Reddit reviews Nietzsche As Political Philosopher (Nietzsche Today)

There is a good book on this subject. Many nietzsche (mis)interpreters take him as antipolitical thinker, someone who really didn't care about politics because he was a staunch individualist. This isn't true and owes much to kaufmann's attempt to render nietzsche a harmless humanist. The main argument they would make is nietzsche's inconsistency and in a sense this is true. Nietzsche did not produce a coherent theory of politics, but neither did john locke. Anyone read the essay and the two treatises would know that the two books are irreconcilable and locke himself admits his inconsistency on politics but he adds since politics isn't like mathematics, inconsistency isn't a vital flaw. Just for his inconsistency, I don't imagine people would say locke was an antipolitical thinker. The same goes for nietzsche too. Nietzsche did care about politics but it is hard to see whether he'd support democracy. The literature is split up on this issue but the majority including myself agree that nietzsche was in favour of a radical aristocracy that would work for the perfection of a few strong individuals instead of the community in general

If you are interested in this discussion, I'd recommend the book called nietzsche as a political philosopher. It is a collection of essays from the two camps of the nietzsche scholars. One camp argues that nietzsche can be interpeted as in favour of democracy and liberalism under proper circumstances. The other that this is wrong and he should be taken to be in favour of an aristocracy that strictly divides people on the basis of their biological capacities and cares only about the best strong class.

https://www.amazon.com/Nietzsche-As-Political-Philosopher-Today/dp/3110359367

Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

> in this case it's fairly obvious that the author isn't well-versed in either Nietzsche as political thinker per se or in the extensive secondary literature on the subject.

Funny you should make that charge because the author of the piece actually has a new book out on Nietzsche as a political thinker. I know editing an academic book on Nietzsche's political philosophy does not necessarily mean that the author is well-versed in such matters, but...

I think your other critiques are equally shallow, to be honest. John Holbo and Corey Robin have both, for example, touched on those topics as recently as May of last year. Are you sure that you are not just upset, like /u/slaveofchrist, that libertarians are making certain connections that non-libertarians find uncomfortable?