Nietzsche and nationalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11348690 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carol Diethef (Middlesex University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1992 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 227-234 |
| Publication date | 1992-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of European Ideas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0191-6599 • E-ISSN: 1873-541X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1016/0191-6599(92)90250-g |
| OpenAlex | W1985962115 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 9 |
The first point which we need to clarify in discussing Nietzsche and nationalism is the distinction, for Nietzsche, between a state and a people. For Nietzsche, the modern political state is a suspicious mechanism, aptly dubbed a ‘cold monster’ (2, I, Of the New Idol)’ and accused of many faults, not least the stifling of culture and manipulation of education. In his early works, Nietzsche described the cultural wealth of ancient Greece as being the direct result of a system of government which encouraged education and culture. Paradoxically, there is much in Plato’s Republic that Nietzsche, the opponent of Socrates, would endorse, not least the belief that an intellectual aristocracy was essential for national cultural achievement. In his five lectures On the Future of our Educational Institutions (written, it will be noted, in a dialogue form not dissimilar to Plato’s dialogues), Nietzsche speaks of the ‘most sacred hierarchy in the kingdom of the intellect’ (~ird~ec~ure, p.74) and accuses the modern state of insidiously seeking to level down through educational policies which pander to the masses. In his later writings, Nietzsche qualified his praise of the ancient Greek state, recognising that it, too, operated on the principle of control, so that Greek culture evolved ‘in spite of the ps his sole interest is in its impact on the cultural life of a nation. In the later work Twi/ight of the Idols, Nietzsche has to admit that ‘culture and the state.. . are antagonists.. , In the history of European culture the rise of the “Reich”signifies one thing above all: a disp~ace~e~~ of the centre of gravity’ (T.Z., What the GermansLack, 4). Once Napoleon was removed from centre stage, France enjoyed an artistic revival; Germany, at the time Nietzsche was writing, was Europe’s political Behemoth but is cultural ‘flatland’
Aesthetics · Epistemology · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Law · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 1999 - 1999 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |