Continental Philosophy

Nietzsche's Revaluation of All Values

Primary Sources:

Nietzsche, Daybreak (D), sections 103, 134, 206
Nietzsche, The Gay Science (GS), sections 125, 174, 335, 338, 341, 352
Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Z), Prologue 1 - 6; First Part "Of Old and Young Women"; Third Part "The Vision and the Riddle", "The Convalescent", Fourth Part "The Sign"
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (BGE), sections 43, 44, 56, 61, 62, 108, 198, 203, 211, 212, 214 - 217, 221, 222, 225 - 239, 242, 251, 257 - 262, 265, 272, 287, 293, 295, 296
Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals (GM), Preface 3, 6; Section I, subsections 9, 11, 17; II, 17, 24; III, 14, 16, 21 - 27
Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols (TI), "Morality as Anti-Nature"; The Four Great Errors", subsections 2, 6 - 8; "The 'Improvers' of Mankind"; "Expeditions of an Untimely", subsections 32 - 43, 45, 49
Nietzsche, Antichrist (AC), Preface; sections 2 - 7, 11, 13, 20, 33 - 35, 39, 40, 54, 56 - 62

Secondary Sources:

A.C. Danto, 1965, Nietzsche as Philosopher, chapter 6, 7
A.C. Danto, 1988, "Some Remarks on the Genealogy of Morals", in R.C. Solomon and K.M. Higgins (eds.), Reading Nietzsche
A. Nehamas, 1985, Nietzsche: Life as Literature, chapter 5
A. Nehamas, 1988, "Who are the 'Philosophers of the Future'?", in R.C. Solomon and K.M. Higgins (eds.), Reading Nietzsche
R.C. Solomon, "Nietzsche ad hominem: Perspectivism, Personality and Ressentiment", in B. Magnus and K.M. Higgins (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche
P. Foot, Virtues and Vices, "The Revaluation of Values"
F. Bergmann, "Nietzsche's Critique of Morality", in R.C. Solomon and K.M. Higgins (eds.), Reading Nietzsche
T.B. Strong, "Nietzsche's Political Misappropriations", in B. Magnus and K.M. Higgins (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche
K. Ansell-Pearson, "Nietzsche, Woman and Political Theory", in P. Patton (ed.), Nietzsche, Feminism and Political Theory
M. Horkheimer and T.W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, "Juliette or Enlightenment and Morality"
J.P Stern, Nietzsche, chapter 5

Literary Illustrations:

Franz Kafka, Parables, "The Imperial Message", "Couriers"
Franz Kafka, The Castle

Questions:

Does Nietzsche reject every morality or does he advocate a new morality? Evaluate what he does advocate.

Consider Nietzsche's attitude towards master morality and slave morality. Is slave morality useful? Is its only use the instrumental value it has for the masters (cf. BGE 61)? Does Nietzsche advocate the "Law of Manu" (cf. TI "Improvers" and AC 56ff)? Is the "Law of Manu" Nietzsche's answer to the "worker question" (cf. TI "Untimely" 40 43 and D 206)? Consider Nietzsche's attitude towards democracy and women (cf. GS 174, BGE 203, 231ff, Z I "Old and Young Women"), in particular, discuss BGE 238. Why cannot we all become masters? Would a society of masters without slaves require or justify democracy on Nietzsche's view? Can Nietzsche's views be of any use for political theory (cf. Ansell-Pearson and T. Strong)?

Does Nietzsche's revaluations of all values amount to nothing but "the basically sane if perhaps dull view that the passions and drives of men be disciplined and guided by reason" (cf. Danto 1965, p 149)? Compare Danto's "tame" Nietzsche (cf. Danto 1965) with his "dangerous" Nietzsche (cf. Danto 1988). Does Nietzsche advocate a compromise between master and slave morality (cf. Solomon)? Does he want to open morality for the formally non-moral virtues of "love, war, art and business, perhaps" (cf. Solomon, p. 205)? Does his revaluation concern the content of morality at all - or only the modality of its recommendation (cf. D 103 and Bergmann)? Can we really give up, and would it be better to give up, the "though shalt" in favor of the "I will" (cf. Bergmann)? What is greatness, what is noble? Is it a good objection against Nietzsche's revaluation to say that he himself was full of ressentiment against the rest of the world - what could have been the effect of his own ressentiment (cf. Solomon, pp. 212-216)? What is the relation between Nietzsche's revaluation of values and the doctrine of eternal recurrence (cf. Z, GS 341, Danto 1965, Nehamas 1988, and Nehamas 1985)? Is the revaluation just the claim that one cannot universalize one's duties (cf. BGE 212, 272, 296, and Nehamas 1988)?

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