 |
Zarathustra and his Asinine Friends: A Study of Post-Modern, Post-Liberal Friendship
| |
| | Unformatted Document Text:
2
though mostly neglected in the secondary literature, in these works “Nietzsche suggests
that there is a close connection between friendship and selfhood, contending that an
individual’s friendships reflect something about his or her identity.”
5
Moreover, a careful
look at these works also reveals that friendship lends itself nicely to self-knowledge,
6
that
it is not inimical to self-overcoming,
7
that “friendship is a forum in which pity’s positive
characteristics can manifest themselves,”
8
and finally that “solitude need not exclude
friendship.”
9
Clearly, Nietzsche was not always so caustic in his appraisal of friendship.
While for the time being I will defer commenting on Abbey’s specific claims
regarding Nietzsche’s middle work, it is worth pointing out that she is almost correct in
claiming that “there is a gradual enervation of Nietzsche’s depiction of friendship and its
importance for higher human beings.”
10
There was certainly a departure from his view of
optimistic view of friendship, but there was really nothing gradual about it. In fact, it is
quite possible to argue that there is a clear and abrupt departure from his middle work to
Zarathustra and beyond. One is hard-pressed to find anything praiseworthy said of
friendship after his famous “Incipit tragoedia” at the end of the Book Four of The Gay
5
Ruth Abbey, “Circles, Ladders and Stars: Nietzsche on Friendship,” in The Challenge to Friendship in
Modernity, eds., Preston King and Heather Devere (London: Frank Cass, 2000), 51. Nietzsche’s “middle period” in generally thought to include Human, All to Human (which includes Assorted Opinions and Maxims and The Wanderer and His Shadow), Daybreak, and the first four volumes of The Gay Science. In other words, everything after his fascination with Schopenhauer and Wagner up to the introduction of Zarathustra. Nietzsche himself divided his work into three periods, which he called “The Road to Wisdom.” See Eric Voegelin’s note, in Collected Works, vol. 25, p 251, where he also says “One cannot and should not dispense with it, but one should be aware that a too exclusive adherence to it is apt to obscure certain traits of Nietzsche’s thought that remain permanent throughout the three periods.”
6
Ibid., 54-6.
7
Ibid., 56-9.
8
Ibid., 60-1.
9
Ibid., 62.
10
Ibid., 66.
|
| | Authors: Avramenko, Richard. |
|
| |
|
|
2
though mostly neglected in the secondary literature, in these works “Nietzsche suggests
that there is a close connection between friendship and selfhood, contending that an
individual’s friendships reflect something about his or her identity.”
5
Moreover, a careful
look at these works also reveals that friendship lends itself nicely to self-knowledge,
6
that
it is not inimical to self-overcoming,
7
that “friendship is a forum in which pity’s positive
characteristics can manifest themselves,”
8
and finally that “solitude need not exclude
friendship.”
9
Clearly, Nietzsche was not always so caustic in his appraisal of friendship.
While for the time being I will defer commenting on Abbey’s specific claims
regarding Nietzsche’s middle work, it is worth pointing out that she is almost correct in
claiming that “there is a gradual enervation of Nietzsche’s depiction of friendship and its
importance for higher human beings.”
10
There was certainly a departure from his view of
optimistic view of friendship, but there was really nothing gradual about it. In fact, it is
quite possible to argue that there is a clear and abrupt departure from his middle work to
Zarathustra and beyond. One is hard-pressed to find anything praiseworthy said of
friendship after his famous “Incipit tragoedia” at the end of the Book Four of The Gay
5
Ruth Abbey, “Circles, Ladders and Stars: Nietzsche on Friendship,” in The Challenge to Friendship in
Modernity, eds., Preston King and Heather Devere (London: Frank Cass, 2000), 51. Nietzsche’s “middle
period” in generally thought to include Human, All to Human (which includes Assorted Opinions and
Maxims and The Wanderer and His Shadow), Daybreak, and the first four volumes of The Gay Science. In
other words, everything after his fascination with Schopenhauer and Wagner up to the introduction of
Zarathustra. Nietzsche himself divided his work into three periods, which he called “The Road to
Wisdom.” See Eric Voegelin’s note, in Collected Works, vol. 25, p 251, where he also says “One cannot
and should not dispense with it, but one should be aware that a too exclusive adherence to it is apt to
obscure certain traits of Nietzsche’s thought that remain permanent throughout the three periods.”
6
Ibid., 54-6.
7
Ibid., 56-9.
8
Ibid., 60-1.
9
Ibid., 62.
10
Ibid., 66.
|
|
 Convention | | Convention is an application service for managing large or small academic conferences, annual meetings, and other types of events! | | Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. | | Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! | | Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! | | Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. | | Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! | | Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! | | Click here for more information. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
