Individual and Community in Nietzsche's Philosophy

Julian Young

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781107049857
• eBook ISBN:
  9781316156957
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

According to Bertrand Russell, Nietzsche's only value is the flourishing of the exceptional individual. The well-being of ordinary people is, in itself, without value. Yet there are passages in Nietzsche that appear to regard the flourishing of the community as a whole alongside, perhaps even above, that of the exceptional individual. The ten essays that comprise this volume wrestle with the tension between individual and community in Nietzsche's writings. Some defend a reading close to Russell's. Others suggest that Nietzsche's highest value is the flourishing of the community as a whole and that exceptional individuals find their highest value only in promoting that flourishing. In viewing Nietzsche from the perspective of community, the essays also cast new light on other aspects of his philosophy, for instance, his ideal of scientific research and his philosophy of language.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgment
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Nietzsche
• 2 “The Time Is Coming When One Will Have to Relearn about Politics”
• 3 The Culture of Myth and the Myth of Culture
• 4 Festivals of Recognition
• 5 Nietzsche’s Scientific Community
• 6 The Good of Community
• 7 The Self versus Society
• 8 Nietzsche and the “Collective Individual”
• 9 “We Hyperboreans”
• 10 Nietzsche, Language, Community
• Index