Nietzsche Heute

Nietzsche’s writings cannot be truly understood without examining their specific representational forms and complex textual stagings. In this volume, an international group of scholars consider how form and content are interrelated in Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. The volume includes important new essays on stylistics, rhetoric, history of philosophy, and history of editions.

Nietzsche’s thinking is unparalleled in its contradictory effects and it continues to be relevant. Even today, opinions on him diverge strongly. Through the 20th century, philosophies, art movements and political ideologies have oscillated between euphoria and condemnation, affirmation and an ignoring silence. Incorrect and abusive readings in fascist and Stalinist circles perverted his ideas and utopias. After 1945, historically and critically informed approaches in philosophy, the arts and the media provided initiallycautious insights into the diversity of the interpretations of his thinking; this field of activity intensified towards the end of the century. In the main currents of philosophy, ethics and esthetics and in the modern and postmodern theories of art, Nietzsche’s thinking has provided major impulses. Scientific and sociological interest in his provocative theories shows that his thinking continues to indicate possible paths forward. Literary and musical adaptations, his significance for visual artists from expressionism to the New Objectivity, his influence on the designs of modern architecture: from the perspective of current international Nietzsche research, all these factors provide a comprehensive overview of one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.

The contributions address the multi-dimensional category of the unconscious in Nietzsche's philosophy, in order to analyze the modern dilemmatic human existence. The approaches originate from a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, literary studies, philosophy, psychology, and psychoanalysis. Among the topics discussed are aesthetics, philosophy of consciousness, epistemology, morality, culture, and religion.

The topic of “grandeur” is found throughout Nietzsche’s corpus. Nietzsche problematizes the term with adjectives like “grand reason,” “grand health,” “grand politics,” or “grand afternoon.” Moreover, the idea is also contained in metaphors like “the eternal return of the same,” the “overman,” the “will to power,” the “arrow of longing,” or “lightening striking.” For Nietzsche, there is no grandeur without a sense of the small, and criticism of the most subtle details indicates a comming grandeur.

The contributions to this collection are dedicated to the themes of Nietzsche/Power/Grandeur from philosophical, political, historical, aesthetic, and cultural studies perspectives.

The writings of Volker Gerhardt have had substantial influence on recent Nietzsche research. This volume collects a variety of his influential essays and makes them available to scholars and causal readers alike. The present collection takes stock of Nietzsche’s most prominent ideas. Gerhardt investigates which of these ideas still offer solutions for the problems of today. In the process, it becomes clear what sort of inspiration a future-oriented philosophizing can draw from Nietzsche.