ABSTRACT
Despite great lack of agreement concerning most other aspects of his thought, a near consensus has emerged over the last decade concerning Nietzsche's later political philosophy, namely, that it is radically antidemocratic. This consensus stands in opposition to Walter Kaufmann's long influential "existentialist" interpretation of Nietzsche as an essentially nonpolitical, even an antipolitical, thinker who was concerned with the individual and not the group. This chapter argues that, contrary to appearances, Nietzsche is not committed to an antidemocratic politics. Philosophers clearly have no political power in our world or much chance of gaining it. The chapter raises initial questions concerning the standard view that Beyond Good and Evil looks forward to the existence of "new philosophers" who, as the value-legislators of a projected "new caste to rule Europe," will impose their own (aristocratic) values on society.
