Alexander Tille (April 30, 1866 in
Lauenstein – December 16, 1912 in
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...
) was a German philosopher. He published the first English translation of Friedrich Nietzsche's ''
Also sprach Zarathustra
', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.[eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...]
and
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in We ...
.
He claimed
Christian ethics
Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...
,
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
,
equality
Equality may refer to:
Society
* Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing
** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...
,
humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
and
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
were only the delusions held by the weak. Tille felt slums were good, since they could help purge society of the "unfit". He also thought disabled and mentally ill people should be left to starve, with food only given to the "fit".
References
*
Fritz Hellwig
Fritz Hellwig (3 August 1912 – 22 July 2017) was a German CDU politician and European Commissioner. He was born in Saarbrücken and turned 100 in August 2012. and died on 22 July 2017 at the age of 104. He died 12 days before his 105th bir ...
: "Alexander Tille." In: Peter Neumann (ed.): ''Saarländische Lebensbilder''. Vol. 4. (1989), .
*"Darwinismus und Zeitgeit." ''Zeitschrift für Religions-und Geistesgeschichte'' 14 (1962):143-80. cited by ''The descent of Darwin: the popularization of Darwinism in Germany, 1860-1914'', Alfred Kelly, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press 1981, , p. 107.
External links
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Further reading
*
1866 births
1912 deaths
German male writers
Translators of Friedrich Nietzsche
{{Germany-philosopher-stub