HOW TO AVOID GETTING KILLED BY A STATUE: SOME LESSONS ON TEACHING AND LYING FROM NIETZSCHE'S THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA. Issue 60 (2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dalton, Stuart
• Is Part Of: Think. Volume 21:Issue 60(2022)
• Page Start: 79
• Page End: 90
• Publication Date: 2022
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; 105
• DOI: 10.1017/S147717562100035X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1477-1756

Abstract

Abstract : In Thus Spoke Zarathustra Nietzsche explores the nature of teaching and learning and concludes that a teacher can do more harm than good in a student's life if she allows her students to become her 'disciples'. A disciple assigns too much authority to a teacher and thus loses the ability to think independently; this is what Zarathustra means when he warns his students, 'Beware that you are not killed by a statue!' In this article I argue that Zarathustra's solution to this problem is to undermine his own authority by performing several different variations of the Liar's Paradox in parts 2 and 3 of Thus Spoke Zarathustra.