Nietzsche's Struggle against Pessimism

Friedrich Nietzsche's approach to making life worth living changed over time, and his reading of pessimists such as Eduard von Hartmann, Olga Plümacher, and Julius Bahnsen has been under-explored. Patrick Hassan's book seeks to correct this by closely mapping Nietzsche's philosophical development to relevant axiological and epistemological issues, disentangling his critiques of pessimism and elucidating how familiar Nietzschean themes can and should be assessed against this philosophical backdrop.

Format: Hardback
Length: 284 pages
Publication date: 16 November 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Friedrich Nietzsche was one of many who sought to answer the question of how life can be made worth living in the face of its abundant suffering. While he always sought to resist pessimism, his strategy for doing so and the extent to which he was willing to concede conceptual grounds to pessimists shifted dramatically over time. His reading of pessimists such as Eduard von Hartmann, Olga Plümacher, and Julius Bahnsen, as well as their critics, such as Eugen Dühring and James Sully, has been under-explored in the secondary literature, isolating him from his intellectual context. Patrick Hassan's book seeks to correct this by closely mapping Nietzsche's philosophical development to the relevant axiological and epistemological issues. It disentangles his various critiques of pessimism, elucidating how familiar Nietzschean themes (e.g. eternal recurrence, aesthetic justification, will to power, and his critique of Christianity) can and should be assessed against this philosophical backdrop.

Nietzsche's reading of pessimists such as Eduard von Hartmann, Olga Plümacher, and Julius Bahnsen has been under-explored in the secondary literature, isolating him from his intellectual context. Patrick Hassan's book seeks to correct this by closely mapping Nietzsche's philosophical development to the relevant axiological and epistemological issues. It disentangles his various critiques of pessimism, elucidating how familiar Nietzschean themes (e.g. eternal recurrence, aesthetic justification, will to power, and his critique of Christianity) can and should be assessed against this philosophical backdrop.

Nietzsche's reading of pessimists such as Eduard von Hartmann, Olga Plümacher, and Julius Bahnsen has been under-explored in the secondary literature, isolating him from his intellectual context. Patrick Hassan's book seeks to correct this by closely mapping Nietzsche's philosophical development to the relevant axiological and epistemological issues. It disentangles his various critiques of pessimism, elucidating how familiar Nietzschean themes (e.g. eternal recurrence, aesthetic justification, will to power, and his critique of Christianity) can and should be assessed against this philosophical backdrop.

Nietzsche's reading of pessimists such as Eduard von Hartmann, Olga Plümacher, and Julius Bahnsen has been under-explored in the secondary literature, isolating him from his intellectual context. Patrick Hassan's book seeks to correct this by closely mapping Nietzsche's philosophical development to the relevant axiological and epistemological issues. It disentangles his various critiques of pessimism, elucidating how familiar Nietzschean themes (e.g. eternal recurrence, aesthetic justification, will to power, and his critique of Christianity) can and should be assessed against this philosophical backdrop.

ISBN-13: 9781009380270