Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism?

by Golomb, Jacob; Wistrich, Robert S.

• ISBN13: 9780691007106
• ISBN10: 0691007101
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-12
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

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 Uuml;bermensch 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-siegrave;cle 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 Muuml;ller-Lauter, Alexander Nehamas, David Ohana, Roderick Stackelberg, Mario Sznajder, Geoffrey Waite, Robert S. Wistrich, and Yirmiyahu Yovel.

Author Biography

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

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
A Note on Sources and List of Abbreviations	xi
Contributors	xiii
Introduction	1	(18)
Jacob Golomb
Robert S. Wistrich
PART ONE: IN THEORY
How to De-Nazify Nietzsche's Philosophical Anthropology?	19	(28)
Jacob Golomb
Misinterpretation as the Author's Responsibility (Nietzsche's fascism, for instance)	47	(19)
Berel Lang
Experiences with Nietzsche	66	(24)
Wolfgang Muller-Lauter
Nietzsche and ``Hitler''	90	(17)
Alexander Nehamas
Nietzsche and the Jews	107	(19)
Menahem Brinker
Nietzsche contra Wagner on the Jews	126	(18)
Yirmiyahu Yovel
Between the Cross and the Swastika: A Nietzschean Perspective	144	(29)
Robert S. Wistrich
PART TWO: IN PRACTICE
Ecce Caesar: Nietzsche's Imperial Aspirations	173	(23)
Daniel W. Conway
A Question of Responsibility: Nietzsche with Holderlin at War, 1914-1946	196	(19)
Stanley Corngold
Geoffrey Waite
The Elisabeth Legend: The Cleansing of Nietzsche and the Sullying of His Sister	215	(20)
Robert C. Holub
Nietzsche, Mussolini, and Italian Fascism	235	(28)
Mario Sznajder
Nietzsche and the Fascist Dimension: The Case of Ernst Junger	263	(28)
David Ohana
A Godfather Too: Nazism as a Nietzschean ``Experiment''	291	(10)
Kurt Rudolf Fischer
Critique as Apologetics: Nolte's Interpretation of Nietzsche	301	(20)
Roderick Stackelberg
Works of Nietzsche Cited	321	(2)
Select Bibliography	323	(10)
Index	333