Reading Nietzsche Rhetorically

by Thomas, Douglas

• ISBN13: 9781572304260
• ISBN10: 157230426X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-11-24
• Publisher: The Guilford Press
• More Book Details
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Summary

Friedrich Nietzsche is among the most controversial and broadly interpreted figures in the history of contemporary theory. His work is remarkable for the manner in which it resists and disrupts the Western philosophical tradition, illuminating the ways that language creates, defines, and deforms our perspective of being in the world. Focusing on Nietzsche's masterful use of diverse rhetorical strategies and techniques, this book shows how coming to terms with Nietzsche's style is central to understanding his thought. What Nietzsche demands of his readers, Thomas proposes, is an interaction with his texts that goes beyond any surface level of meaning to the level of feeling, mood, and emotion. Examining a range of Nietzsche's writings, and culminating in a reading of THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY, the book explores how Nietzsche's provocative and playful use of language enables him not only to challenge accepted metaphysical truths, but also to reinvigorate rhetoric itself as an alternative means of generating meaning and value.

Author Biography

Douglas Thomas, PhD, is Assistant Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. v
Notes on the Citations	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Nietzsche's Contest	p. 4
Locating Nietzsche's Style	p. 7
The Rhetoric of Nietzsche's Style	p. 11
Nietzsche, Rhetoric, and Interpretation	p. 15
Nietzsche and the Question of Valuation	p. 17
Nietzsche and the Revaluation of Rhetoric	p. 31
Time and Perspectivism: Tragic and Philosophical Time and Culture	p. 36
Perspectivism, Trope, and the Critique of Philosophical Dogmatism	p. 39
Nietzsche and the Reversal of Platonism	p. 41
Conclusion	p. 49
Rhetoric and/as the History of Danger: Nietzsche, Plato, and the Critique of Representation	p. 51
Rhetoric as a History of Danger	p. 52
Plato's Attack on Rhetoric	p. 56
Definition and Division	p. 63
Danger in Nietzsche	p. 69
Vielleicht: Nietzsche's "Dangerous Maybe,"	p. 72
Tragedy, Danger, and the "Truth" of the Riddle	p. 77
Danger and Representation: "How the Real World Finally Became a Fable,"	p. 80
The Rhetoric of Vision: Nietzsche, Plato, and the Danger of Seeing	p. 95
Rhetoric and Vision	p. 99
The Morality of Vision	p. 103
History and Vision	p. 108
Danger and Vision	p. 115
Zarathustra's Vorrede	p. 115
Vision and the Critique of Representation	p. 124
Style	p. 127
Style and Life	p. 128
Nietzsche and Style	p. 131
Nietzsche's Critique of Metaphysical Style	p. 132
The Economy of Style	p. 143
Conclusions: Economies of Style and the Operation of Language	p. 155
Economies of Negation	p. 157
An Economy of Affirmation: Aesthetics and Time in The Birth of Tragedy	p. 162
Aesthetics as Affirmation in The Birth of Tragedy	p. 163
The Articulation of Time in The Birth of Tragedy	p. 167
Tragic Time in Nietzsche	p. 167
Philosophical Time in Nietzsche	p. 168
Conclusions	p. 170
Reading Nietzsche Rhetorically	p. 171
A Nietzschean Rhetoric	p. 172
Notes	p. 175
Index	p. 191
About the Author	p. 198
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