Siemens / Roodt Nietzsche, Power and Politics

Rethinking Nietzsche's Legacy for Political Thought
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-3-11-021733-9
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 700 Seiten, Gewicht: 10 g

Nietzsche’s legacy for political thought is a highly contested area of research today. With papers representing a broad range of positions, this collection takes stock of the central controversies (Nietzsche as political / anti-political thinker? Nietzsche and / contra democracy? Arendt and / contra Nietzsche?), as well as new research on key concepts (power, the agon, aristocracy, friendship i.a.), on historical, contemporary and futural aspects of Nietzsche’s political thought. International contributors include well-known names (Conway, Ansell-Pearson, Hatab, Taureck, Patton, Connolly, Villa, van Tongeren) and young emerging scholars from various disciplines.

Zielgruppe

Academics, Libraries, Institutes

Autoren/Hrsg.

Siemens, Herman W.

Siemens, Herman

Roodt, Vasti

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: 19. Jahrhundert

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Contents;7
2;References and Citations;13
3;Abbreviations;15
4;Translations of Nietzsche’s writings;21
5;Introduction;23
6;The Birth of the State;59
7;Nietzsche as ‘Über-Politischer Denker’;91
8;The Question of Nietzsche’s Anti-Politics and Human Transfiguration1;107
9;Nietzsche, Democracy, Time1;131
10;Nietzsche, Ethical Agency and the Problem of Democracy;165
11;Breaking the Contract Theory: The Individual and the Law in Nietzsche’s Genealogy;191
12;Nietzsche’s Reasoning against Democracy: Why He Uses the Social Herd Metaphor and Why He Fails;213
13;Critical Aspects of Nietzsche’s Relation to Politics and Democracy;227
14;Yes, No, Maybe So… Nietzsche’s Equivocations on the Relation between Democracy and ‘Grosse Politik’;253
15;The Sacrifice of the Overman as an Expression of the Will to Power: Anti-Political Consequences and Contributions to Democracy;291
16;Nietzsche’s Aristocratism Revisited;321
17;Anti-Politicality and Agon in Nietzsche’s Philology;341
18;Nietzsche as Bonapartist;369
19;‘Nietzsche Caesar’;393
20;How ‘Nietzschean’ Was Arendt?;417
21;Nietzsche and/or Arendt?;433
22;Overcoming Resentment. Remarks on the Supra-Moral Ethic of Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt;453
23;Forces and Powers in Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals;475
24;Nietzsche on Rights, Power and the Feeling of Power;493
25;On Nietzsche and the Enemy: Nietzsche’s New Politics;513
26;Nietzsche and Emerson on Friendship and Its Ethical-Political Implications;533
27;Manu as a Weapon against Egalitarianism: Nietzsche and Hindu Political Philosophy;565
28;Political Implications of Happiness in Descartes and Nietzsche;605
29;Nietzsche, Money And Bildung;627
30;A ‘Wondrous Echo’: Burckhardt, Renaissance and Nietzsche’s Political Thought;651
31;Nietzsche and the Psychology of Mimesis: From Plato to the Führer;689
32;Contingent Criticism: Bridging Ideology Critique and Genealogy;719
33;The Biological Threshold of Modern Politics: Nietzsche, Foucault and the Question of Animal Life;741
34;Corporealizing Thought: Translating the Eternal Return Back into Politics;763
35;‘Holding on to the Sublime’: Nietzsche on Philosophy’s Perception and Search for Greatness;789
36;The Struggle Between Ideals: Nietzsche, Schmitt and Lefort on the Politics of the Future;823
37;Contributors;839
38;Complete Bibliography;843
39;Subject Index;879

Leseproben

(S. 542-543)



Introduction

Friedrich Nietzsche greatly preferred the ‘healthier, higher, wider world’ of the Hindu social code M nava-Dharma-Sh stra (‘Code of Human Ethics’), also known as Manu-Smrti (‘Manu’s Classic’), to ‘the Christian sick-house and dungeon atmosphere’ (TI Improvers 3). We want to raise two questions about his eager use of this ancient text: Firstly, a question of historical fact, viz. how correct was Nietzsche’s understanding of the text and the society it tried to regulate?

The translation used by him suffers from some significant philological flaws as well as from interpretative bias, to which he added an agenda-driven reading of his own. Secondly, to what extent did Nietzsche’s understanding of Hindu society play a role in his socio-political views? At first sight, its importance is quite limited, viz. as just an extra illustration of pre-Christian civilization favoured by him, as principally represented by Greece. Crucial pieces of Manu’s worldview, such as the centrality of a priestly Brahmin class and the notion of ritual purity, seem irrelevant to or in contradiction with Nietzsche’s essentially modern philosophical anthropology.

To others he didn’t pay due attention, e. g. Manu’s respect for asceticism as a positive force in society, seemingly so in conflict with the Nietzschean contempt for ‘otherworldiness’, resonates with subtler pro-ascetic elements in Nietzsche’s conception of the bermensch. Yet, a few specifically Indian elements did have a wider impact on his worldview, especially the notion of Chand la (untouchable), to which however he gave an erroneous expansion unrelated to Manu.

1. What is the Manu-Smrti?

Friedrich Nietzsche greatly preferred the ‘healthier, higher, wider world’ of the Hindu social code M nava-Dharma-Sh stra, the ‘Textbook of Human Ethics’, also known as Manu-Smrti, ‘Manu’s Classic’, to what he called ‘the Christian sick-house and dungeon atmosphere’ (TI Improvers 3). In a letter to his friend Peter Gast, he wrote: This absolutely Aryan testimony, a priestly codex of morality based on the Vedas, of the representation of caste and of ancient provenance – not pessimistic although priestly – completes my conceptions of religion in the most remarkable manner. (KSA 14.420).

To his mind, the contrast between Manu’s classic and the Bible was so diametrical that ‘mentioning it in one breath with the Bible would be a sin against the spirit’(AC 56). So, at first sight, he was very enthusiastic about this founding text of caste doctrine, though we shall have to qualify that impression. We want to raise two questions about his use of this ancient text, one of historical accuracy and one of the meaning Nietzsche accorded to this acknowledged source of inspiration in his view of society. But first of all, a few data about the Manu-Smrti must necessarily be stated before we can understand what role it could play in Friedrich Nietzsche’s thinking.

Über Autor(innen)

Herman W. Siemens, University of Leiden, The Netherlands; Vasti Roodt, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.