: Herman Siemens, Vasti Roodt
: Nietzsche, Power and Politics Rethinking Nietzsche's Legacy for Political Thought
: Walter de Gruyter GmbH& Co.KG
: 9783110217339
: 1
: CHF 209.10
:
: Deutscher Idealismus, 19. Jahrhundert
: English
: 700
: Wasserzeichen/DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF

Nietzsche’s legacy for political thought is a highly contested area of research today. With papers representing a broad range of positions, this collection takes stock of the central controversies (Nietzsche as political / anti-political thinker? Nietzsche and / contra democracy? Arendt and / contra Nietzsche?), as well as new research on key concepts (power, the agon, aristocracy, friendship i.a.), on historical, contemporary and futural aspects of Nietzsche’s political thought. International contributors include well-known names (Conway, Ansell-Pearson, Hatab, Taureck, Patton, Connolly, Villa, van Tongeren) and young emerging scholars from various disciplines.


Herman W. Siemens, University of Leiden, The Netherlands;Vasti Roodt, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Manu as a Weapon against Egalitarianism: Nietzsche and Hindu Political Philosophy (S. 542-543)

Koenraad Elst

Introduction

Friedrich Nietzsche greatly preferred the ‘healthier, higher, wider world’ of the Hindu social code M nava-Dharma-Sh stra (‘Code of Human Ethics’), also known as Manu-Smrti (‘Manu’s Classic’), to ‘the Christian sick-house and dungeon atmosphere’ (TI Improvers 3). We want to raise two questions about his eager use of this ancient text: Firstly, a question of historical fact, viz. how correct was Nietzsche’s understanding of the text and the society it tried to regulate?

The translation used by him suffers from some significant philological flaws as well as from interpretative bias, to which he added an agenda-driven reading of his own. Secondly, to what extent did Nietzsche’s understanding of Hindu society play a role in his socio-political views? At first sight, its importance is quite limited, viz. as just an extra illustration of pre-Christian civilization favoured by him, as principally represented by Greece. Crucial pieces of Manu’s worldview, such as the centrality of a priestly Brahmin class and the notion of ritual purity, seem irrelevant to or in contradiction with Nietzsche’s essentially modern philosophical anthropology.

To others he didn’t pay due attention, e. g. Manu’s respect for asceticism as a positive force in society, seemingly so in conflict with the Nietzschean contempt for ‘otherworldiness’, resonates with subtler pro-ascetic elements in Nietzsche’s conception of the bermensch. Yet, a few specifically Indian elements did have a wider impact on his worldview, especially the notion of Chand la (untouchable), to which however he gave an erroneous expansion unrelated to Manu.

1. What is the Manu-Smrti?

Friedrich Nietzsche greatly preferred the ‘healthier, higher, wider world’ of the Hindu social code M nava-Dharma-Sh stra, the ‘Textbook of Human Ethics’, also known as Manu-Smrti, ‘Manu’s Classic’, to what he called ‘the Christian sick-house and dungeon atmosphere’ (TI Improvers 3). In a letter to his friend Peter Gast, he wrote: This absolutely Aryan testimony, a priestly codex of morality based on the Vedas, of the representation of caste and of ancient provenance – not pessimistic although priestly – completes my conceptions of religion in the most remarkable manner. (KSA 14.420).

To his mind, the contrast between Manu’s classic and the Bible was so diametrical that ‘mentioning it in one breath with the Bible would be a sin against the spirit’(AC 56). So, at first sight, he was very enthusiastic about this founding text of caste doctrine, though we shall have to qualify that impression. We want to raise two questions about his use of this ancient text, one of historical accuracy and one of the meaning Nietzsche accorded to this acknowledged source of inspiration in his view of society. But first of all, a few data about the Manu-Smrti must necessarily be stated before we can understand what role it could play in Friedrich Nietzsche’s thinking.
Contents7
References and Citations13
Abbreviations15
Translations of Nietzsche’s writings21
Introduction23
The Birth of the State59
Nietzsche as ‘Über-Politischer Denker’91
The Question of Nietzsche’s Anti-Politics and Human Transfiguration1107
Nietzsche, Democracy, Time1131
Nietzsche, Ethical Agency and the Problem of Democracy165
Breaking the Contract Theory: The Individual and the Law in Nietzsche’s Genealogy191
Nietzsche’s Reasoning against Democracy: Why He Uses the Social Herd Metaphor and Why He Fails213
Critical Aspects of Nietzsche’s Relation to Politics and Democracy227
Yes, No, Maybe So… Nietzsche’s Equivocations on the Relation between Democracy and ‘Grosse Politik’253
The Sacrifice of the Overman as an Expression of the Will to Power: Anti-Political Consequences and Contributions to Democracy291
Nietzsche’s Aristocratism Revisited321
Anti-Politicality and Agon in Nietzsche’s Philology341
Nietzsche as Bonapartist369
‘Nietzsche Caesar’393
How ‘Nietzschean’ Was Arendt?417
Nietzsche and/or Arendt?433
Overcoming Resentment. Remarks on the Supra-Moral Ethic of Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt453
Forces and Powers in Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals475
Nietzsche on Rights, Power and the Feeling of Power493
On Nietzsche and the Enemy: Nietzsche’s New Politics513
Nietzsche and Emerson on Friendship and Its Ethical-Political Implications533
Manu as a Weapon against Egalitarianism: Nietzsche and Hindu Political Philosophy565
Political Implications of Happiness in Descartes and Nietzsche605
Nietzsche, Money And Bildung627
A ‘Wondrous Echo’: Burckhardt, Renaissance and Nietzsche’s Political Thought651
Nietzsche and the Psychology of Mimesis: From Plato to the Führer689
Contingent Criticism: Bridging Ideology Critique and Genealogy719
The Biological Threshold of Modern Politics: Nietzsche, Foucault and the Question of Animal Life741
Corporealizing Thought: Translating the Eternal Return Back into Politics763
‘Holding on to the Sublime’: Nietzsche on Philosophy’s Perception and Search for Greatness789
The Struggle Between Ideals: Nietzsche, Schmitt and Lefort on the Politics of the Future823
Contributors839
Complete Bibliography843
Subject Index879