Genius of the Modern World

Episode
Nietzsche
Broadcast Info
2016 (60 mins)
Description
The 19th century philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most brilliant and dangerous minds of the 19th century. His uncompromising and often brutal ideas smashed the comfortable presuppositions and assumptions of religion, morality and science. His was a world not just bereft of God, but almost of humanity - breath-taking in both its post-religious starkness and its originality.
In this episode Bettany will go in search of the beliefs of a man whose work is amongst the most devastatingly manipulated and misinterpreted in philosophical history. Nietzsche’s dislike of systems and of seeking truths left his ideas ambiguous and sometimes incoherent. It was this that made him vulnerable to interpretation, and as a result his thoughts - which warned against the very notion of a political system like totalitarianism - were manipulated to strengthen its ideals. Vocally opposed to anti-Semitism, his anti-Semitic sister made sure he became the poster boy for Hitler’s drive for an Aryan ideal. Anti-nationalistic he came to symbolise a regime he would have loathed. His philosophical quest led him to isolation and ultimately madness but his ideas helped shape the intellectual landscape of the modern world.
Genre
History; Philosophy and Ethics
You are here: Search results (390)  >  Commentary - Utd V City  >  Commentary - Talking Point - End the Strikes  >  Commentary - Torquay V Huddersfield  >  Commentary - World News Highlights: Medal for MP  >  Commentary - London Royal Caribbean Journey Begins  >  Commentary - World News Highlights: Japan’s First Jet Plane  >  Commentary - News Flashes  >  Commentary - FA Cup Fourth Round  >  Hayes on Sunday  >  Westminster Council homes for votes inquiry  >  Commentary - Holiday News Flashes: Herne Hill Cycle Meet  >  Stun gun attack on student  >  Commentary - Varsity Rugby Match  >  Ross Perot in presidential race  >  James Goldsmith complaint - Press Council decision  >  Anthony Burgess on autobiography, work and life  >  Possible Government defeat over Maastricht Treaty Bill  >  Plans for new conference building in London  >  ICI profits  >  Empty houses squatted  >  Penlee lifeboat disaster reconstruction  >  Margaret Thatcher visits ICI factory  >  Mercury cuts jobs  >  Hugh Jenkins on London airports  >  Prince Charles on the youth of today  >  Noraid demonstration in New York  >  Our kind of town  >  City week  >  Teachers dispute over assessment and testing  >  Brecon Beacons Scout rescue  >  Jean-Marie Le Pen invite from Tory  >  Chancellor Howe on economic recovery  >  Murder of Lenore Gilbey - Lawrence Foye charged  >  White collar workers training scheme  >  Reagan’s controversial war cemetery visit  >  Decision makers  >  Wedding party snowed in  >  Businessman attempts to break flight record  >  Report on Peter Chimilovski, rapist  >  Education policy demonstration  >  Bethnal Green Hospital changes  >  Brecon Beacons Scout rescue  >  Margaret Thatcher on Bonn summit  >  Safety improvements after Marchioness disaster  >  Boy scout on record camping attempt  >  Loch Ness monster expedition  >  Front National rally  >  Kampuchean refugee special  >  Norman Tebbit on Le Pen visit  >  Irish Americans to protest during Queen’s visit  >  Salvation Army Blitz appeal  >  Obituary of John Lennon  >  Ronald Reagan at 40th anniversary of UN General Assembly  >  Youth unemployment  >  Copyright case over A Clockwork Orange  >  Three more pits to close  >  Steve Jones show  >  Ruling on teachers’ boycott of school tests  >  Channel tunnel to go ahead - Dover Chamber of Commerce view  >  Prince Charles visits Toxteth  >  Lebanese conflict - Israeli view  >  Le Pen won’t speak to Tories  >  Norman Lamont’s Mansion House Speech - Reaction  >  The Music Of Time  >  London pub fire leaves two dead  >  Margaret Thatcher at 40th anniversary of UN General Assembly  >  Inside Our Autistic Minds  >  Genius of the Modern World  >  Scout Movement - 75th anniversary  >  Genius of the Modern World

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Genius of the Modern World". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/225296 (Accessed 24 Nov 2025)