Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism? (eBook, ePUB)

On the Uses and Abuses of a Philosophy
Redaktion: Golomb, Jacob

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Nietzsche, the Godfather of Fascism? What can Nietzsche have in common with this murderous ideology? Frequently described as the "radical aristocrat" of the spirit, Nietzsche abhorred mass culture and strove to cultivate an Übermensch endowed with exceptional mental qualities. What can such a thinker have in common with the fascistic manipulation of the masses for chauvinistic goals that crushed the autonomy of the individual?

The question that lies at the heart of this collection is how Nietzsche came to acquire the deadly "honor" of being considered the philosopher of the Third Reich and whether such claims had any justification. Does it make any sense to hold him in some way responsible for the horrors of Auschwitz?

The editors present a range of views that attempt to do justice to the ambiguity and richness of Nietzsche's thought. First-rate contributions by a variety of distinguished philosophers and historians explore in depth Nietzsche's attitudes toward Jews, Judaism, Christianity, anti-Semitism, and National Socialism. They interrogate Nietzsche's writings for fascist and anti-Semitic proclivities and consider how they were read by fascists who claimed Nietzsche as their intellectual godfather.

There is much that is disturbingly antiegalitarian and antidemocratic in Nietzsche, and his writings on Jews are open to differing interpretations. Yet his emphasis on individualism and contempt for German nationalism and anti-Semitism put him at stark odds with Nazi ideology.

The Nietzsche that emerges here is a tragic prophet of the spiritual vacuum that produced the twentieth century's totalitarian movements, the thinker who best diagnosed the pathologies of fin-de-siècle European culture. Nietzsche dared to look into the abyss of modern nihilism. This book tells us what he found.

The contributors are Menahem Brinker, Daniel W. Conway, Stanley Corngold, Kurt Rudolf Fischer, Jacob Golomb, Robert C. Holub, Berel Lang, Wolfgang Müller-Lauter, Alexander Nehamas, David Ohana, Roderick Stackelberg, Mario Sznajder, Geoffrey Waite, Robert S. Wistrich, and Yirmiyahu Yovel.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Princeton University Press
• Seitenzahl: 360
• Erscheinungstermin: 10. Januar 2009
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781400825332
• Artikelnr.: 56996160

Autorenporträt

Jacob Golomb teaches Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he is the Philosophical Editor of its Magnes Press and the Director of the Center for Austrian Studies. He is the author of In Search of Authenticity, Nietzsche's Enticing Psychology of Power, and Nietzsche in Zion. Robert S. Wistrich holds the Erich and Foga Neuberger Chair of Modern Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of, among many other books, Hitler and the Holocaust and Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Sources and List of Abbreviations xi
Contributors xiii
Introduction by Jacob Golomb and Robert S. Wistrich 1
PART ONE:IN THEORY
1. How to De-Nazify Nietzsche 's Philosophical
Anthropology? by Jacob Golomb 19
2. Misinterpretation as the Author 's Responsibility (Nietzsche's fascism,
for instance) by Berel Lang 47
3. Experiences with Nietzsche by Wolfgang Müller-Lauter 66
4. Nietzsche and "Hitler" by Alexander Nehamas 90
5. Nietzsche and the Jews by Menahem Brinker 107
6. Nietzsche contra Wagner on the Jews by Yirmiyahu Yovel 126
7. Between the Cross and the Swastika: A Nietzschean Perspective by Robert
S. Wistrich 144
PART TWO:IN PRACTICE
8. Ecce Caesar: Nietzsche 's Imperial Aspirations by Daniel W. Conway 173
9. A Question of Responsibility:Nietzsche with Hölderlin at War, 1914-1946
by Stanley Corngold and Geoffrey Waite 196
10. The Elisabeth Legend: The Cleansing of Nietzsche and the Sullying of
His Sister by Robert C. Holub 215
11. Nietzsche, Mussolini, and Italian Fascism by Mario Sznajder 235
12. Nietzsche and the Fascist Dimension: The Case of Ernst Jünger by David
Ohana 263
13. A Godfather Too:Nazism as a Nietzschean Experiment by Kurt Rudolf
Fischer 291
14. Critique as Apologetics: Nolte's Interpretation of Nietzsche by
Roderick Stackelberg 301
Works of Nietzsche Cited 321
Select Bibliography 323
Index 333