Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on the texts and list of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Nietzsche contra Rousseau
- 2 Civilization and its discontents: Rousseau on man's natural goodness
- 3 Squaring the circle: Rousseau on the General Will
- 4 Nietzsche's Dionysian drama on the destiny of the soul: on the ‘Genealogy of Morals’
- 5 Zarathustra's descent: on a teaching of redemption
- 6 Bending the bow: great politics, or, the problem of the legislator
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Note on the texts and list of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Nietzsche contra Rousseau
- 2 Civilization and its discontents: Rousseau on man's natural goodness
- 3 Squaring the circle: Rousseau on the General Will
- 4 Nietzsche's Dionysian drama on the destiny of the soul: on the ‘Genealogy of Morals’
- 5 Zarathustra's descent: on a teaching of redemption
- 6 Bending the bow: great politics, or, the problem of the legislator
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The evil, the unhappy, and the exceptional human being – all these should also have their philosophy, their good right, their sunshine! Pity is not needed for them … not confession, conjuring of souls, and forgiveness of sins. But a new justice is what is needed!
Nietzsche, The Gay Science, section 289.It cannot be doubted that Rousseau, who portrayed himself not without a certain degree of immodesty, as the philosopher of modern humanity's misery and unhappiness, experienced and suffered from tremendous bouts of resentment in his life. Rousseau tried to subject the problem of civilization – the problem whether man progresses through it – to the cold scrutiny of the dispassionate philosopher, and ended up presenting a damning indictment of the moral bankruptcy of modern civilization. It is history which cultivates and disciplines the human animal, transforming a limited and stupid creature into a moral and rational one. Rousseau's attitude to history, however, is deeply ambiguous. On the one hand, he laments the rise of the reign of vanity and resentment which has been created by the decadent and corrupt rule of the rich over the poor, while, on the other hand, he recognizes that it is only by undergoing the process of social development that the human animal can become a moral being capable of the highest freedom, that of moral liberty.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Nietzsche contra RousseauA Study of Nietzsche's Moral and Political Thought, pp. 225 - 231Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991