Forget it

Nietzsche's writing, along with the writing most philosophers, is a monological art. In order to tackle problems in philosophy, one must try to block out the audience, the “witnesses.” One must focus on the task at hand which is following an argument and its internal logical paths. This activity is self-centered. It does not require outside input or observation. And in particular for Nietzsche, a person derives meaning from this process. This is in contrast to a Christian philosophy in which the self should be dismissed in favor of some collective. For Nietzsche, authority can not be found in any outside text, such as scripture. Each person is his or her own authority, in the context of finding a person's own meaning.
If philosophy is seen as a monological art, then what does Nietzsche mean by “It is the music of forgetting.”? This would mean that he has to forget the past--about the philosophical work that has come before him and will come after him. He must also ignore the future, his “witnesses,”people who may read his work. From this, comes an obvious question, why then should he even write his ideas down? He must document his thoughts because he considers them valuable. He does not expect other people to read his work as “scripture,” but as information about his own thoughts. In this way, he might have read the works of earlier philosophers ,and he might have seen other works of art. When it was his turn to make art, he chose to forget his place in history, however, but this line of logic has some imitations. Nietzsche's philosophy, and even, his whole way of thinking, may have been different from other thinkers, but his work was really just built upon generations of philosophical thinking.
So, “forgetting” can not include the complete dismissal of everything that has occurred in the past nor can it ignore the future, that is, the audience. While writing, Nietzsche undeniably knew that his writing would be read by others. He wrote without regard for the reactions of his readers, even though he knew that people would be reading his work.
As a high school student, I would not consider my writing monological. I write in response to school assignments. If my writing can be considered art at all, it is clearly “art before witness.” Though I try and think independently and though like to think that do have some original thoughts, I often finding myself relying on the thoughts of authorities, such as philosophers and teachers. I struggle to “forget,” because I am constantly thinking about the “witnesses”--my teachers and peers, who will judge my work. I see Nietzsche's goal of forgetting and finding my own ideas and voice as worthy, but not yet obtainable.

Although this was posted by Ben, it was written by Will.