Nihilism Before NietzscheIn the twentieth century, we often think of Nietzsche, nihilism, and the death of God as inextricably connected. But, in this pathbreaking work, Michael Gillespie argues that Nietzsche, in fact, misunderstood nihilism, and that his misunderstanding has misled nearly all succeeding thought about the subject. Reconstructing nihilism's intellectual and spiritual origins before it was given its determinitive definition by Nietzsche, Gillespie focuses on the crucial turning points in the development of nihilism, from Ockham and the nominalist revolution to Descartes, Fichte, the German Romantics, the Russian nihilists and Nietzsche himself. His analysis shows that nihilism is not the result of the death of God, as Nietzsche believed; but the consequence of a new idea of God as a God of will who overturns all eternal standards of truth and justice. To understand nihilism, one has to understand how this notion of God came to inform a new notion of man and nature, one that puts will in place of reason, and freedom in place of necessity and order. |
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Contents
ONE Descartes and the Deceiver God | 1 |
TWO Descartes and the Origin of the Absolute I | 33 |
THREE Fichte and the Dark Night of the Noumenal I | 64 |
FOUR The Dawn of the Demonic Romanticism and Nihilism | 101 |
FIVE The Demons Unbound Russian Nihilism and the Pursuit of the Promethean | 135 |
SIX From the Demonic to the Dionysian | 174 |
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Common terms and phrases
absolute activity affirm Apollinian argues assertion attempt Bakunin basis Bazarov become believed causality certainty characterized Christianity cogito ergo sum concept consciousness contradiction demonic Descartes Dionysian Dionysus divine omnipotence doubt essence established eternal everything existence fact Faust Fichte Fichte's Fichtean finite freedom Friedrich Nietzsche fundamental genius German German idealism goal God's Goethe Hegel human Ibid idea idealism imagination individual infinite intuition Kant Kant's KGW III KGW VI KGW VIII knowledge Left Hegelianism liberation Manfred Meditations Mephistopheles merely metaphysical modern moral nature negation Niet Nietzsche Nietzsche's view nihilism nihilist movement nihilists nominalist not-I notion Ockham omnipotent path philosophy political possible primordial principle Promethean radical rational realm reason recognized reconciliation rejection revolution revolutionary Romantic Romanticism scholasticism Schopenhauer Schopenhauer's sense skepticism Socrates spirit striving thing-in-itself things thinkers thinking tion tragedy tragic transformation truth Turgenev ultimately understanding unity universal Zarathustra zsche