ABSTRACT
The philosopher Derrida associates most especially with the first, Michel Foucault and with the second, Martin Heidegger. Derrida distinguishes his own philosophical approach from both these strands or rather problematises the choice between them: 'it goes without saying that the choice between these two forms of deconstruction cannot be simple and unique'. This chapter looks at how Nietzsche's work evolves a radical questioning of the philosophical tradition, particularly in terms of the relation between philosophy and art. This allows Nietzsche to subvert the 'will to knowledge' and to foreground the conception of a Dionysian 'truth as appearance', which will become so important for Derrida's reading in Spurs. In Spurs, Derrida will take up a very particular reading of Nietzsche which emphasises a conception of 'truth as appearance', truth as the 'superficiality of existence'. The problematicity does not simply concern Nietzsche's reading of woman which was already somewhat infamous.
