Embracing the Void: Nietzsche's "Zarathustra" and the Political.

346 Pages·2017·13.76 MB·English

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LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School
2001
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James Daniel Stewart
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Stewart, James Daniel, "Embracing the Void: Nietzsche's "Zarathustra" and the Political." (2001). LSU
Historical Dissertations and Theses. 436.
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EMBRACING THE VOID:
NIETZSCHE'S ZARATHUSTRA
AND THE POLITICAL
A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
The Department of Political Science
By
James Daniel Stewart
B.A., Mississippi College, 1994
M. A., Louisiana State University, 1997
December, 2001
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
UMI Number: 3042652
Copyright 2001 by
Stewart, James Daniel
All rights reserved.
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© Copyright 2001
James Daniel Stewart
All Rights Reserved
ii
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Table of Contents
Abstract................................................................................................................................iv
Chapter I Nietzsche and Political Thought..................................................1
ChapterII The Hermeneutics of Existence......................................................35
Chapter DI The Cold Monster: The State and Mass Culture................83
Chapter IV The Higher Men: Friendship and the Community 123
Chapter V The Great Nausea..............................................................................154
Chapter VI The Ethics of Absurdity...................................................................189
Chapter VH Metamorphosis: The Transmuted Self......................................222
Chapter vm Zarathustra as A nti-Prophet.....................................................256
References..........................................................................................................................290
Appendix: a Response to Heidegger's Question: "Who is Nietzsche's
Zarathustra?"...................................................................................................299
Vita.........................................................................................................................................337
iii
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Abstract
This dissertation explores Nietzsche's political theory through an
analysis of his major work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. It is demonstrated that
the narrative structure of Zarathustra follows from a politically-grounded
critique of collective human existence. Nietzsche critiques the state and
mass society as inherently repressive. He critiques the concept of the
community and friendship as producing ressentiment and bad conscience.
One of the central metaphors in Zarathustra proves to be that of nausea,
arising from contempt for the mediocre masses of humanity and the
realization of the chaotic and contingent nature of existence. Through
nausea, the individual necessarily becomes separated from the masses and
is able to begin the process of constructing an individually-actuated
selfhood. Nietzsche then discusses the possibility of self-creation, spurred
by the confrontation with individual finitude. This project of self­
overcoming proceeds thorough an aesthetic ethics of resistance to repression
and acts of protean creation. Nietzsche's theory of transmuted selfhood is
one that embraces multiplicity and contradiction within the consciousness.
It is ultimately shown that the model of selfhood presented in Zarathustra
depends upon resistance and solitude, thus precluding the possibility of
constructive political theory in the traditional statist sense. Rather,
Nietzsche's relevance for politics is the imperative to seek new permutations
of personal existence.
iv
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Chapter I
Nietzsche and Political Thought
Nietzsche has received a great deal of attention in recent years and
has had a profound influence over contemporary scholarship. However,
there has been less attention paid to Nietzsche in political theory than in
other areas of the humanities. Despite the dearth of literature addressed to
Nietzsche's political thought, there is surprisingly little consensus as to its
content Interpretations range from the assertion that Nietzsche was a
deeply political thinker concerned with the institutional arrangements of the
state to the rival interpretation that Nietzsche had little political interest
outside of the internal struggle within die individual soul. Certainly textual
support can be found for both of these assertions, with a broad intermediate
ground lying in between. The lack of unanimity concerning Nietzsche's
political thought is troubling as Nietzsche had a profound impact upon
most contemporary political thinkers and has helped to shape postmodern
thought
This project is designed to remedy a serious omission in the political
literature on Nietzsche. The ambiguity regarding Nietzsche's political
thought is largely an artifact of the strategies and presuppositions of the
interpreters of his texts rattier than an accurate representation of Nietzsche's
political reflections. This project will demonstrate that Nietzsche's political
thought is not as fragmented and contradictory as the literature suggests.
1
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2
Rather, Nietzsche's political and social thought is relatively coherent and
follows from his epistemological and ontological project The
misunderstanding of Nietzsche's political thought is largely due to the
stubborn neglect by political theorists of Nietzsche's major work, Thus
Spoke Zarathustra.
This project will demonstrate that Zarathustra is Nietzsche's most
important contribution to political thought and provides the key for
interpretation of Nietzsche's thought as a whole. It is only in Zarathustra
that Nietzsche, freed from the constraint of conventional philosophical
discourse, is able to discuss his own very unconventional theories of
philosophical anthropology and the creation of the individual self. It will be
shown that Zarathustra bridges Nietzsche's early praise of Homeric
societies and the mediating force of tragedy with his later discussions of the
transmuted self and the ethic of resistance to societal norms and institutions.
Without referring to Zarathustra, it is ultimately impossible to understand
Nietzsche in any but a fragmented and superficial fashion.
Furthermore, by concentrating on Zarathustra, it is possible to
examine Nietzsche at his own self-proclaimed best As the culmination of
his mature philosophy, Zarathustra represents the opportunity to study
Nietzsche's political theory most accurately. As such, studying Nietzsche
through an interpretation of his narrative most closely resembles die
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