Abstract

In his new book, Paul Katsafanas aims to offer “a comprehensive account” of Nietzsche’s “analysis of the human self” in order to “uncover Nietzsche’s moral psychology”. The goal is admirable, and The Nietzschean Self has considerable merit. On the whole, it is well organized and clearly written, and some of the interpretive theses Katsafanas advocates present an intriguing countercurrent to some of the most popular views in contemporary Nietzsche scholarship. For example, Katsafanas argues that “Nietzsche does not deny the causal efficacy of the will,” and that “Nietzschean unity refers to a relation between drives and conscious thought: unity obtains when the agent’s attitude toward her own action is...