Loading...
Author(s)
Contributor(s)
Collections
Files
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
In an important article on the meaning of Nietzsche’s philhellenism in the European context, G.W. Most (2006) shows well how the erudite philhellenism may serve to build up relationships between countries within the XIXth century Europe, based on culturalism and nationalism. That’s the way the author understands the meaning of the ancient political framework for F. Nietzsche . We think that this perspective fails to address the key issue of global ethical thinking in Nietzsche’s work, as the famous “We Good European” declaration, by the German philosopher. I propose to start by Most’s view that for Nietzsche, European identity is an ideological process related to the agenda of building a European cultural teleology and narrative. Instead of coming to the conclusion that Nietzsche’s religious devotion towards the great “Tyrannen des Geistes“ (HHI, 261) is the model for achieving this end, meaning to present the famous Presocratic philosophers, following the ordinary reception, as models for European cultural superiority, I shall reinterpret and deconstruct “Hellenismus” in the word “Philhellenismus" providing different ethical reasons why, a second definition should not be neglected in order to understand properly Nietzsche’s idea of “us” as “Good Europeans”. This second definition of the word "Hellenismus" will be presented against the ordinary Nietzsche reception, which admits a sort of religious adulation of the Presocratics exposing Nietzsche to a simplifying philhellenic view, easily mirroring the German nationalism. Nietzsche could definitely admire the Presocratics but not direct them any religious respect. This observation then leads to the conclusion that a global understanding of ethical and cosmopolitan values have been underestimated by Nietzsche’s reception, and it makes sense to describe Nietzsche proposing a supra-European identity and narrative, rather than a kind of European culturalism within the boundaries of the geographical limits of some European countries.
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Postprint
Date
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder