Description
Book SynopsisThis innovative volume presents an account of Nietzsche''s claims about noble, life-affirming ways of life, analyzes the source of such claims, and explores the political vision that springs from them. Kirkland elucidates the meaning of Nietzsche''s remarks about life-affirmation through an examination of his rhetorical identification with values, such as honesty, that he ultimately seeks to overcome. The book includes an extended treatment of the meaning and implications of Nietzsche''s doctrine of eternal return, which uncovers how this element of his philosophy challenges both ungrounded metaphysical oppositions and reductionist accounts of human life. The result is an illuminating discussion of how through his philosophical confrontation with modernity Nietzsche aims to move his readers toward a noble embrace of life.
Trade ReviewPaul Kirkland gives an impressively comprehensive and illuminating account of Nietzsche's thought, emphasizing its life-affirming goals more than the critique of traditional metaphysics and modern science. Kirkland argues that in his major works Nietzsche takes on a set of distinctive stances or rhetorical "masks"—the free spirit, the proponent of perspectivism, and the philosopher of the eternal return—to create a "politics of contest." Out of that contest, Nietzsche hopes that a new form and understanding of human nobility will arise. -- Catherine H. Zuckert
This book makes a significant contribution, not only to Nietzsche scholarship, but even more to the current debate between modernity and post-modernity. -- Horst Hutter, Concordia University, Montreal
Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. Educating the Free Spirit Chapter 3 2. Masks of Honesty Chapter 4 3. Nobility and Responsibility Chapter 5 4. The Esteeming Animal Chapter 6 5. Willing and Time Chapter 7 6. Redeeming Time: The Teaching of the Eternal Return Chapter 8 7. Eternal Return and the Ethics of Contest Chapter 9 8. Politics of Contest Chapter 10 9. Heights of the Soul: Laughter and the Perspective of Life Chapter 11 10. Challenging the Old and New Tablets: Nietzsche's Art of Writing Part 12 Conclusion
