ABSTRACT
This chapter extends the discussion of embodied reason and self-mastery by arguing that (1) Nietzsche’s understanding of “embodied reason” has important consequences for the modern classroom, and (2) the cultural tendency to preempt students’ encounters with educational struggles ultimately stems from a lack of understanding regarding the relationship between self-mastery and meaningful learning. Concerning (1), Nietzsche’s conception of embodied reason implies two areas of important educational work: learning to “think” and learning to “speak and write,” as he puts it in Twilight of the Idols. We are to learn to think, speak and write as a kind of “dancing,” in which we pursue with a rigor and discipline subjects we are studying. After this discussion, we turn to (2), which addresses a phenomenon in schools that can stop this process in its tracks: false pity. Nietzsche believes teachers must show a kind of pity towards their students if they are to become their highest selves, but it must be a special sort of pity that acknowledges not only that certain kinds of struggle and suffering are instrumental for learning but that the experience of self-overcoming itself produces a kind of joy that students can learn to appreciate in its own right.
