The Nietzschean Mind

Abstract

From his early essay ‘Homer’s Contest’ to his final writings, Nietzsche’s fundamental model of both individual and collective modes of government is provided by the model of Greek institution of the agon, classically represented in the political contests conducted in the agora, in dramatic competitions such as the Dionysia, and in the Olympic games. Nietzsche’s agonism, it is argued, is bound up with his doctrine of will to power, his understanding of freedom (autonomy) and his perfectionism as well as his commitment to (psychological and sociological) realism in ethics and political theory, to his development of genealogy as an historical approach to philosophy, and to his deployment of exemplars to articulate alternative ethical ideals. Using this framework, this chapter explores Nietzsche’s relationship to contemporary political philosophy in terms of the themes of realism, agonism and genealogy.

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