Transatlantic Wisdom Finale: The Meaning of Meaning: Friedrich Nietzsche and Wallace Stevens Redux

There is no “I” that sees in every direction at once. In the sixth and final episode of Transatlantic Wisdom, Michael Coyle and Alan Swensen return to Friedrich Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality (1887) in order to explore its importance in the development of modern wisdom literature, particularly Wallace Stevens’ poetry. Key themes include an exploration of the ascetic ideal in the Western tradition; the importance of form or genre in the creation of meaning; the differences between treatise, polemic, and aphorism; the tensions between having a systemic worldview and having no systemic worldview; the impossibility of achieving pure knowledge; and lastly the joy that comes in understanding that the absence of meaning provides human beings with the unique existential opportunity to be creative.