Nietzsche's Struggle against Pessimism

A detailed account of Nietzsche's critique of pessimism is elucidated in its appropriate historical context, disentangling its various strands.

Patrick Hassan (Author)

9781009380294, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 May 2025

292 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.426 kg

'Nietzsche's critique of pessimism has often been framed as a response to Schopenhauer. Hassan usefully expounds the wider intellectual context and shows philosophical sensitivity in reconstructing the thought of the now-lesser-known figures that Nietzsche was in dialogue with, beyond just Schopenhauer.' Andrew Huddleston, University of Warwick

On what grounds could life be made worth living, given its abundant suffering? Friedrich Nietzsche was among many who attempted to answer this question. While always seeking to resist pessimism, Nietzsche's strategy for doing so, and the extent to which he was willing to concede conceptual grounds to pessimists, shifted dramatically over time. His reading of pessimists such as Eduard von Hartmann, Olga Plümacher, and Julius Bahnsen—as well as their critics, such as Eugen Dühring and James Sully—has been under-explored in the secondary literature, isolating him from his intellectual context. Patrick Hassan's book seeks to correct this. After closely mapping Nietzsche's philosophical development on to the relevant axiological and epistemological issues, it disentangles his various critiques of pessimism, elucidating how familiar Nietzschean themes (e.g. eternal recurrence, aesthetic justification, will to power, and his critique of Christianity) can and should be assessed against this philosophical backdrop.

Introduction
Part I. Nietzsche's Intellectual Context & Early Reception of Pessimism: 1. The varieties of pessimism
2. Nietzsche's initial engagement with pessimism
Part II. The Beginnings of Change: Pessimism in Human All Too Human: 3. Nietzsche's new naturalism
4. 'Bad news for priests': scientific progress and suffering
Part III. Nietzsche's mature rejection of the 'Pessimism of Sensibility': 5. A psychological critique
6. An existential critique
7. A perfectionist critique
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD]