Myth Salon with Dr. Jeffrey Kripal: Nietzsche and the Superhumanities
Zoom recorded on April 1, 2021
Dr. Dana White - Producer, Host
Dr. Will Linn - Moderator
Panelists
Dr. Stephen C. Finley
Chris Holmes
Dr. Patrick Mahaffey
Dr. Selina Matthews
Dr. Vorris Nunley
Dr. Dennis Slattery
Dr. Zaman Stanizai
Christopher Vogler
Description
The "superhumanities" are the traditional “humanities” seen anew through the altered states of knowledge that first inspired some of the most revered texts in Western literature and philosophy, none more than the late books of the German seer Friedrich Nietzsche. All of these late books, written in the 1880s, flowed out of what he called his “divine inner experiences” and for which he claimed different forms of deification. It was out of these same remarkable states that Nietzsche foresaw the coming “superhumans” or “Superman” (Übermensch) and wrote ecstatically about “eternal recurrence” or the circular nature of time and fate. Such ideas would have a tremendous influence on the twentieth century, including and especially in American science fiction and popular culture. Here, Jeff will argue, is one of Nietzsche’s most remarkable receptions and transformations, with the authors, artists, and film-makers themselves participating in that about which they are re-visioning, criticizing, and guiding: the coming of the superhumans.
Dr. Jeff Kripal is the Associate Dean of the Faculty and Graduate Programs in the School of the Humanities and the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He is the Associate Director of the Center for Theory and Research at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where he also serves as Chair of the Board.
He is the author of eight books, most of which deal explicitly with what he calls our “emerging mythologies” or “Super Story” around the the history of science, the philosophy of mind, paranormal experiences, and our shared ethical, political, and ecological challenges.
His full body of work can be seen at: [ Ссылка ]
Jeff Kripal thinks he may be Spider-Man.
