University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/55472 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. Beyond Society: A study of Hegel's and Nietzsche's political thought by KaupoKand A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Warwick, Department of Philosophy September 2000 Kand CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................3 I. HISTORICAL AND POLmCAL CONTEXTS OF HEGEL'S AND NIETZSCHE'S WRITINGS ........................................................................................................................................... 23 II. HEGEL'S AND NIETZSCHE'S INTERPRETATIONS OF WORLD HISTORY ................... 54 HISTORY, SPIRIT, AND NATURE ...•.........••..•..•..•....••.....................••....•.....•••.•.•.....•................•........••.•. 76 HISTORY AND REASON ••.•••.....•••.•...........................•••.•••.•...............•....••...••••.•.•..•.•.••.....................•.•.• 95 HISTORY AND FREEDOM .....•••.•..••........................••..••.......•...•...•.....••....•..•......•..•.•......•.•..•..............••.. 99 HISTORY AND UNREASON ••.••.••....••.••..•••.•...••.•....•.•..•.•••...••.••......•••....•....•.••.•.......•.....•....•.•.....•....•.... 105 HISTORY AND GOD ..•..•...•........••..••••.....................•.•..•............................................•...•..•......•..•........ 110 ID. HEGEL AND NIETZSCHE ON THE STATE, SOCIETY AND INDIVIDUAL ................... 117 HEGEL'S AND NIETZSClIE'S NOTIONS OF TIlE STATE •.•.•.•.............•••..•.•.••...•.•..........•...........•.•..........• 117 HEGEL'S CONCEPT OF TIlE ETIllCAL STATE (DER SITTLICHE STAAT) .............................................•..... 143 HEGEL AND NIETZSClIE ON TIlE INDIVIDUAL .................................................................................... 165 IV. THE POLmCS OF CULTURE ................................................................................................. 174 HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF TIlE ABSOLUTE SPIRIT ............................................................................... 192 HEGEL'S AND NIETZSClIE'S INTERPRETATIONS OF CULTURE ............................................................ 196 NIETZSClIE'S CONCEPT OF LIFE ......................................................................................................... 206 HEGEL AND NIETZSClIE ON ART, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION ..........................................................208 v. THE PRODUCTION OF GENIUS .............................................................................................. 233 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 261 APPEND IX .......................................................................................................................................... 269 THE PROBLEM OF SOCRATES IN NIETZSClIE'S PHILOSOPHY ..............................................................269 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 276 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 277 2 IGind Beyond Society: A study of Hegel's and Nietzsche's political thought Introduction Anyone who seeks to understand the nineteenth and more importantly the twentieth century's continental thought cannot avoid the works of two nineteenth century German thinkers: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900).1 As Walter Kaufmann, a distinguished translator and commentator, points out in his book Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist nearly all twentieth century continental thinkers have been influenced by the ideas of Hegel and Nietzsche. The works of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Max Weber (1864- 1920), Thomas Mann (1875-1955), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), Albert Camus (1913-1960), Michel Foucault (1926-1984), and more recently Gilles Deleuze (1926- 1996), Jean-Fran~ois Lyotard (1924-1998) and Jacques Derrida (1930- ) are well- known even beyond academia and might serve as proof of Kaufmann's argument. Kaufmann, who has closely examined the ideas of both thinkers, notes that not just the intellectual world but also political life in Europe has been influenced by the works of Hegel and Nietzsche and that is the reason why one ought to study and compare their ideas and works.2 The political project of Karl Marx (1818-1883), a neo-Hegelian, led in 1917 to the socialist revolution in Russia and therefore determined the political course of Europe during the twentieth century. On the other hand the political ideas of Nietzsche were, unfortunately, often misused by Nazi ideologists. 1 Both philosophers were sons of Protestant priests named after Prussian kings, had solid classical secondary education and went to university to study theology. Both break with theology and continue studies, Hegel in philosophy and Nietzsche in classical philology. 2 On Kaufmann's interpretation of Nietzsche, see his Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (1950) and for his view on Hegel, see Hegel: Re-interpretation, Texts and Commentary (1965). 3 Kand Although the significance of Hegel's and Nietzsche's philosophy and political thought is acknowledged by many contemporary thinkers, there is no full-scale and critical study of the ideas of those two thinkers available. As Stephen Houlgate points out in Hegel, Nietzsche and the Criticism of Metaphysics, the only comparative and extensive study of the Hegel-Nietzsche relationship available at the moment in English, "The discussion has been fragmented and scattered amongst articles and chapters of books [ ... ].,,3 In his study Houlgate examines the metaphysical and aesthetic aspects in the works of Hegel and Nietzsche. The aim of my research is to examine the historical and political ideas of those two thinkers. In line with Gilles Deleuze's study Nietzsche and Philosophy, I argue that Nietzsche's philosophy must be understood essentially as a reaction against Hegel and Hegelianism. I must also acknowledge that I gained many valuable insights from Karl LOwith's book From Hegel to Nietzsche: The Revolution in Nineteenth Century thought. Obviously, in focusing on Hegel one should not forget Plato'S, Socrates', Rousseau's, Kant's or Schopenhauer's influence on Nietzsche's thought. As Keith Ansell-Pearson has lucidly demonstrated in his study Nietzsche contra Rousseau: A study of Nietzsche's moral and political thought, not just Hegel but also Rousseau could be seen as Nietzsche's philosophical target. However, in this work I shall limit myself (because of restricted space and the availability of other relevant studies) mainly to Nietzsche's relationship to Hegel's political and ethical philosophy. Many commentators (for example M. Heidegger, W. Kaufmann and A. Nehamas) consider Nietzsche to be an a-political or even anti-political thinker whereas Hegel, without doubt, is regarded as one of the founders of contemporary political thought. It seems that this distancing of Nietzsche from anything political is done in order to divorce his philosophical legacy from Nazi ideology. Yet, however 3 Houigate, Hege~ Nietzsche and the Criticism ofMetaphysics, hereafter lIN, p.3 4 Kand noble the cause has been it has overlooked the fact that throughout his life Nietzsche was, like Hegel, a critical thinker with an acute sense of the politics of his time. Hegel's political project is expressed in his Philosophy of Right (Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts), Philosophy of History (Vorlesungen uber die Philosophie der Geschichte) and the third part of his Encyclopaedia called the Philosophy of Mind (Philosophie des Geistes). The problem with Nietzsche's project is, as Ansell-Pearson points out in his An Introduction to Nietzsche as Political Thinker that "nowhere in his writing does Nietzsche ever present a systematic account of his political thinking.',4 A similar opinion is expressed by Tracy Strong who in his essay "Nietzsche and Politics" writes as follows: "No point has been made more often than that Nietzsche has no coherent doctrine of modern politics. By this it is generally meant that he provides no political program, no comprehensive political analysis."S Despite all these anti-political claims and in line with Strong, I shall argue that Nietzsche has a distinct political program, although it is dispersed between various works. Strong asserts that Nietzsche's political philosophy is fragmentary, "like the politics of his day".6 A similar point is also put forward by Ansell-Pearson who in his book An Introduction to Nietzsche as Political Thinker argues that "nowhere in his writing does Nietzsche ever present a systematic account of his political thinking.,,7 This is not just because of the "fragmented politics of his day" but also because "his deepest intellectual instincts were 'anti-system' .,,8 It is well-known that Hegel's