Abstract

Reading and commenting on Nietzsche. New interpretations of Beyond Good and Evil. Two recent volumes on Nietzsche’s text highlight its fundamental ambivalence. On the one hand, Beyond Good and Evil is marked by a dynamic openness for experiment, critique of dogmatism, and stylistic sophistication; on the other hand, the argument centers on themes, such as the opposition between slaves and nobles, exploitation and new forms of tyranny, decadence and will to power, harshness and cheerfulness. Following the two volumes under discussion, I examine how and whether these diametrically opposed aspects of Nietzsche’s text can be brought together in a way that also allows us to reassess other basic themes of Nietzsche’s thought. The latter include the oppositions between the unity and the plurality of the will to power, Nietzsche’s emphasis on the „free spirit“ and his search for a „higher type“, his critique of morality and the creation of new values, his commitment to Europe and authoritarianism.