INTER- NATIONAL NIETZSCHE STUDIES and by which of them he was infl uenced. The result is a new and much more Nietzsche’s contextual understanding of Nietzsche’s life and thinking. Philosophical Thomas H. Brobjer is an associate professor in the depart- Fr ment of the history of science and ideas infl at Uppsala University, Sweden, and the Context author of Nietzsche’s Ethics of Character: ne A Study of Nietzsche’s Ethics and Its Place in the History of Moral Thinking. An Intellectual Biography A volume in the series International Nietzsche Studies, edited by Richard Schacht H. B v as w I N Design by Dennis Roberts Thomas H. Brobjer International Nietzsche Studies Richard Schacht, series editor Editorial Board Rüdiger Bittner (Bielefeld) Eric Blondel (Paris-Sorbonne) Maudemarie Clark (Colgate) David Cooper (Durham) Arthur Danto (Columbia) Kathleen Higgins (Texas-Austin) Bernd Magnus (California-Riverside) Alexander Nehamas (Princeton) Martha Nussbaum (Chicago) Gary Shapiro (Richmond) Robert Solomon (Texas-Austin) Tracy Strong (California-San Diego) Yirmiyahu Yovel (Jerusalem) A list of books in the series appears at the back of this book. International Nietzsche Studies Nietzsche has emerged as a thinker of extraordinary importance, not only in the history of philosophy but also in many fields of contemporary inquiry. Nietzsche studies are maturing and flourishing in many parts of the world. This internationalization of inquiry with respect to his thought and significance may be expected to continue. International Nietzsche Studies is conceived as a series of monographs and essay collections that will reflect and contribute to these developments. The series will present studies in which responsible scholarship is joined to the anal- ysis, interpretation, and assessment of the many aspects of Nietzsche’s thought that bear significantly upon matters of moment today. In many respects, Nietzsche is our contemporary with whom we do well to reckon, even when we find ourselves at odds with him. The series is intended to promote this reckon- ing, embracing diverse interpretive perspectives, philosophical orientations, and critical assessments. The series is also intended to contribute to the ongoing reconsideration of the character, agenda, and prospects of philosophy itself. Nietzsche was much concerned with philosophy’s past, present, and future. He sought to affect not only its understanding but also its practice. The future of philosophy is an open question today, thanks at least in part to Nietzsche’s challenge to the philo- sophical traditions of which he was so critical. It remains to be seen—and deter- mined—whether philosophy’s future will turn out to resemble the “philosophy of the future” to which he proffered a prelude and of which he provided a preview, by both precept and practice. But this is a possibility that we do well to take seriously. International Nietzsche Studies will attempt to do so while contributing to the understanding of Nietzsche’s philosophical thinking and its bearing upon contemporary inquiry. —Richard Schacht Nietzsche’s Philosophical Context Nietzsche’s Philosophical Context An Intellectual Biography Thomas H. Brobjer University of Illinois Press Urbana and Chicago © 2008 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America c 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Brobjer, Thomas H. Nietzsche’s philosophical context : an intellectual biography / Thomas H. Brobjer. p. cm. — (International Nietzsche studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-252-03245-5 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-252-03245-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844–1900. 2. Philosophers— Germany—Biography. I. Title b3316.b76 2007 193—dc2 [b] 2007035940 Contents Preface ix Notes on References xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 1. Nietzsche As Reader 6 2. The Major Philosophical Influences on Nietzsche’s Thinking 22 3. The Young Nietzsche: 1844–69 43 4. The Early Nietzsche: 1869–74 51 5. The Middle Nietzsche: 1875–82 61 6. The Late Nietzsche: 1883–89 90 Epilogue 105 Notes 111 Table 1. Chronological Listing of Nietzsche’s Philosophical Reading 185 Table 2. Philosophical Titles in Nietzsche’s Library: Unknown If and When Read 237 Table 3. Alphabetical Listing of Nietzsche’s Philosophical Reading 243 Index 259 Preface A large number of interpretations of Nietzsche’s philosophy are published every year in the form of books and articles. But there has been a shortage of studies that show how Nietzsche worked and thought, to which questions and think- ers he responded, and by which of them he was influenced. A few such studies have been published, mainly in German, but they all deal with specific ques- tions, thinkers, or books. Studies of the context of Nietzsche’s philosophy, and especially of his reading, are essential for a correct understanding of his think- ing and to avoid anachronistic interpretations. Nietzsche did not think in a vacuum. The present study aims to fill this gap by summarizing many years of work on his library and about his reading generally and by collecting all we know about the philosophical influences on him. He certainly read much more than he led us to believe, and this reading often constituted the starting point for, or counterpoint to, much of his own thinking and writing. This study contains much previously unpublished information about Nietzsche’s reading and library, including a great deal about the annotations he made in his books. It is the first extensive study of his reading, uncover- ing which books he read, carefully examining the evidence for when he read them, and attempting to say something about how he responded to that read- ing. This study contains much new information about books he read, acquired from many hundreds of previously undeciphered and unpublished book bills (from the Goethe-Schiller Archive in Weimar) and other sources. The sources of and stimuli for many of his philosophical concepts, such as will to power, Übermensch (overman), eternal recurrence, perspectivism, and nihilism are discussed in relation to the texts he read. Furthermore, through the examina- tion of the books Nietzsche read and their content, I have been able to show, for example, that he had a reasonably extensive knowledge of figures of whom x Preface it previously has been assumed he had none—such as Søren Kierkegaard and Karl Marx—and also some knowledge of such figures as Max Stirner, Friedrich Engels, and William James. This book constitutes an intellectual biography of Nietzsche, written from the perspective of his reading of philosophical texts, and, more importantly, through its chronological presentation and discussion of Nietzsche’s reading, broadens access to the philosophical context of his think- ing and writing. Note on References Abbreviations Titles in German and English Year Published AC Der Antichrist (The Antichrist) 1895 (but written in 1888) EH Ecce homo (Ecce Homo) 1908 (but written in 1888) FW Die fröhliche Wissenschaft 1882 (The Gay [or Joyful ] Science) FW V Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, 1887 Book V (The Gay Science, Book V) (Book V and poems were added in the second edition in 1887.) GD Götzen-Dämmerung 1889 (but written (Twilight of the Idols) in 1888) GM Zur Genealogie der Moral (On the 1887 Genealogy of Morals) GT Die Geburt der Tragödie 1872 (The Birth of Tragedy) JGB Jenseits von Gut und Böse 1886 (Beyond Good and Evil ) M Morgenröthe (Dawn) 1881 MA Menschliches, Allzumenschliches 1878 (Human, All Too Human) NCW Nietzsche contra Wagner (Nietzsche 1895 (but com- contra Wagner) piled in 1888) xii Note on References UB Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen (Untimely 1873–76 Meditation) UB I David Strauss: der Bekenner und der 1873 Schriftsteller (David Strauss, the Confessor and the Writer) UB II Von Nutzen und Nachtheil der Historie 1874 für das Leben (On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life) UB III Schopenhauer als Erzieher (Schopenhauer 1874 As Educator) UB IV Richard Wagner in Bayreuth (Richard 1876 Wagner in Bayreuth) VM Vermischte Meinungen und Sprüche 1879 (Assorted Opinions and Maxims) W Der Fall Wagner (The Case of Wagner) 1888 WM Der Wille zur Macht (The Will to Power) Compilation of Nietzsche’s notes made by his sister and coworkers. Published in 1901 and 1906 and in an enlarged edition in 1911. Today these notes can be found in volumes 10–13 of KSA. WS Der Wanderer und sein Schatten (The 1880 (actually Wanderer and His Shadow) published in December 1879) Za Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke 1883–85 Zarathustra) (Four books; book four was published privately.) KSA is the conventional abbreviation for Friedrich Nietzsche: Kritische Studien- ausgabe, 15 vols., edited by G. Colli and M. Montinari (1967, 1980). Volume 14 is a commentary volume. KSB is the abbreviation for the corresponding eight volumes of Nietzsche’s letters, by the same editors. These letters have not been translated into English except for a small selection by Christopher Middleton in Note on References xiii Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1969, 1996). I refer to Nietzsche’s letters by recipient and date, which makes them easy to identify, as they are published in chronological order in KSB. Letters to Nietzsche have been published in the larger bound edition, KGB (Friedrich Nietzsche: Kritische Gesamtausgabe: Briefe). KSA does not contain Nietzsche’s writings before he became a professor at Basel in 1869. This material has been published in Friedrich Nietzsche: Frühe Schriften, 5 vols. (München: C. H. Beck’sche Verlag, 1933–40, reprinted 1994), abbreviated BAW (followed by volume and page numbers). These early writings are slowly being published in the bound edition KGW, section I (i.e., Friedrich Nietzsche: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, also initiated by G. Colli and M. Montinari). A concor- dance between the pages of the KSA volumes and the KGW volumes is included in KSA 15.