"J. Barkley Rosser, Jr." wrote:
> The clearest statement of Nietsche's opposition
> to anti-Semitism is in his essay, "Nietsche contra
> Wagner." Of course, Hitler famously identified
> himself with Nietsche's ubermensch who would be
> "beyond good and evil." I fully agree that Nietsche
> would have vomited if he had known how his concepts
> were being used.
What exactly is the debate about? Why do we want to know whether Nietsche did or did not influence Hitler? Support or oppose anti-semitism? I'm aware of his 'presence' as it were in the thought of some contemporaries whose thought I oppose -- but their getting or not getting their ideas from Nietsche does not make those ideas more or less true. Ideas ultimately stand or fall on their own merits, not on their pedigree. If a *marxist* claimed that he/she was filtering their marxism through Nietsche I would examine that Marxist's arguments more carefully, but his/her assertion of source would not affect the results of using that source.
For example. I simply refuse to take the label "Stalinist" seriously -- even when self-applied. One has to examine the ideas so labelled on their own merit, not on the accuracy or inaccuracy of the label.
Carrol