hölderlin kleist and nietzsche the struggle with the daemon

Even those who think they do not worry about or spend time on self-identity are spending time presenting this very image to others. This often seems like time wasted on paraphernalia, talking about ourselves incessantly, accessorizing, obsessively finding out what others are doing, and constructing stories about ourselves to give other people. As one more example, strangers could ignore what you say about yourself or disagree and there was no network of family to back up what you say-strangers could ignore you with impunity.īecause of these new social properties of living in stranger relationships, we now need to spend more time constructing our identities and positions in this modern world, to get what we need. On the one hand, you now needed to try harder to convince strangers as to your place in the world and what you can do and what you should receive, but it was also now more difficult for strangers to check what you said about yourself so you could invent more if you were persuasive. In earlier times your ‘identity’ came very much automatically from your family and your life position, but with the advent of modernity (1800s), when the majority of our relationships shifted to strangers (non-kin), the social properties or logic of identity also changed. But identity statements can be checked so limits are usually drawn as to what can be said. It is not done for fun but is strategic, to position ourselves for making our lives actually work-to get the resources and social relationships we need or want for ourselves and our families and communities. Identity is how we talk to people about ourselves and show ourselves to others.

Hölderlin kleist and nietzsche the struggle with the daemon