In this long episode we ask the question: what in the intellectualism of the early 20th century may have contributed to the climate that led to WW1? After reading Losurdo’s long book about Nietzsche, Justin does a deep dive into Nietzschean thinking about Great Men and genius and mediocrity; Dave covers militarism and nationalism; Justin comes back with some history on the 2nd International and the widespread belief in the inevitability of socialism; and we talk about the dual beliefs that war was inevitable and that war was impossible — and how they both contributed to the war happening.
