ABSTRACT

Walter Kaufmann's rehabilitation of Nietzsche from an alleged proto-Nazi into a philosopher "interesting" to Princeton undergraduates is an astonishing achievement. The French revolution obliterated the aristocratic understanding that culture depends upon an inequality of rights, a recognition of the chasm of rank among men. The teaching of equal rights depends, on Nietzsche's account, upon a belief in the Christian God; that Christianity has been used as a tool to shore up unequal rights is, at least in this context, of no concern to Nietzsche. Christian metaphysics, Christian science, Christian politics all refuse to recognize, much less affirm, that the will to power is the will of life. If life is to be worth living, we must, he insists, gamer the courage to see it as it is. Given this understanding of how life is, look more closely at his vision of the future inhabitants of a life-affirming community.