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The Philosopher's Shirt

Philo Fiction: Nietzsche & Schopenhauer

Schopenhauer taught Nietzsche how to be pessimistic; Nietzsche then spent years arguing his way out of it. Framed as a Tarantino poster, the tension finally makes visual sense.

These two genuinely had this argument, which the poster format flatters. Everything in one place: tees, women's tees, sweatshirts and hoodies, made to order. One said the will is suffering. The other said use it anyway.

Questions about this design

What does the Philo Fiction – Nietzsche & Schopenhauer design show?
A black-and-white stencil of Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer in dark suits, pistols raised side by side, with the line Say national pride again. It is a gag with a real philosophical core – both thinkers held nationalism in open contempt, so here they stand guard against it together.
What did Schopenhauer say about national pride?
In Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life, part of Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), he writes that the cheapest sort of pride is national pride. Whoever is proud of his nation, he argues, betrays that he has no qualities of his own to be proud of – otherwise he would not fall back on what he shares with so many millions.
What did Nietzsche think about nationalism?
He despised it. He gave up his Prussian citizenship in 1869 when he moved to Basel, called himself a good European, and in Beyond Good and Evil (1886) mocked the nationalist fever of his age. In Twilight of the Idols (1889) he quipped that Deutschland über alles had meant the end of German philosophy.
Was Nietzsche an antisemite or a Nazi?
No. He died in 1900, long before National Socialism, rejected antisemitism openly and rebuked his own sister for her ties to the antisemitic movement. Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche later controlled his archive, compiled the posthumous Will to Power and courted the Nazi regime – which is how the myth arose.
How did Schopenhauer influence Nietzsche?
In 1865, as a student in Leipzig, Nietzsche found The World as Will and Representation in a second-hand bookshop and was electrified. He honoured his teacher from afar in Schopenhauer as Educator (1874), but later rejected his pessimism. Where Schopenhauer counselled denying the will to live, Nietzsche demanded a yes to life – amor fati.
What is Schopenhauer’s philosophy of the will?
In The World as Will and Representation (1818/1819) Schopenhauer argues that behind the world of appearances lies a blind, insatiable striving he calls will. Because desire never ends, life swings like a pendulum between pain and boredom. Relief comes through art, above all music, through compassion and through ascetic denial of the will.
Who said a man can do what he wills but not will what he wills?
Arthur Schopenhauer. The idea comes from his prize essay On the Freedom of the Will (1839) – we can act as we want, but we cannot choose what we want. Albert Einstein later quoted the line as a lifelong source of consolation and tolerance towards others.
What is master and slave morality in Nietzsche?
In On the Genealogy of Morality (1887) Nietzsche contrasts two origins of values. Master morality grows from the self-affirmation of the strong – good means noble, bad means base. Slave morality grows from the ressentiment of the powerless – it first calls the strong evil and only then calls itself good. He saw Christian morality as its most successful form.
Who is the Philo Fiction design a good gift for?
Readers of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, philosophy students, fans of dark humour, and anyone allergic to flag-waving. It is available as a unisex T-shirt, women’s T-shirt, sweatshirt, premium hoodie, mug and sticker.