Beyond Tragedy and Eternal Peace: Politics and International Relations in the Thought of Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche's legacy is explored in Beyond Tragedy and Eternal Peace, highlighting his critique of metaphysics and reflections on politics and international relations. Jean-François Drolet analyzes Nietzsche's account of the political processes, institutions, and ideologies shaping public life in Germany and Europe during the 1870s and 1880s, anticipating a new kind of politics. He critiques nationalist, liberal, and socialist ideologies for failing to grapple with the death of God and the crisis of European nihilism. Nietzsche's philosophy offers a powerful reckoning with the changing political practices, norms, and agencies that led to the collapse of the European society of states during the early twentieth century.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2021
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and scholar of Latin and Greek, has had a profound impact on modern intellectual history. His work, "Beyond Tragedy and Eternal Peace," provides an overview of his legacy, highlighting the synergy between his critique of metaphysics and his reflections on the politics and international relations of the late nineteenth century. Jean-François Drolet's book exposes and analyzes Nietzsche's account of the political processes, institutions, and dominant ideologies shaping public life in Germany and Europe during the 1870s and 1880s. Nietzsche anticipated a new kind of politics, borne out of events such as the Franco-Prussian War, the unification of Germany under Bismarck, the advent of mass democracy, and the rise and transformation of European nationalism. Focusing on conflict and political violence, Drolet expertly reconstructs Nietzsche's fierce and continued critique of the nationalist, liberal, and socialist ideologies of his age, which the philosopher believed failed to grapple with the death of God and the crisis of European nihilism it engendered. As this reconstructive interpretation reveals, Nietzsche's philosophy offers a powerful and still greatly underappreciated reckoning with the changing political practices, norms, and agencies that led to the momentous collapse of the European society of states during the early twentieth century.

Weight: 490g
Dimension: 162 x 235 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228005599