This book is an attempt to examine and explore the nature of Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844–1900) critique of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78). It aims to show that Rousseau is a crucial figure in Nietzsche's understanding of modernity and its discontents, and that an examination of Nietzsche's exchange with the figure of Rousseau reveals important insights into his ethical and political thought, in particular the way in which the problem of history constitutes the fundamental leitmotif of his innermost thinking on the fate of humanity and the problem of civilization.

The American philosopher Stanley Rosen has recently declared – in a critical vein it should be noted – that today Nietzsche is recognized by many to be the most important philosopher in the Western, non-Marxist world. It is important in debates on the importance of Nietzsche's work, especially in the context of debates over the nature of the transition from modernity to postmodernity, that the effect is not depoliticized. Readers who are interested in how I conceive Nietzsche's role in the context of current debates on the nature of the postmodern turn in Occidental thought are referred to my essay, ‘Nietzsche on Autonomy and Morality: the Challenge to Political Theory’ (Political Studies, June, 1991). This study sets out to make a contribution to the growing body of literature which now exists on the subject of Nietzsche's politics and his political thought.