Mustaches and Insanity: a photo essay

[NWC]

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844, presumably with no mustache. As he grew older, he developed his thoughts, and as his philosophy grew, so did his mustache. And, as we all know, his insanity. By the time he died in 1900, his mustache was as great as the pain in his eyes.


Nietzsche at age 16



Age 20, a strapping young man

He had just started to study theology, but quit after a semester, denouncing his Christian faith.


An undated photo that I would place around age 25, he's fairly handsome with that controlled mustache.



Nietzsche, a 31 year old philology professor

His mustache is at this point considerable, but not necessarily excessive. His stare is fixed but we don't yet see the pain.


Friedrich Nietzsche went insane in 1989, at the young age of 45. He is said to have collapsed on the street after throwing his arms around a horse to protect it from being whipped. This undated portrait shows a man with an enormous mustache and a stare that is haunting if you've seen a similar stare in the mirror.



Nietzsche at 54, a year before his death


He would suffer a stroke that year and another the next, leaving him unable to speak or walk.


I present you this short piece with a mixture of humoristic appreciation and melancholy. I have a deep respect for the work of Nietzsche, and I have an insatiable interest in the role that insanity plays in the world of philosophy.

This also is slightly personal, as there was a short, painful, yet positively transformative period of my life where my mustache was touching my bottom lip.

RIP Nietzsche, je vous remercie pour tout ce que vous nous avez donné.


Edit: shit, I meant to put this in Bring and Brag, can someone move it for me? thanks

[Doktor Howl]

Done.

Also, this explains LMNO's recent shennanigans.

[Jasper]

I never would have made that connection.  Moustache size really does correlate in some way to degree of insanity.

[Doktor Howl]

I never would have made that connection.  Moustache size really does correlate in some way to degree of insanity.

Yes.  This explains why LMNO got a lifetime ban at the Y.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The moustache improved his appearance greatly, I must say.

Also, Mario has that stare. Oh dear.

[P3nT4gR4m]

This is the post of the motherfucken decade! 

[NWC]

A small supplement before I sleep. Three clean-shaven philosophers whose eyes are very telling. We'll go from least to most painful.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty - influential phenomenologist who died suddenly at age 53 of a stroke. I feel like has he lived another 20 years he would've been bigger than Sartre. His philosophy is beautiful, to me at least, but there's a sadness in his eyes.



Ludwig Wittgenstein - hugely influential 20th century philosopher:

He was reportedly suicidal his entire life. However he died of cancer, his last words being  "Tell them I've had a wonderful life".

Jean Améry - 20th century philosopher/author basing most of his works on a phenomenological perspective.

His story is amazing. He was an Austrian who went to Belgium to fight the Nazis during WWII. The Belgians heard him speaking German, and deported him to France, where he was put in a camp. He escaped that camp, went back to Belgium, and continued to fight against the Germans until he was captured. He was tortured by the Gestapo as a political prisoner before being sent to Auschwitz, where he stayed for a year before it was liberated by the British. He changed his name from the original Hans Meyer to Jean Améry, and he wrote an influential book about his experience. Among others, he wrote 2 books which interest me, one which I've read and loved, and the other I will read when I have time. The one I've read is On Aging: revolt and resignation("Du vieillissement: révolte et résignation" cos I'm reading it in French), and the other one is about suicide, which I'm very curious about because he committed suicide 2 years later.




Dunno why I'm so interested in photographs of philosophers.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Wittgenstein! 

[P3nT4gR4m]

Me too! 

[Doktor Howl]

That middle picture is Richter.

You can't fool me.

[Jasper]

Oh, hey.  It is.  Hey Richter!

[cena2020]

1. I would like to meet Bill Gates to discuss how he built Microsoft, and learn why Microsoft is so successful

2. I would like to meet Steve Wozniak to learn how he came up with the ideas for a personal computer before anyone else.

3. I would like to meet Carol Burnett, and ask her how she has gained so much commercial success, when most other entertainers fail. How much of her success is pure luck, how much is being in the right place at the right time, how much is hard work, and how much is knowing people in the industry?

4. I would like to meet Bill Cosby. He grew up very poor. His father was in the navy, and was away for months at a time. This is a recipe for failure, but Bill Cosby overcame this adversity. I would like to know how he was able to succeed while so many other people in the same predicament dropped out of school and ended up in prison or ended up as alcoholics..

5. I would like to meet Dr. Jonas Salk to ask him how he came up with the idea that polio is a nerve disease. Most other researchers in his time were studying muscles. I would like to learn how Salk figured out how to develop the polio vaccine.



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