Nietzsche: Volumes Three and Four: Volumes Three and Four

by Martin Heidegger

Book Overview

A landmark discussion between two great thinkers--the second (combining volumes III and IV) of two volumes inquiring into the central issues of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060637943
• ISBN13: 9780060637941
• Release Date: March 1991
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Invaluable

This text is a continuation of Heidegger's lecture series on Nietzsche. It includes Volume III: The Will to Power as Knowledge and as Metaphysics, and Volume IV: Nihilism. There is also further commentary on the much misunderstood doctrines of 'eternal return,' and the 'overman.' Heidegger argues against the fascistic Nietzsche interpretations by Baeumler and the like. Heidegger's Nietzsche is a metaphysical thinker, he shakes him off all attempts to situate him as a thinker of biologism or crude nihilism. Rather, Nietzsche is a thinker of affirmation and enhancement. Although many are hesitant to fully accept Heidegger's preoccupation with Being in this work, there are few who reject the significance of this insightful exegesis. David Krell's analysis is also helpful and thoroughly researched.

A deep meditation

One of the greatest works on Nietzsche and about the end of Metaphysics. Heidegger re-discovers Nietzsche as a thinker, and not merely as a "critic of culture".

The Heideggerian view of Nietzsche in its entirety

Due to the political affiliation of Martin Heidegger and his place in history, it is perhaps difficult to analyze his works objectively. The temptation might be then to lift him from history, with the imagined goal of perhaps cleansing him from the troubling influences he chose to be in. But however Heidegger is read, whether in historical context, or from a "modern standpoint", he does have some interesting and original things to say about Friedrich Nietzsche. His politics was destructive, as history has shown, and that is a fact that can be discussed completely outside the context of this book. This is a lengthy book, and concentrates on Nietzsche's work "The Will to Power". Space therefore prohibits a detailed review, but some of the more interesting discussions by the author include: 1. The classifying of Nietzsche as being the "last metaphysician" of the West. The author believes that his thought was a consummation of Western philosophy, and that the will to power is an appreciation of the decision that must be made as to whether the this final age is the conclusion of Western history or a prelude to another beginning. Nietzsche wanted philosophy to not shy away from the predicament it found itself in. Therefore the author encourages philosophers to not merely "toy" with philosophical thoughts, as this will place them merely at the boundary of the set of important philosophical issues. The will to power is a sign of courage that consists of shedding one's reservations, and in recognizing the stakes in the issues at hand. 2. The reading of Nietzsche as someone who believed that the essence of life is in "self-transcending enhancement", and not in Darwinian struggle. Value is to be equated with the enhancement of life. 3. The author's overview and explanation, and deduction of what "truth" meant for Nietzsche. Truth can become a "de-realization" and a hindrance to life, and therefore not be condition of life, and thus not a value. But for the author, Nietzsche wants to overcome nihilism, and this implies therefore that there must be a value greater than truth. And what is this value? It is art, says Nietzsche, which is "worth more than truth". 4. The author's discussion of the alleged biologism of Nietzsche. A reading of Nietzsche might tempt one to conclude that he was, but the author cautions that such a characterization of his writings would be unfounded. One must not base an understanding on mere impressions, and "unlearn" the abuse that has been leveled against the "catchword" called "biologism". The author therefore suggests that we must learn to "read". 5. The description of Nietzsche's epistemology as "schematizing a chaos". For Nietzsche, this schematizing is an act of imposing upon chaos as much regularity and as many forms as our practical needs require. This is an interesting move, for is the characterization of something as chaotic itself subject to the imposition of this regularity? But the author is certainly aware of this prob

Heidegger in Secret Sacred Cowsville

This is heavy reading, as only philosophy would dare to be. It involves internal hysteria about matters which ordinary people are supposed to avoid in a way which Heidegger called the "often practiced procedure" of taking Nietzsche's revelations "as the harbinger of erupting madness." (p. 3) What Heidegger contributes to the psychotic multiplicity is the recognition that Nietzsche's thought illustrates a particular philosophy. As the first paragraph of this book puts it, "Nietzsche is that thinker who trod the path of thought to 'the will to power.'" By the next page, Heidegger turns away from individual matters to what he feels, in the agony of our times, to be really philosophical issues. "Neither the person of Nietzsche nor even his work concern us when we make both in their connection the object of a historiological and psychological report." (p. 4) This is not simple reporting: people tend to think most deeply about whatever they find most troubling. Nietzsche could relate this kind of thing to the bite of a dog on a stone. Nothing is yielding here. Objections which suggest themselves to anyone who tries to observe this effort might best be directed elsewhere, but in the realm of philosophy, this is the best example of the notion that science is a sacred cow. A full understanding of the mental effort involved in this exercise might be closer to stripping away any individual's defenses than to the kind of herd instinct of those parties whose imperviousness to thought is typical of what a political philosophy would normally represent. This is not an effort to produce a sacred cow. This is an attempt to penetrate the heart of secret sacred cowsville.