Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist

Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
Cover of the second edition
Author Walter Kaufmann
Country United States
Language English
Subject Friedrich Nietzsche
Publisher Princeton University Press
Publication date
 1950
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 532 (2013 edition)
ISBN 978-0691160269

Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (1950; second edition 1956; third edition 1968; fourth edition 1974; fifth edition 2013) is a book about the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche by the philosopher Walter Kaufmann, first published by Princeton University Press. The book was influential and is considered a classic study. Kaufmann has been credited with helping to transform Nietzsche's reputation after World War II by dissociating him from Nazism, and making it possible for Nietzsche to be taken seriously as a philosopher. However, he has been criticized for presenting Nietzsche as an existentialist, and for other details of his interpretation.

Summary

The following summary of the book is based on Nehamas's introduction.

Kaufmann seeks to counter the distorted understanding of Nietzsche as a psychologically flawed, totalitarian, irrationalist, and anti-semitic thinker. He places the responsibility for the creation of this Nietzsche "legend" partly on Stefan George and his followers, but mainly on Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, who controlled the publication of his works and sometimes even changed his language. Kaufmann argues that The Will to Power, which she edited and published, is an arbitrary selection of Nietzsche's notes, taken out of context and chronological order and arranged according to Förster-Nietzsche's flawed understanding of her brother's thought, and that Nietzsche acquired his reputation for heartless cruelty, anti-semitism, and pervasive self-contradiction because critics felt free to quote short passages of his work, often written in exaggerated language, without concern for context.[1]

In Kaufmann's view, Nietzsche's style indicates a specific approach to philosophical questions: it expresses the desire to look at things from as many different perspectives as possible and a willingness to "experiment" with ideas. By describing Nietzsche's concerns as "existential", Kaufmann connects him to the existentialism of Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Kaufmann sees Nietzsche as an heir to rationalism, rather than a Romantic critic of the Enlightenment. Nietzsche's ideal type is not Napoleon Bonaparte or Adolf Hitler, but Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who conquered not the world but himself. Kaufmann concludes that Nietzsche's philosophy has its roots in Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Socrates, who "became little less than an idol for him." He rejects the interpretation of Nietzsche's overman as a biological category referring to a German master race whose will to power would lead it to exploit the rest of the world.[1]

While Kaufmman admits that Nietzsche sometimes invites misunderstanding, he insists that overcoming, the chief attribute of the overman, involves the sublimation of people's baser impulses, the cruder forms of the will to power, an effort guided by the will to power itself in the form of rationality. The overman is thereby able to face the eternal recurrence, which Kaufmann understands to mean that the universe repeats itself in exactly the same way endlessly and without purpose.[1]

Nietzsche, as Kaufmann interprets him, is an enemy of all versions of the state, both totalitarian and liberal: he is an "anti-political" thinker for whom individualism is a greater value than any collective good. Kaufmann considers Nietzsche's judgments balanced and reasonable. In The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche pits Apollo, the form-giving God, against Dionysus, the god of formless frenzy, and he favors a synthesis of the two, in which the Apollonian spirit controls and siphons the Dionysian spirit's creativity, resulting in "passion controlled." Later on, Nietzsche starts calling this very synthesis "Dionysus", dropping the name's reference to formless frenzy, and begins calling himself and the likes of Goethe "Dionysian". Dionysus is now not opposed to Apollo, being now the synthesis of the two, but rather the Crucified, Christianity's spirit of suppressing, not siphoning, the passions. (cf. Chapter 4) In On the Genealogy of Morality (1887), Nietzsche explains modern morality as a transformation of an early form of Homeric "master" values into a "slave" morality aimed at safeguarding the interests of the weakest members of society, but does not side with either master or slave morality, aiming to go beyond both.[1]

Writing in a 1974 appendix, Kaufmann criticized the philosopher Jürgen Habermas for poor scholarship in his treatment of Nietzsche in his book Knowledge and Human Interests (1968), noting that Habermas relied on the inadequate edition of Nietzsche's works prepared by Karl Schlechta. In a footnote, Kaufmann claims to have received a confession from minor author David George Plotkin that he had ghostwritten My Sister and I, which was published under Nietzsche's name in 1951.[2]

Publication history

Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist was first published by Princeton University Press in 1950. A second edition was published in 1956, a third edition in 1968, and a fourth edition, which was the first paperback printing, in 1974. In 2013 an edition with a new foreword by the philosopher Alexander Nehamas was published.[3]

Reception

Mainstream media

Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist was reviewed by Chris Terry in Times Higher Education.[4] The book was also discussed by the philosopher Richard Rorty in The New Republic.[5]

Rorty described the book as "path-breaking", but wrote that it had been superseded by the philosopher Richard Schacht's Nietzsche (1983), which in Rorty's view was more comprehensive, better organized and more helpful to readers who were new to Nietzsche and needed help in understanding the apparent contradictions in Nietzsche's views.[5]

Academic journals

Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist received positive reviews from Walter Watson in Ethics and the philosopher Frederick Copleston in Philosophy.[6][7] In Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, it received positive reviews from Walter Cerf and the anthropologist H. James Birx,[8][9] and in The Review of Metaphysics it was reviewed by F. D. J. and O. H. S.[10][11] The book was also reviewed by the historian of ideas Crane Brinton in The Germanic Review,[12] William A. Mueller in Review & Expositor,[13] and Ernst Koch in The Modern Language Journal.[14] Later discussions include those by the intellectual historian Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen in Modern Intellectual History,[15] Axel Pérez Trujillo in Estudios Nietzsche: Revista de la Sociedad Española de Estudios sobre Friedrich Nietzsche,[16] and Mark Alfano in the British Journal for the History of Philosophy.[17] In The Journal of Nietzsche Studies, the book received discussions from David Pickus,[18] Schacht,[19] and the philosopher Robert B. Pippin.[20]

Watson considered the book one of the most important works on Nietzsche, crediting Kaufmann with thoroughly developing an "interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy sharply at variance with the usual ones." He suggested that Kaufmann's suggestion that Socrates was "Nietzsche's idol" to be perhaps his most "startling thesis".[6] Copleston described the book as "a most thoughtful, fair and scholarly treatment of Nietzsche's philosophy", welcoming the fact that it was free from both prejudice against and "sickening adulation" of Nietzsche. He praised Kaufmann for interpreting Nietzsche's statements in terms of both their context and the general development of Nietzsche's thought. However, he suggested that Kaufmann "plays down too much certain aspects of Nietzsche's thought".[7] Cerf described the book as brilliant, and wrote that it caused him to re-examine the generally accepted ideas about Nietzsche he formerly held. He credited Kaufmann with exposing numerous false characterizations of Nietzsche and his views, and saw great merit in Kaufmann's discussion of Nietzsche's relation to other writers and thinkers. However, he questioned Kaufmann's understanding of the will to power, and suggested that Kaufmann overstated the extent to which the prevailing view of Nietzsche was false.[8] Birx described the book as a "classic work", and credited Kaufmann with clearly presenting Nietzsche's life and thought, and carefully interpreting his ideas. Writing in 1977, he commented that it remained an "outstanding and indispensable contribution to Nietzschean scholarship."[9]

Ratner-Rosenhagen described the book as a "monumental study". She credited Kaufmann with transforming the interpretation of Nietzsche in the postwar United States and establishing him as "a canonical thinker in the Western tradition". She wrote that the book made Kaufmann himself a "dominant figure in transatlantic Nietzsche studies from 1950 until his death in 1980", and that while Kaufmann has been typically credited by philosophers and historians with saving Nietzsche's reputation by disassociating him from Nazism, they argue that he did so by "denaturing Nietzsche's philosophy of power and narrowly transforming him into an existentialist." In her view, Kaufmann "took a much more dramatic step by extending the scope of Nietzsche's philosophy, demonstrating how his ideas resonated with but also transcended the dominant philosophies of the day."[15]

Alfano wrote that Kaufmann popularized the idea that Nietzsche was a virtue theorist in ethics. He maintained that Kaufmann was mistaken to argue that Nietzsche's concept of the overman is related to the Aristotelian conception of megalopsychia or "great-souled man", following Bernd Magnus's view that there is only a "superficial connection" between the two.[17] Pickus argued that the book should be understood in relation to the philosopher Karl Jaspers's Nietzsche: An Introduction to the Understanding of His Philosophical Activity (1935), arguing that despite some differences, such as their views of the meaning of nihilism, they had much in common. He credited Kaufmann with helping make it possible to "identify irresponsible examples of Nietzsche scholarship" and initiating "a key debate about the possibility of using Nietzsche for moral “transfiguration,” particularly in historical, social, and artistic realms."[18] Schacht commented that the book was "enormously influential", but that it was oriented to "strategic considerations, relating to Nietzsche’s rehabilitation in the English-speaking world", and presented Nietzsche as an existentialist. He credited Kaufmann with correctly emphasizing that Nietzsche was a philosopher, in opposition to a once prevailing view that Nietzsche did not deserve to be so considered. He also considered Kaufmann's characterization of Nietzsche as a psychologist apt. However, he questioned Kaufmann's characterization of Nietzsche as an "Antichrist", writing that it reflected Kaufmann's personal loathing of Christianity.[19] Pippin wrote that despite the "relative success" of the book, "the reception of Nietzsche in the Anglo-American philosophical community was still in its initial, hesitant stages" even as late as 1985.[20]

Evaluations in books

The sociologist Philip Rieff, writing in Freud: The Mind of the Moralist (1959), called Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist the best book in English on Nietzsche.[21] Schacht, writing in his own work titled Nietzsche (1983), called Kaufmann's book important and useful.[22] The historian Peter Gay, writing in the second volume of The Bourgeois Experience Victoria to Freud (1986), called Kaufmann's book "epoch making" and credited Kaufmann with "correcting horrendous misreadings and pillorying appalling mistranslations". He noted, however, that Kaufmann's conclusions have themselves been subjected to criticism and correction by later scholarship.[23] The historian Roy Porter, writing in A Social History of Madness (1987), described Kaufmann's book as "authoritative".[24] Michael Tanner, writing in his own work titled Nietzsche (1994), called Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist an "ill-organized transformation of Nietzsche into a liberal humanist", but acknowledged that it "had its place in the history of Nietzsche reception".[25] Schacht, writing in his 1996 introduction to Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human (1878), described Kaufmann's book as a classic study through which many English-speaking readers became interested in and acquainted with Nietzsche after World War II, writing that it had little competition for nearly two decades. He credited Kaufmann with offering "a readable interpretation of Nietzsche's thought along humanistic existentialist and pragmatist lines", but criticized Kaufmann's treatment of Human, All Too Human, Daybreak (1881), and The Gay Science (1887), maintaining that Kaufmann incorrectly saw them as part of a period in Nietzsche's thought that was of little intrinsic interest.[26]

Nehamas, writing in an introduction to the 2013 edition of Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, described the book as a major turning point in Nietzsche's posthumous reputation, crediting Kaufmann with reversing the popular image of Nietzsche as a totalitarian anti-semite, making it possible for philosophers to take Nietzsche seriously, and ensuring that Nietzsche's works have a prominent place in the philosophy sections of modern bookstores. He observed that Kaufmann's view that Nietzsche was an heir to rationalism rather than a Romantic critic of the Enlightenment is the most controversial element of his interpretation. He concluded that there is some truth to the charge that Kaufmann, in trying to reverse the "legend" surrounding Nietzsche, went too far in the opposite direction, over-emphasizing the more acceptable aspects of Nietzsche and minimizing the problematic or disturbing aspects, but that this does not detract from Kaufmann's accomplishment. In his view, Kaufmann's selective reinterpretation of Nietzsche may have been necessary to make it possible for Nietzsche to be read seriously by both philosophers and the general public, and his book repays careful study.[1]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nehamas 2013, pp. v–ix.
  2. ↑ Kaufmann 2013, pp. 452–453, 503.
  3. ↑ Kaufmann & Nehamas 2013, pp. iv–xxiv.
  4. ↑ Terry 2010, p. 49.
  5. 1 2 Rorty 1983, p. 619.
  6. 1 2 Watson 1951, pp. 231–232.
  7. 1 2 Copleston 1952, pp. 367–368.
  8. 1 2 Cerf 1951, pp. 287–291.
  9. 1 2 Birx 1977, pp. 432–433.
  10. ↑ J. 1957, pp. 721–722.
  11. ↑ S. 1970, p. 557.
  12. ↑ Brinton 1951, pp. 239–240.
  13. ↑ Mueller 1952, pp. 219–221.
  14. ↑ Koch 1953, pp. 59–60.
  15. 1 2 Ratner-Rosenhagen 2006, pp. 239–269.
  16. ↑ Trujillo 2013, pp. 107–118.
  17. 1 2 Alfano 2013, pp. 767–790.
  18. 1 2 Pickus 2007, pp. 5–24.
  19. 1 2 Schacht 2012, pp. 69–70.
  20. 1 2 Pippin 2014, pp. 118–133.
  21. ↑ Rieff 1961, p. 413.
  22. ↑ Schacht 1985, p. xvi.
  23. ↑ Gay 1986, p. 430.
  24. ↑ Porter 1989, p. 246.
  25. ↑ Tanner 1994, p. 82.
  26. ↑ Schacht 1996, pp. xiii–xiv, xxix.

Bibliography

Books

  • Gay, Peter (1986). The Bourgeois Experience Victoria to Freud. Volume II: The Tender Passion. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-503741-3.
  • Kaufmann, Walter; Nehamas, Alexander (2013). Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16026-9.
  • Nehamas, Alexander; Kaufmann, Walter (2013). Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16026-9.
  • Porter, Roy (1989). A Social History of Madness: Stories of the Insane. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-79571-6.
  • Rieff, Philip (1961). Freud: The Mind of the Moralist. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books.
  • Schacht, Richard; Nietzsche, Friedrich (1996). Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56704-1.
  • Schacht, Richard (1985). Nietzsche. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415090711.
  • Tanner, Michael (1994). Nietzsche. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-287680-5.
Journals

  • Alfano, Mark (2013). "The Most Agreeable of All Vices: Nietzsche as Virtue Epistemologist". British Journal for the History of Philosophy. 21 (4).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Birx, H. James (1977). "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. Fourth Edition". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 37 (3).
  • Brinton, Crane (1951). "W. A. Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist". The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory. 26 (3).
  • Cerf, Walter (1951). "Kaufmann's Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist [Book Review]". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 12 (2).
  • Copleston, Frederick C. (1952). "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. By Walter A. Kaufmann. (Princeton University Press: London, Geoffrey Cumberlege. 1950. Pp. xi + 409. Price 40s.)". Philosophy. 27 (103). doi:10.1017/S0031819100034380.
  • J., F. D. (1957). "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Anti-Christ [Book Review]". The Review of Metaphysics. 10 (4).
  • Koch, Ernst (1953). "Nietzsche (Book)". The Modern Language Journal. 37 (1).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Mueller, William A. (1952). "Book Review: Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist". Review & Expositor. 49 (2).
  • Pérez Trujillo, Axel (2013). "El Nietzsche de Walter Kaufmann". Estudios Nietzsche: Revista de la Sociedad Española de Estudios sobre Friedrich Nietzsche. 13.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Pickus, David (2007). "Wishes of the Heart: Walter Kaufmann, Karl Jaspers, and Disposition in Nietzsche Scholarship". The Journal of Nietzsche Studies. 33.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Pippin, Robert (2014). "Self-Interpreting Selves: Comments on Alexander Nehamas's Nietzsche: Life as Literature". Journal of Nietzsche Studies. 45 (2).
  • Ratner-Rosenhagen, Jennifer (2006). "Dionysian Enlightenment: Kaufmann's 'Nietzsche' in historical perspective". Modern Intellectual Curiosity. 3 (2).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Rorty, Richard (1983). "Nietzsche (Book Review)". The Times Literary Supplement (4185).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • S., O. H. (1970). "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist [Book Review]". The Review of Metaphysics. 23 (3).
  • Schacht, Richard (2012). "Translating Nietzsche: The Case of Kaufmann". The Journal of Nietzsche Studies. 43.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Terry, Chris (2010). "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist". Times Higher Education (1930).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Watson, Walter (1951). "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist". Ethics. 61 (231). doi:10.1086/290780.  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
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