In this exciting new study, Don Dombowsky proposes that the foundation of Nietzsche's political thought is the aristocratic liberal critique of democratic society. But he claims that Nietzsche radicalizes this critique through a Machiavellian conversion, based on a reading of The Prince , adapting Machiavellian virtù (the shaping capacity of the legislator), and immoralism (the techniques applied in political rule), and that, consequently, Nietzsche is better understood in relation to the political ideology of the neo-Machiavellian elite theorists of his own generation.

Autorentext

DON DOMBOWSKY is currently teaching at Bishop's University, Canada. He has published articles in the Journal of Nietzsche Studies and Nietzsche-Studien.

Zusammenfassung
This book provides a lucid account of Nietzsche's political thought, challenging those contemporary readings of Nietzsche which say that he is apolitical, amenable to liberal democracy or resistant to political codification. The author locates a Machiavellian militancy at the core of Nietzsche's poltical conception, a radical response to the nineteenth century aristocratic liberal critique of democratic society. Nietzsche's principal philosophical doctrines resonate with political responsiblility. Far from being an untimely figure, his political concerns and solutions are shared by many of his own generation. Nietzschean militancy operates in the Bonapartist trajectory: autocratic will in the guise of popular rule.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction PART 1: WILLS TO POWER, GENEALOGY: WHICH ONES ARE AT WAR? Ressentiment Command and obedience Aristocracy, the masses and the European worker The social contract Freedom and the free spirits Order of rank The reverence for institutions The revaluation of all values: Die große Politik Political organization and resistance: The new party of life PART 2: THE RADICAL LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC READING OF NIETZSCHE The thesis of a discontinuity between Nietzsche's philosophy and his politics The subject Perspectivism Agonism Pity PART 3: NIETZSCHE AND ARISTOCRATIC LIBERALISM Excursus The state Egalitarianism Individualism PART 4: NIETZSCHE AND MACHIAVELLIANISM Philosophical parallels Virtù Immoralism The right to rule and the process of legitimation Control and manipulation Nietzsche and neo-Machiavellianism (Nietzsche's Machiavellian militancy) Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index