ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://ljhammond.com/favicon.ico" /> <link rel="icon" href="http://ljhammond.com/favicon.ico" /> <style> tr.title{font:bold 10pt Arial} tr.bigtitle{font:bold 12pt Arial} tr.subtitle{font:bold 9pt Arial} tr.text{font:9pt Arial} tr.bigtext{font:10pt Arial} a.bigtext{font:10pt Arial} A:link {color:blue;font:9pt Arial;text-decoration:none} A:visited {color:blue;font:9pt Arial;text-decoration:none} A:active {color:blue;font:9pt Arial;text-decoration:none} A:hover {color:blue;font:9pt Arial;text-decoration:underline} </style> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Nietzsche, Shakespeare, Proust, Jung, Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, Schopenhauer, Ruskin, psychic phenomena, Kierkegaard, Ortega y Gasset, Eric Hoffer, Thoreau, non-analytic philosophy"> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Original philosophical writings and commentaries on the classics."> <TITLE>Philosophy and Literature: Nietzsche, Shakespeare, etc.</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR=white> <table WIDTH=900><tr><td align=center> <IMG SRC=title.gif HEIGHT=65 WIDTH=498> </table> <table CELLSPACING=0 cellpadding=0 WIDTH=900> <TR valign=center class=bigtext> <TD width=170 align=right>&nbsp;<IMG SRC="vere.gif" HEIGHT=197 WIDTH=140> <td width=40>&nbsp; <TD width=458>&nbsp;<br> <center><b><big>Manifesto</big></b></center> The Philosophy of Today is both a religion and a philosophy; it satisfies both spiritual needs and intellectual demands. It has given up on traditional religion, monotheistic religion. It doesn&rsquo;t believe in a Creator God, a Ruling God, a Judging God. But it also is wary of atheism because it believes that the universe is suffused with energy, power, mystery, even a kind of consciousness. Thus, it isn&rsquo;t exactly atheist, and it isn&rsquo;t exactly theist; one might say that it defines god in a different way, or calls god by a different name. <p> The Philosophy of Today is akin to Eastern worldviews, such as Zen, insofar as those Eastern worldviews are both a philosophy and a religion, and those Eastern worldviews are neither atheist nor theist (in a Western sense). The Philosophy of Today heals the rift that has sundered philosophy and religion since the time of Descartes. Religion has long been based on faith and revelation, while philosophy has been based on reason. But our religion isn&rsquo;t based on faith, and our philosophy isn&rsquo;t based on reason. &nbsp;<A HREF=cwgt/01.htm#1>Continue</A> <td width=40>&nbsp; <TD width=192 align=left>&nbsp;<IMG SRC="nietz.jpg" HEIGHT=180 WIDTH=162> </table> <p> <table CELLSPACING=18 cellpadding=0 WIDTH=900 style=border-collapse:collapse border=1 bordercolor=black> <tr><td> <table border=0 width=900><tr valign=top><td> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=2 border=0 width=454> <tr class=title><td> Conversations With Great Thinkers <tr class=bigtext><td> Most people today never become truly educated &mdash; even if they graduate from college. Colleges today emphasize vocational training instead of education in the humanities. Even students who focus on the humanities usually acquire only specialized knowledge, not broad education.<p> This book brings together the various branches of the humanities... <A HREF=cwgt/01.htm>Continue</A> <br><a href=covers/cover.htm>See Cover</a> </table> <td> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=2 border=0> <tr class=title><td> Reader Comments: <tr class=bigtext><td> Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of Int'l Relations, U. of Pennsylvania: "A unique and fascinating book, a rare modern example of philosophy the way it was written before professionalization." <tr class=bigtext><td> Dong Leshan, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: "I read the book at one breath, and liked it very much. Every chapter contains flashes of wisdom. It's the product of wide reading and deep thinking."<br> <A HREF=hammond.htm#comments>Continue</A> </table> </table> </table> <table CELLSPACING=10 cellpadding=0 WIDTH=900 border=0> <tr valign=top> <td width=300> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=2><tr class=title><td> Who's Hammond? <tr class=text><td> I became acquainted with philosophy and literature at age fifteen. Until then, I was interested mainly in sports, like other American youngsters. But when I stumbled across a world history textbook, a textbook that had been written for youngsters, the whole world of culture was suddenly revealed to me. The historical personage who caught my imagination most was... &nbsp;<A HREF=hammond.htm>Continue</A><br> <a href=http://www.ljhammond.com/phlit/2007-10.htm>My Journey</a> </table> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=2><tr class=title><td> Who's Nietzsche? <tr class=text><td> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#niet>General Remarks</a><br> <a href=cwgt/02.htm#10>On the Writer as Father Figure</a><br> <a href=phlit/2001-05.htm>The Dostoyevsky-Nietzsche Equation</a><br> <a href=cwgt/01.htm#14>Nietzsche's Break With Schopenhauer</a><br> <a href=phlit/2001-05.htm#3>Nietzsche and Freud on Morality</a><br> <a href=cwgt/14.htm#6>Nietzsche's Big Idea: Morality = Decadence</a><br> <a href=nietzsche.htm>More on Nietzsche</a> </table> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=2><tr class=title><td> Who's Shakespeare? <tr class=text><td> The conventional view is that Shakespeare was a man from the small, country town of Stratford. Many people, however, reject the conventional view, and argue that Shakespeare was the pen name of... <A HREF=essays/shak1.htm>Continue</A><p> <a href=cwgt/08.htm#12>Oxford vs. Stratford: A Short Introduction</a><br> <A HREF=essays/shak2.htm>Why Stratfordians Are So Stubborn</a><br> <A HREF=essays/shak3.htm>Shakespeare: Objective or Subjective?</a><br> <a href=cwgt/07.htm#36>Shakespeare's Worldview</a><br> <a href=phlit/2003-04.htm>Hamlet's Dark Side</a><br> <a href=phlit/2005-07c.htm>Shakespeare's Secret Son:<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;The Prince Tudor Theory</a> <tr class=title><td> Travels & Memoirs <tr class=text><td> <A HREF=essays/yankee.htm>A Connecticut Yankee in the Land of the Dragon</a><br> <a href=phlit/2006-09.htm#1>Ten Days in France</a><br> <a href=phlit/2000-10.htm>Two Weeks in England</a><br> <A HREF=essays/italy.htm>Two Weeks in Italy</a><br> <A HREF=phlit/2010-09.htm>Two Weeks in Prague & Germany</a><br> <A HREF=essays/nantuck.htm>Summer on Nantucket</a><br> <a href=phlit/2009-08.htm#8>Nantucket Notes</a><br> <a href=phlit/2009-11.htm>Yafei</a><br> <A HREF=phlit/2009-04.htm>Dad</a><br> <A HREF=essays/my-youth.htm>My Youth in China</a><br> &nbsp;&nbsp;by Yafei Hu and L. James Hammond<br> <A HREF=essays/baby.htm>A Baby From China</a><br> <a href=phlit/2009-03.htm>Caribbean Notes</a> <br><a href=phlit/2009-05.htm#2>A Week in Saint Martin</a><br> <a href=phlit/2010-03.htm#2>A Caribbean Cruise</a><br> <a href=http:phlit/2008-08.htm#2>The Inca Trail</a><br> <A HREF=essays/memoirs.htm>When I Was A Girl: The Memoirs of<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;Louisa Ashley Hammond, 1831-1912</a><br> <tr class=title><td> History & Current Events <tr class=text><td> <A HREF=essays/jfk.htm>Who Shot John F. Kennedy?</a><br> <a href=phlit/2004-12c.htm#2>Chappaquiddick</a><br> <a href=phlit/2001-09b.htm>9/11</a><br> <a href=phlit/2006-10b.htm#3>Jihad Philosophy: Qutb & Shariati</a><br> <a href=phlit/2006-03c.htm>Kristols, Neo-conservatives, Iraq, etc.</a><br> <a href=phlit/2005-02.htm#9>Leo Strauss and George W. Bush</a><br> <a href=phlit/2004-10.htm#2>Bush vs. Kerry</a><br> <a href=phlit/2006-09b.htm#2>The Weekly Standard</a><br> <a href=phlit/2006-10b.htm#2>Andrew Sullivan vs. David Brooks</a><br> <tr class=title><td> Quiz: Ten Neglected Philosophers <tr class=text><td>1. This American philosopher touched the lives of tens of millions of Americans with his books and his TV appearances. He deals with the major philosophical questions, yet he isn t viewed as a philosopher. As a boy, he visited the Museum of Natural History in New York, and this visit shaped his career. Died in 1987. <tr valign=top><td><form method=post action=quiz/1a.asp><input type=text name=answer> <tr valign=top class=text><td>Fill in blank. Last name is sufficient. <tr><td><input type=Submit name=Submit value="Submit"> </form> <p> </table> <td width=300> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=1><tr class=title><td> Subscribe to Free Newsletter on Philosophy & Literature <tr class=text><td> The newsletter (known as Phlit) is published every 2-8 weeks via e-mail. To subscribe, and to see back issues, click <A HREF="phlit/newsletter.htm">here</A>. </table> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=1><tr class=title><td> Search This Site <tr class=text><td>Enter text, then click Search. <tr><td> <P><FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="http://www.picosearch.com/cgi-bin/ts.pl"> <INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="index" VALUE="169963"> <TABLE BGCOLOR="WHITE" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 BORDER=0> <TR><TD> <TABLE BGCOLOR="WHITE" CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=0 BORDER=0> <TR><TD><A HREF="http://www.picosearch.com/"> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="picosmall.gif" ALT="PicoSearch"></A></TD> <TD><INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="query" VALUE="" SIZE="20"></TD> <tr><td colspan=2 align=center><INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Search"> </TD></TR></TABLE></TD></TR></TABLE></FORM> </table> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=1><tr class=title><td> Dispute With Analytic Philosophers <tr class=text><td> In September, 1994, I began using the Internet. I joined a group called PHILOSOP, which described itself as a "Philosophy Discussion Forum." Most of the members of the group were philosophy professors. <tr class=text><td> After I had been in PHILOSOP a few days, I posted the following message:&nbsp; <A HREF=essays/dispute.htm>Continue</A> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=1> <tr class=title><td colspan=2> Decadence and Renaissance <tr class=text><td colspan=2> (Chapter 12 of <i>Conversations With Great Thinkers</i>) <tr class=text><td colspan=2> Seven Theses <tr class=text valign=top><td>I.<td>Organisms have life- and death-instincts. <tr class=text valign=top><td>II.<td>Society is an organism. <tr class=text valign=top><td>III.<td> Society has life- and death-instincts. <tr class=text valign=top><td>IV.<td>When the life-instinct is predominant in a society, the result is a renaissance-type society; when the death-instinct is predominant in a society, the result is a decadent society. <tr class=text valign=top><td>V.<td>When the death-instinct in a society reaches an extreme, it turns into its opposite, the life-instinct. <tr class=text valign=top><td>VI.<td>Decadence, or the death-instinct, has now reached an extreme in most Western societies. <tr class=text valign=top><td>VII.<td>The death-instinct, having reached an extreme in most Western societies, will now turn into its opposite, the life-instinct. Thus, most Western societies are at the start of a renaissance.&nbsp;<A HREF=cwgt/14.htm>Continue</A> </table> <tr class=title><td> Feedback on This Site <tr class=text><td> See what others have said about this website, and about my e-zine (Phlit). Send your own feedback. <A HREF=feedback.htm>Continue</A> <tr class=title><td> A Philosopher's Notebook: <tr class=subtitle><td> Quotations and Commentary <tr class=text><td> Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. --Emerson <table> <tr class=text valign=top><td> <a href=proust.htm>Proust</a> <td>Passages from Proust, arranged by subject <tr class=text valign=top><td> <a href=notebook/emerson.htm>Emerson</a> <td>Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher, best known for his <i>Essays</i> <tr class=text valign=top><td> <a href=notebook/nap.htm>Napoleon</a> <td>Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), emperor of France; these selections are from books on Napoleon <tr class=text valign=top><td> <a href=notebook/ortega.htm>Ortega</a> <td>José Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955), Spanish philosopher, best known for his <i>Revolt of the Masses</i> <tr class=text valign=top><td> <a href=notebook/thoreau.htm>Thoreau</a> <td>Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American philosopher, best known as the author of <i>Walden</i> </table> </table> <td width=300> <table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=1><tr class=title><td> Realms of Gold: <tr class=subtitle><td> A Sketch of Western Literature <tr class=text><td> 1. Philosophy<br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm>Schopenhauer</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#kier>Kierkegaard</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#niet>Nietzsche</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#emer>Emerson</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#thor>Thoreau</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#carl>Carlyle</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#wild>Wilde</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#mill>Mill</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#leop>Leopardi</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#orte>Ortega</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#hoff>Hoffer</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#anci>Ancient Philosophers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#mont>Montaigne</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#desc>Descartes and Pascal</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#othe>Other French Philosophers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#baco>Bacon</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#brit>Other British Philosophers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#lich>Lichtenberg, Kant and Hegel</a><br> <a href=classics/cl1.htm#wein>Weininger and Spengler</a><br> <tr class=text><td> 2. Psychology<br> <a href=classics/cl2.htm>Freud</a><br> <a href=classics/cl2.htm#jung>Jung</a><br> <a href=classics/cl2.htm#adle>Adler</a><br> <a href=classics/cl2.htm#othe>Other Psychologists</a><br> <a href=classics/cl2.htm#psyc>Psychological Interpretations of<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Literature and Art</a><br> <tr class=text><td> 3. Literature<br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm>Kafka</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#prou>Proust</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#joyc>Joyce</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#gide>Gide</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#mann>Mann and Hesse</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#tols>Tolstoy</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#dost>Dostoyevsky</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#chek>Chekhov</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#oth1>Other Russian Writers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#ibse>Ibsen</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#shak>Shakespeare</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#oth2>Other English Writers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#mons>Monsters</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#dick>Dickens</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#hard>Hardy</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#robe>Robert Louis Stevenson</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#conr>Conrad</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#kipl>Rudyard Kipling</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#fors>E. M. Forster</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#lawr>D. H. Lawrence</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#shaw>Shaw and Wells</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#ches>Chesterton and Belloc</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#evel>Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#maug>Somerset Maugham</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#wode>Wodehouse and Christie</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#anat>Anatole France</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#maup>Maupassant</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#flau>Flaubert</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#oth3>Other French Writers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#thre>Three Spanish Writers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#irvi>Washington Irving</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#jame>James Fenimore Cooper</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#hawt>Hawthorne</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#long>Longfellow</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#poe>Poe</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#whit>Whitman</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#melv>Melville</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#twai>Mark Twain</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#hen4>Henry Adams</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#hen5>Henry James</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#lond>Jack London</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#hemi>Hemingway</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#thom>Thomas Wolfe</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#faul>Faulkner</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#oth6>Other American Writers</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#kund>Kundera, Musil, and Broch</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#midd>Middle-Eastern and Indian Poets</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#lorc>Lorca</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#pess>Pessoa</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#isaa>Isaac Bashevis Singer</a><br> <a href=classics/cl3.htm#anci>Ancient Writers</a><p> <tr class=text><td> 4. History<br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm>General History</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#burc>Burckhardt</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#huiz>Huizinga</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#toyn>Toynbee</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#anci>Ancient History</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#medi>Medieval History</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#rena>Renaissance History</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#amer>American History</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#napo>Napoleon and Hitler</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#kedo>Kedourie, etc.</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#goit>Goitein and Grunebaum</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#kenn>Kennan</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#othe>Other Modern Historians</a><br> <a href=classics/cl4.htm#biog>Biographies and Autobiographies</a> <tr class=text><td> 5. Miscellaneous<br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm>Ruskin</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#bere>Berenson</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#othe>Other Art Historians</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#tocq>Tocqueville</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#solz>Solzhenitsyn</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#alla>Bloom and Edmundson</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#matt>Matthew Arnold</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#max >Max Weber</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#thor>Thorstein Veblen</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#morr>Morris and Lorenz</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#biol>Science</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#rich>Richard Feynman</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#toff>Toffler</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#ries>Riesman</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#phil>Philip Howard</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#laur>Laurens van der Post</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#fraz>Frazer, etc.</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#zen>Zen Literature</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#tibe>Tibetan Wisdom</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#bash>Basho</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#jose>Joseph Campbell</a><br> <a href=classics/cl5.htm#love>Lovejoy, Kuhn, and the History of Science</a><br> </table> </table> </BODY> </HTML>