A Comparison Of Frederick Nietzsche And Walt Whitman

When discussing the concept of politics, many people’s thinking would not immediately jump to the idea of self or the soul, but would rather focus more intensely on the way we treat others, and the importance of small/large/no government systems. While both are of great importance to give thought to, philosophers Frederick Nietzsche and Walt Whitman challenge readers to think more closely about what exactly it means to possess a mentality of the self, and to examine the way it plays out in our everyday lives. Both authors are accredited with being highly influential thinkers on individualistic philosophy and concepts that are still studied today. While Whitman didn’t necessarily encourage the pursuit of individualism, he sought to educate others in the recognition of being individuals in a grander scheme of things. That, while we might all be separate beings, that we are all a part of the Universe, and that everything we do should be in correlation to the promotion and expansion of all living beings. Another strong factor of Whitman’s thoughts on expansive individualism, as expressed in “Leaves of Grass”, is that the way we discover and expand ourselves is based

The most prominent reference to the title is made in Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” a poem that describes Whitman’s belief system regarding the self and individualism. It paints a picture of a man “observing a spear of summer grass,” and continues to paint the dialogue of a man attempting to pin down his exact place in the world. The man concludes that his life is nothing more than a small piece of an exponentially larger puzzle, or in other words, nothing more than a leaf of grass. Whitman continues to return to the message that regardless of our mindset or accomplishments, that, though we may be individual beings, we are all just playing a small role in the