Somebody asked me the other day if I knew of Nietzsche’s cow. I stopped, I thought and I couldn’t remember Nietzsche ever having a cow – just a town named after a cow in Zarathustra [die bunte Kuh]. So I answered, “huh? Nietzsche and a cow?” To which I was pointed towards Nietzsche’s Untimely Meditations [Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben]. Nietzshe’s cow represents the power of forgetting. To all of those philosophers and scientists who are worried about taking the next step, about making concrete progress, Nietzsche presents a cow. The cow forgets and forgetting births the possibility of creating something new, of becoming individual.
I forgot about Nietzsche’s cow, which has me convinced that I remembered him all the more. Convenient!
p.s. Nietzsche’s cow is not to be confused with his camel, his lion, his snake, his eagle, his donkey, his human or his sister.
