Zamosc-Regueros presents research on Nietzsche

Gabriel Zamosc-Regueros, assistant professor of philosophy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at CU Denver, recently presented his latest paper on the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche at the 20th International Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society in Birmingham, UK.

"Zarathustra's Whisper: On the Warring Love that Leads to Pregnancy” is Zamosc-Regueros’ paper based on Nietzsche's work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” originally published in three parts between 1883 and 1885; a fourth and final part was published in 1892.

Zarathustra was a fifth-century Persian prophet and philosopher who defined the universe as a struggle between good and evil. In his 19th-century writing, German philosopher Nietzsche positioned Zarathustra as the protagonist of a poetic and philosophical saga of life-affirmation.

“I defend a new interpretation of the unheard words that Zarathustra whispers into Life’s ear at the end of the chapter, ’The Other Dance Song,’ that have long kept commentators puzzled,” Zamosc-Regueros explained. “I argue that what Zarathustra whispers is that he knows that Life is pregnant with his child. Zarathustra’s ability to make Life pregnant depends on his overcoming of the thought of Eternal Recurrence, which threatens to strangle him with disgust of man and all of existence, thereby making him into a spiritual eunuch whose will has turned into not-willing. Zarathustra’s overcoming of Eternal Recurrence is, thus, a precondition of his successful insemination of Life.”

A German classical scholar, philosopher and critic of culture, Nietzsche is considered by some to be one of the most influential of all modern thinkers.

“My interpretation of Nietzsche tends to deemphasize a prevalent view of him, at least in the English-speaking tradition, as a philosopher who was primarily interested in answering what are rather conventional philosophical questions of metaphysics (i.e. questions about the essence of reality) and epistemology (i.e. questions about the nature of truth and knowledge),” Zamosc-Regueros said. His long-term project of reading Nietzsche as a philosopher has focused on the practical and moral questions about the best way to promote human flourishing and freedom.