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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Constructing Nietzsche's Politics: Ethical Libertarianism

Constructing Nietzsche's Politics: Ethical Libertarianism

Duclos, Andrew
Woodward, Ashley

Hardcover

Series: Continental Philosophy and the History of Thought

Philosophy

ISBN10: 1666938068
ISBN13: 9781666938067
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Nov 27 2025
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.13
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

A timely new interpretation of Nietzsche's politics which reconciles the apparent contradictions in Nietzsche's texts by defining his politics as ethical libertarianism.

Nietzsche's politics has been the subject of much debate, with the existing scholarship largely divided between aristocratic and anti-democratic readings on the one hand, and democratic readings on the other. This book takes its place in the emerging trend of trying to find a third way by arguing that Nietzsche's philosophy implies a form of libertarianism. This interpretation emphasizes individual self-transformation and the need to organize society in a way which best facilitates this for its members. While libertarianism is closest to Nietzsche's requirements, it needs to be reformulated to be made fully consistent with his philosophy. This requires a rejection of any grounding of the natural rights of the individual, presumed to be equal for all, in a metaphysical conception of the self. A Nietzschean ethical libertarianism would be based on protecting equal access of individuals to conditions which promote self-cultivation. It is thus democratic, but also meritocratic, as rights will be seen to accrue on the basis of individual development.

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