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Publié par

University of Wales Press

Date de parution

11 novembre 2015

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9781783168019

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

7 Mo

The topic chosen by Nietzsche for his Pforta dissertation was Theognis, his life in Megara, his lyrical production, and his views on the gods, morality and politics. Nietzsche saw Theognis as the intellectual champion of the defeated Megarian aristocracy, who sought to preserve the Dorian spirit and its noble virtues. The interests that guided Nietzsche transcended scientific philology and embraced a concern for the social and political context he adumbrated in the Theognidea. The editors of this volume refer to this novel standpoint as constituting a rudimentary political philology, showing that Theognis’ aristocratism determined and guided Nietzsche’s critique of the moral point of view and his conception of an aristocratic state.

Contents

Introduction: Nietzsche’s Aristocratism by Renato Cristi
Part I: Theognis and Nietzsche’s Aristocratism
Part II. Nietzsche’s Aristocratic Ethics: Command and Obedience
Part III. Nietzsche’s Aristocratic Radicalism: Charismatic Authority
Nietzsche, On Theognis of Megara (De Theognide Megarensi), translated by Oscar Velásquez
Nietzsche, Studies on Theognis (Studien zu Theognis), translated by Manuel Knoll & Renato Cristi
Introduction: Nietzsche’s Aristocratism by Renato Cristi
Part I: Theognis and Nietzsche’s Aristocratism
Part II. Nietzsche’s Aristocratic Ethics: Command and Obedience
Part III. Nietzsche’s Aristocratic Radicalism: Charismatic Authority
Nietzsche, On Theognis of Megara (De Theognide Megarensi)
Translated by Oscar Velásquez
Nietzsche, Studies on Theognis (Studien zu Theognis)
Translated by Manuel Knoll & Renato Cristi

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Publié par

University of Wales Press

Date de parution

11 novembre 2015

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9781783168019

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

7 Mo

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY NOW
NIETZSCHE
ON THEOGNIS OF MEGARA
Edited by
RENATO CRISTI AND
OSCAR VELÁSQUEZPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY NOWChief Editor of the Series:
Howard Williams, Aberystwyth University, Wales
Associate Editors:
Wolfgang Kersting, University of Kiel, Germany
Steven B. Smith, Yale University, USA
Peter Nicholson, University of York, England
Renato Cristi, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada
Political Philosophy Now is a series which deals with authors, topics
and periods in political philosophy from the perspective of their
relevance to current debates. The series presents a spread of subjects
and points of view from various traditions, which include European
and New World debates in political philosophy.
Also in series
Hegel and Marx After the Fall of Communism
David MacGregor
Politics and Teleology in Kant
Edited by Paul Formosa, Avery Goldman and Tatiana Patrone
Identity, Politics and the Novel: The Aesthetic Moment
Ian Fraser
Kant on Sublimity and Morality
Joshua Rayman
Politics and Metaphysics in Kant
Edited by Sorin Baiasu, Sami Pihlstrom and Howard Williams
Nietzsche and Napoleon: The Dionysian Conspiracy
Don DombowskyPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY NOW
Nietzsche
On Theognis of Megara
Renato Cristi and Oscar Velásquez
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS • 2015© Renato Cristi and Oscar Velásquez, 2015
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium
by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally
to some other use of this publication) without the written
permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for
the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of
this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales
Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Libr ary Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBN 978-1-78316-800-2
eISBN 978-1-78316-801-9
The rights of Renato Cristi, Oscar Velásquez and Manuel Knoll to
be identifed as authors and translators in respect of this work have
been asserted in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset by Mark Heslington Ltd, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, WiltshireContents
List of Abbreviations viii
Introduction: Nietzsche’s Aristocratism 1
Renato Cristi
Part I Theognis and Nietzsche’s Arisocratism 8
Part II Nietzsche’s Aristocratic Ethics: Command and
Obedience 41
Part IIINietzsche’s Aristocratic Radicalism:
Charismatic Authority 66
Friedrich Nietzsche
On Theognis of Megara (‘De Theognide Megarensi’) 123
Translated by Oscar Velásquez
Friedrich Nietzsche
Studies on Theognis (‘Studien zu Theognis’) 167
Translated by Manuel Knoll and Renato Cristi
References 173
Index185This page intentionally left blank.List of Abbreviations
AC The Anti-Christ
BAW Schriften den Studenten- und Militärzeit 1866–1868
BGE Beyond Good and Evil
BT Birth of Tragedy
D Daybreak
DTM ‘De Theognide Megarensi’
EH Ecce Homo
GM On the Genealogy of Morals
GS Gay Science
GTS ‘Zur Geschichte der Theognideischen Spruchsammlung’
HH Human, All Too Human
KGB Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Briefwechsel
KSA Sämtliche Werke. Kritische Studienausgabe
PTG Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks
SzT ‘Studien zu Theognis’
TI Twilight of the Idols
UM Untimely Meditations
WP The Will to Power
WS The Wanderer and his Shadow
Z ZarathustraThis page intentionally left blank.1Introduction: Nietzsche’s Aristocratism
Renato Cristi
Will it ever be possible to solve the puzzle concerning Nietzsche’s
attitude towards politics? Did he harbour any political convictions,
and if so can they be identifed? Was he an anarchist or post-anar -
chist, a harbinger for democracy, a closet monarchist, a Bonapartist,
an avant-garde fascist or a radical aristocrat? Or did he remain
tena2ciously anti-political throughout his life? This book propounds ‘De
Theognide Megarensi’ (DTM) as one missing piece of the puzzle.
DTM, a text that has barely attracted scholarly attention, was
Nietzsche’s valedictorian dissertation at Pforta. It marked the
completion of his Gymnasium years, which were devoted mainly to
classical philology. Later on, in the Preface to his second Untimely
Meditations (UM), he rightly claimed that he was ‘a pupil of ancient
times, above all the Greek’ (KSA I, 247). He also admitted that
untimeliness was the only purpose and signifcance of classical
philology. By this he meant that classical philology could only attain
historical signifcance if it ‘acted counter to our time and thereby
acted on our time and, hopefully, for the beneft of a time to come’
(KSA I, 247). With this statement he acknowledged that, in his
hands, classical scientifc philology had turned into what I would
describe as political philology. In DTM, the earliest of his untimely
writings, Nietzsche may be said to have acted counter to his time.
He understood the Greek elegiac poet Theognis to be a child of his
time and, in this much, he moved counter to scientifc philology.
Theognis’ elegies attained signifcance only when understood as a
response to his political circumstances. In its own untimeliness this
early text by Nietzsche may be seen as an early manifestation of
Zukunftsphilologie (cf. Porter, 2000: 226–7) and serve to illuminate
Nietzsche’s later ethical and political concerns. The feelings that his
early acquaintance with Theognis aroused in him would remain 2 INTRODUCTION
3throughout his life. He owed to Theognis his own aristocratism, to
which he adhered in order to act contrary to his own time and for
the beneft of a time to come. After all, Nietzsche considered the task
of philologists to be to achieve a ‘better understanding of their own
epoch by means of classical antiquity’ (Nietzsche, 1966: III, 325;
emphasis in the original).
Theognis’ life in Megara, his lyrical production and his views on
the gods, morality and politics were the theme of DTM (1864),
which Nietzsche wrote when he was nineteen years old. A few years
later, he resumed his research as a student at Leipzig, and in 1867
the fnished product became his frst publication – ‘Zur Geschichte
der Theognideischen Spruchsammlung’ (GTS). This was a text in
which he put to use his formidable philological talents in attempting
to decipher the enigma surrounding the redaction of the
Theognidean corpus, its repetitions, fragmentation and multiple
interpolations. But, it seems to me, Nietzsche’s ultimate aim was
once more political and not strictly philological. In 1826, Friedrich
Gottlieb Welcker published his edition of the Theognidea and
supported the traditional view that, since this was no more than a
collection of aphorisms, Theognis ought to be considered a gnomic
poet (cf. Welcker, 1826: lxxi). Because the fragments lacked consis -
tency of content and tone, no unifed ethical viewpoint or political
position could be attributed to him. Nietzsche, in contrast, thought
that a unifed portrait of Theognis’ life and times could be drawn by
means of a more systematic reading of the fragments, and that this
would help to elucidate Theognis’ ethics and politics. Recognition
of his aristocratism and his reaction to the historic collapse of Mega -
ra’s aristocratic hegemony during the sixth century provided the
social and political context that would allow a sound interpretation
of Theognis’ writings.
Gottfried Bernhardy, whose work was cited in Nietzsche’s DTM,
wrote that Theognis ‘experienced all the misfortunes of his compa -
triots, and his verses preserve a historical monument that contains
not merely the only complete report of the political revolution
(Staatsumwälzung) at the time, but [he] also makes unambiguously
audible the political beliefs of the Dorian aristocrats in honourable
though jagged words’ (Bernhardy, 1877: II, 524). The revolution
mentioned by Bernhardy refers to the political turbulence that took
effect during the seventh and sixth centuries culminating with the
world historical debut of democracy on the Greek stage. As G. E. M. NIeTzs Che’s A RIs TOCRATIsm 3
de Ste Croix acknowledged, ‘democracy had never before been
established in a thoroughly civilised society, and the Greek poleis
which developed it had to build it up from the very bottom’ (de Ste
Croix, 1983: 281; cf. Schweizer, 2007: 355). The power vacuum left
behind by traditional aristocratic governments was for decades
flled by the dictatorships of the Tyrants that lasted until proper
democratic institutions could be devised and put in place. Nietzsche
took notice of Theognis’ reaction to these events. He saw Theognis
as the intellectual champion of the defeated Megarian aristocracy,
who sought to preserve the Dorian spirit and its noble virtues, and
who also vented his spite and contempt against the rabble that now
ruled his city. Though Nietzsche shared Theognis’ fear of democ -
racy, he also realized that Theognis’ personality and character did
not embody the old Dorian aristocratic ethos shattered by the
revolution. He reported Goethe’s portrait of Theognis as ‘a sad (un-)
Greek hypochondriac’ (DTM, 139), and this could explain why
Theognis was not mentioned in his books until very late in 1887.
In DTM, Nietzsche dealt with the life and times of the poet. Later,
Nietzsche characterized Theognis, in the only reference to him in his
published work, as the ‘mouthpiece’ of the Greek nobility (GM I, 5).
For this reason an examination of DTM, a translation of which is
published in this book, is well-suited to engage in an exploration of
Nietzsche’s aristocratism. I devote Part I to studying Theognis’
aristocratism and its radical bent, and how it determined Nietzsche’s
own political views. In §1, I show how th