Nietzsche and Political Thought

Friedrich Nietzsche was a troublesome genius, a figure outside the mainstreamphilosophical tradition whose very apartness has made him central to contemporary philosophy.Nietzsche and Political Thought reclaims the political implications of Nietzsche's work: it showshow his philosophy of power addresses key issues in modern political thought especially those havingto do with the historical and cultural nature of human agency.In this thought-provoking study, MarkWarren claims entirely new ground. He develops a "postmetaphysical" political philosophy thatprovides a link between Nietzsche's work and the later philosophies of the Frankfurt School andMichel Foucault.Warren comes to terms with Nietszche's views on power, freedom, domination,equality, ideology - topics that recent interpretations have neglected in favor of a focus on theliterary and philosophical aspects of his work, but that in fact make these literary andphilosophical concerns relevant to social and political thought. Importantly, Warren draws adistinction between the implications of Nietzsche's theories concerning power and agency forcontemporary political thought and Nietzsche's own politics. He demonstrates how Nietzsche's actualpolitical views did not reflect - and in large part falsified - his own philosophical insights whichtaken by themselves point toward a pluralistic society in which egalitarianism underscoresindividuality. But his politics, Warren argues, derived too heavily from a deficient understandingof modern social and political organization.Mark Warren is Visiting Assistant Professor of PoliticalScience at Northwestern University. Nietzsche and Political Thought is included in the seriesStudies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy.

Mark Warren is Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University.