Recherche – Detailansicht
Ausgabe: | Januar/2024 |
Spalte: | 94-96 |
Kategorie: | Philosophie, Religionsphilosophie |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Re Manning, Russell, and Carlotta Santini [Eds.] |
Titel/Untertitel: | Nietzsche's Gods. Critical and Constructive Perspectives. |
Verlag: | Berlin u. a.: De Gruyter 2022. VIII, 302 S. m. 1 s/w u. 1 farb. Abb. = Nietzsche Today, 6. Geb. EUR 123,95. ISBN 9783110610260. |
Rezensent: | Duncan Gale |
Friedrich Nietzsche’s name may be associated with atheism, but those who have seriously engaged with him are aware that this is a superficial categorization. Indeed, Nietzsche’s mere lack of belief in God is one of the least interesting things about him. This is well illustrated in Nietzsche’s Gods: Critical and Constructive Perspectives, an impressive collection of essays that brings Nietzsche into dialogue with an eclectic array of thinkers and topics. These essays were originally presented at the 23rd International Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society held at Bath Spa University and have been assembled by Russell Re Manning of that same institution and Carlotta Santini of Cambridge University. The assortment presented here demonstrates that there still exist numerous avenues yet to be explored with Nietzsche vis à vis religion.
The book is arranged in four parts which follow a chronological sequence. The first part covers Nietzsche’s engagement with the gods of ancient Greece, beginning with an article by David Leo Tracey on the role of Apollo in Nietzsche’s philosophy. This is an appropriate starting-point, drawing as it does on the well-known Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy in Nietzsche’s first major work, The Birth of Tragedy. Tracey makes a convincing case that Apollo is just as necessary as Dionysos since he is the force associated with individuality and acts as a protective barrier against forces which would otherwise annihilate the followers of Dionysos. Next, Peter S. Groff presents an account of the role that Epicureanism plays in Nietzsche’s philosophy. Especially intriguing is Groff’s account of how the distant and disinterested gods of Epicurus are for Nietzsche much more theologically plausible than the meddling, micro-managing god of Judeo-Christian monotheism. Rounding out this section is an article by one of the aforementioned editors of the volume, Carlotta Santini, on Nietzsche’s views about the Greek mystery cults. This article is quite ambitious, offering the reader a crash course on ancient mystery religions while also showing how Nietzsche’s critiques of them lead directly into his critique of Christianity as an initially obscure Jewish movement that dressed itself up in Greek mysticism as a means of effectively spreading it-self throughout the ancient world.
The second part covers Nietzsche’s engagement with Christianity specifically. Here we begin with a comparative analysis by David Simonin of the Apostle Paul’s denigration of the flesh and how it brought about in him a feeling of power in the midst of powerlessness as opposed to the conceptions of power most valued by Nietzsche. Simonin presents a detailed and nuanced analysis of how Nietzsche’s perspective on power highlights the inherent contradictions and hypocrisies involved in this Pauline renunciation that is simultaneously an elevation. This is followed by another comparison by Stelio de Carvalho Neto, this time between Nietzsche and Pascal. The thematic pairing of the experience of religious conversion and that of convalescing from an illness ingeniously frames the discussion as the author argues that Pascal’s wager spurs on the former, while Nietzsche’s doctrine of the eternal recurrence spurs on the latter, in both cases acting as forms of apologetics. Another account of comparative concepts in Christian and Nietzschean contexts is offered by Michael J. McNeal with his discussion of the role of disgust in Nietzsche’s philosophy. McNeal argues that there is a clear and significant difference between the disgust that Nietzsche’s noble and free spirits feel for lower forms of humanity and the disgust that Christians feel for the sinful aspects of humanity – the first functions as an incentive to better oneself, whereas the second merely leads to life-denying decadence. This second section ends with an exploration by Yannick Souladié of the significance of the concept of the Antichrist in Nietzsche’s philosophy and the way in which it distinguishes Nietzsche from being a mere atheist. Souladié’s discussion involves some intriguing etymology about the term Antichrist, and how it is to be distinguished from other terms such as der Endchrist (»the Christ of the End«) and der Widerchrist (»the Counter-Christ«). But perhaps his most valuable observation here is the way in which Nietzsche’s philosophy opposes rationalistic atheism as much as Christianity.
The third part of the book, entitled »Nietzsche’s Theologies«, represents most directly some of the more constructive perspectives alluded to in the title of the collection. The three articles here each attempt to rescue Nietzsche from an overtly secular or godless position, arguing instead that Nietzsche can in fact be seen as religious in his own unique way. The first by Daniel Coyle explores how it is not so much God that Nietzsche objects to as the type of God represented by traditional monotheism. Drawing upon Nietzsche’s declaration through his character of Zarathustra that he would only believe in a god who could dance, Coyle introduces the possibility of Dionysos and Ariadne as a divine terpsichorean couple, and some allusions to Nietzsche’s relationship to pantheism are made as well. This is followed by Andrea Rehberg’s discussion of how certain extreme states brought about through religious practice may have affinities with Nietzsche’s own philosophical ideals. These include obvious candidates like the Bacchic frenzies of ancient Greece that cause the participants to lose any and all sense of individuality in their revels, but also included in the discussion are stranger bedfellows such as the harsh austerities of Christian ascetics. Rehberg suggests the possibility that the states brought about from these practices do in fact have value for Nietzsche – it is merely their interpretation within the particular religious context in which they are undertaken which is the problem. Sebastian Nino Cocever then offers a reappraisal of Nietzsche’s view of bad conscience, arguing that there is a possibility of good conscience as well, and for a particular kind of religion to flourish within it. As an illustration of this, Cocever promotes a return to the ambiguity of the Greek myths and engagement with the philosophical riddles of Heraclitus.
The final part of the collection features articles that engage with more contemporary figures and even offer suggestions for how Nietzsche may allow us to understand the future. The first article here by Niklas Corrall examines the specific role that polytheism plays in Nietzsche’s philosophy as a superior alternative to monotheism precisely because it encourages a greater variety of ideals, leading to a more diverse and pluralistic society in general. Corrall then uses this analysis to draw a straight line from here to the further developments these ideas would undergo in the philosophy of Foucault. This same optimistic spirit is continued in Marinete Araujo da Silva Fobister’s piece in which Nietzsche’s lesser-known ideal of the moderate man is brought into conversation with the weak thought of Gianni Vattimo as a means of dealing with the effects of nihilism in the West. A suggestion is made that these two philosophical perspectives could allow for a more welcoming and open perspective towards the incoming migrant population of Europe which may be able to bring new possibilities of meaning to this geographical area. Alan Watt then draws upon Georges Bataille’s reading of Nietzsche’s proclamation that God is dead to bring out certain aspects of this idea that are often overlooked, such as the fact that it is we ourselves who have killed God. The question is posed that if this is the case, might the killing of God be its own kind of religious act of sacrifice, and might it not have a tragic element to it as well? Finally, Ferén Barrios addresses the crucial role that technology plays in the vacuum left in the wake of the death of God, as well as how it is used by humanity in the quest for self-improvement so often emphasized in Nietzsche’s philosophy. Barrios utilizes the spherology of Peter Sloterdijk as a way of trying to make sense of how the technological perspective may constitute the metaphysics of the future.
As is evident, there is a lot packed into this relatively compact volume. But those looking for new perspectives on Nietzsche’s philosophy of religion will be amply rewarded if they take the time to engage with even just a few of the entries in this rich collection.