: for they are, of course, able to purchase masks. By this means they arouse envy in the poorer and the uncultivated – who at bottom are envying culture and fail to recognize the masks as masks – and gradually prepare a social revolution: for gilded vulgarity and histrionic self-inflation in a supposed ‘enjoyment of culture’ instil into the latter the idea ‘it is only a matter of money’ – whereas, while it is to some extent a matter of money, it is much more a matter of spirit.”
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1996. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Cambridge University Press. (p. 283-4, an aphorism no. 310)
I'm pretty sure @mahgister will want to read this one! (Because they speak so artfully about avoiding the diversion that consumption poses to the quest for true aesthetic and acoustic excellence.)
Exactly, the freedom from desire. Interested in acoustic without the material need of audio equipment. In other words, the sound of nature. The ascetic is seeking maximum freedom, freed of desire one is absolutely free, at least as free as a material body can be.
Yes, the burden of desire burns within rich and poor, the point I was making is the very same possession the rich man acquires without hesitation the poor man dreams about. Does this mean the rich man filled with less desire? |
Nietzsche and Wagner met in 1868 at a party in Basel, and talked all night about their common passion for Schopenhauer. They were close friends for the next several years; Nietzsche's first book, The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirt of Music, is in large part a polemic in support of Wagner, who was extremely controversial at the time. In a nutshell, Nietzsche "argued" that Wagner's music incarnated the vitality of the ancient Greek culture all good German Romantics admired, but translated into an appropriately German idiom. Nietzsche was an overnight guest when Wagner presented his "Siegfried Idyll" to Cosima (not yet his wife) at their villa Tribschen on Lake Lucerne on Christmas Day—her birthday—in 1870. The following Christmas, Nietzsche was again, and for the last time, Wagner's guest when he presented Cosima with his own birthday composition: "Nachklang einer Sylvesternacht"—which, apparently, reduced Wagner to laughter. This, and several other Nietzsche compositions, are available in various performances; three of his more successful brief songs were recorded by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. All of his musical compositions rank as juvenilia, however. What Nietzsche meant by "spirit" (Geist) is complicated, but in this passage it's not a mystery, and hilde45 has quoted it tellingly. A perennial issue on this forum is the relationship between a love of music and a love of music reproduction. The latter is the real focus of "audiophilia," for better or for worse. But the former is the "spiritual" reason for audio equipment in the first place. Pride in one's audio system is what Nietzsche is criticizing here; development of one's taste by means of one's audio system is what he is trying to praise. |
@snilf You have it exactly as I understand it. Under this formulation, development of one's taste may be problematic. What is in good taste to one is bad to another. Is there some objective definition of good taste, thus, good spirit? Also, in order to attain this high order of spirit, does it have to be cultivated, is it not innately within all of us? Does the mere fact of living in material world, full of desires corrupt us from ever achieving this spirit?
Is the audiophile goal of greater love for music and reproduction of music corrupted by the need for material goods, meaning the equipment, for achieving that goal? Does this mean there is direct correlation between quality of equipment and degree of love for music and music reproduction? In other words, the higher sound quality one can achieve will increase their love of music and it's reproduction?
I think that may be the dilemma. As audiophiles, I presume even those with high spirit, those seeking high quality systems for the sake of music, are continually seeking greater connection to the music. Is this a never ending quest? And if the quest is never ending is that a truly representative of this spirit N is speaking of? And speaking of quests in general, seems much room for destructive elements, even if quest undertaken for right reasons.
I"m not trying to negate what N is saying here, I do believe there can be an intentional cultivation or development of spirit. Just not so sure the quest doesn't corrupt us all to some degree. My other issue, as previously mentioned is the inherent divisiveness of attributing spirit to some and not others, and who's to judge it.
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I dunno if he was criticizing having affection for one’s audio system. Who here doesn’t? Rather, he said "..will always continue to strive after possessions: this striving will constitute his entertainment, his strategy in his war against boredom." Just accumulating stuff. People do that for a variety of reasons not confined to those the Nitty man includes, and that is the exercising of their right of freedom to choose. Should a moral philosopher wish to make this circular and convoluted and place constraints on what they consider freedom to be, then we have this discussion. Perhaps another thought - audiophiles actually serve a public good in that the constant desire for better and superior technology spills over into the general market place so that non-audiophiles can reap what others have created - to borrow a word from something hilde45 said.
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Well said @snilf !!! |
