Beyond Nihilism

Nietzsche is regarded by some as a great liberator, a thinker far more radical than Marx. For others, he is an ideologue of power, a spokesman for domination, a protofascist. Ofelia Schutte holds that these conflicting assessments result from a failure to distinguish between two paradigms of power found in Nietzsche's work: power as recurring energy and power as domination. Schutte uses this fundamental distinction to analyze comprehensively Nietzsche's metaphysics, ethics, and politics. She addresses both the positive and the negative in the whole of his thought, seeking to read Nietzsche 'without masks'--without the cultural and intellectual biases of many of his previous interpreters.

Martin Heidegger's (1889-1976) criticism of Friedrich Nietzsche's nihilism represented a 'turn' in his thought. In this new and perceptive book, Dominic Kelly explores nihilism through the work of two relatively modern and much studied philosophers; Heidegger and Nietzsche and shows how Heidegger began to think in a way that was not solely philosophical and instead used poetry to achieve a new relation to being. In doing so, Heidegger was able to move past Nietzsche's concepts and thus, nihilism itself. Through his exploration of Heidegger's journey to a form of thinking beyond the philosophical then, Kelly exposes nihilism's crucial place in Continental philosophy and has written a book that is essential for students and academics working in Heidegger studies. Kelly's engagement with Heidegger's more poetic philosophy also benefits students of metaphysics, the philosophy of art and aesthetics, and visual culture more widely. By putting nihilism into its historical context and examining its Ancient Greek origins, Kelly's book will also be of use to those studying early philosophical thought - a requirement for all philosophy courses – and provides a valuable account of nihilism's historical trajectory.

In this work the author presents Nietzsche as a counter-nihilistic philosopher-educator who aimed, very much like Plato and Rousseau, to set forth a healing education for western man in a characteristically decadent era. The principal pedagogical or edifying dimension of his philosophy, it is argued, consists of a redefinition of the educational aim of modern humanityóformulated in medical and cultural termsóas the recovery of health and worth. The work considers Nietzsche's investigations of noble and nihilistic forms of life as well as his doctrines of the Dionysian, the Will to Power, and the Overman, as aiming to establish a new wisdomódelineating the conditions necessary for the evaluation, enhancement, and prosperity of man. A useful book for courses in philosophy, philosophy of education, history of education and ethics.

Nietzsche is regarded by some as a great liberator, a thinker far more radical than Marx. For others, he is an ideologue of power, a spokesman for domination, a protofascist. Ofelia Schutte holds that these conflicting assessments result from a failure to distinguish between two paradigms of power found in Nietzsche's work: power as recurring energy and power as domination. Schutte uses this fundamental distinction to analyze comprehensively Nietzsche's metaphysics, ethics, and politics. She addresses both the positive and the negative in the whole of his thought, seeking to read Nietzsche 'without masks'--without the cultural and intellectual biases of many of his previous interpreters.

The ideas underlying Benn's Ausdruckswelt not only anticipate and parallel many of the assumptions now current in recent trends in literary criticism; they also disclose their ultimate limitations. Benn's poetics were founded on the intellectual crises of the early years of the twentieth century. Following Nietzschean leads, Benn sought to achieve in his person and his work a return to a primitive, archetypal mode of perception which he felt would restore a purer, more natural mentality to modern man, whom he portrayed as being 'far ahead of his syntax'. By focusing on Benn's early Expressionist prose and what this study calls his 'fictive self', the author traces the relationship between Benn's Weltanschauung and later critical theory. Building upon the latest scholarship, she analyses Benn's poetics as precursor of certain postmodernist ideas concerning language, meaning and polysemy, aesthetics, personal identity, authorial intention versus reader reception, intertextuality, and the role of art in society. By paying specific attention to the concept of the autonomous self and its relation to language, this study demonstrates that Gottfried Benn's aesthetic theories do not represent the end of German Expressionism, but rather the beginning of the present post-modernist period.

A reassessment of the controversial, yet still influential nineteenth-century German philosopher that explores the contentious issue of whether he was, as his critics frequently claim, a nihilist.Max Stirner (1806-1856) is often regarded as an enfant terrible of nineteenth-century German philosophy, but he has continued to exert an influence despite his marginalization as a nihilist. This study is the first to tackle head-on the question of whether Stirner can indeed reasonably be described as a nihilist. Although he is not known ever to have used the word "nihilism" or any of its derivatives, he was first accused of being a nihilist immediately after the publication of his magnum opus Der Einzige und sein Eigentum (translated in most English editions as The Ego and His Own) in 1844. Since then, the allegation has been repeated by well over a hundred writers and critics, with the result that it has become something of a truism. The book aims, first, to establish a clear understanding of the multifarious meanings of the term nihilism; second, to examine the accusations leveled at Stirner in the light of those meanings; and third, to assess not only the fairness and accuracy of the imputation of nihilism but also its usefulness in understanding Stirner as a thinker. It thus provides new insights into Stirner's thought, challenges the orthodox view of him as a philosophical pariah, reassesses his ideas and their place in the history of philosophy, and addresses the recurrent issue of his contemporary relevance.ngs of the term nihilism; second, to examine the accusations leveled at Stirner in the light of those meanings; and third, to assess not only the fairness and accuracy of the imputation of nihilism but also its usefulness in understanding Stirner as a thinker. It thus provides new insights into Stirner's thought, challenges the orthodox view of him as a philosophical pariah, reassesses his ideas and their place in the history of philosophy, and addresses the recurrent issue of his contemporary relevance.ngs of the term nihilism; second, to examine the accusations leveled at Stirner in the light of those meanings; and third, to assess not only the fairness and accuracy of the imputation of nihilism but also its usefulness in understanding Stirner as a thinker. It thus provides new insights into Stirner's thought, challenges the orthodox view of him as a philosophical pariah, reassesses his ideas and their place in the history of philosophy, and addresses the recurrent issue of his contemporary relevance.ngs of the term nihilism; second, to examine the accusations leveled at Stirner in the light of those meanings; and third, to assess not only the fairness and accuracy of the imputation of nihilism but also its usefulness in understanding Stirner as a thinker. It thus provides new insights into Stirner's thought, challenges the orthodox view of him as a philosophical pariah, reassesses his ideas and their place in the history of philosophy, and addresses the recurrent issue of his contemporary relevance.

Allen examines Polanyi's and Hayek's thinking with respect to the nature, value, and foundations of liberty. For Allen, only Christianity, and certainly no modern philosophy, has a conception of the unique individual and his irreplaceable value and of a political order that transcends itself into the moral order. Beyond Liberalism challenges deeply ingrained notions of liberty and its meaning in modern society.