Foucault and Nietzsche: A Critical Encounter

Description

Foucault's intellectual indebtedness to Nietzsche is apparent in his writing, yet the precise nature, extent, and nuances of that debt are seldom explored. Foucault himself seems sometimes to claim that his approach is essentially Nietzschean, and sometimes to insist that he amounts to a radical break with Nietzsche. This volume is the first of its kind, presenting the relationship between these two thinkers on elements of contemporary culture that they shared interests in, including the nature of life in the modern world, philosophy as a way of life, and the ways in which we ought to read and write about other philosophers. The contributing authors are leading figures in Foucault and Nietzsche studies, and their contributions reflect the diversity of approaches possible in coming to terms with the Foucault-Nietzsche relationship. Specific points of comparison include Foucault and Nietzsche's differing understandings of the Death of God; art and aesthetics; power; writing and authorship; politics and society; the history of ideas; genealogy and archaeology; and the evolution of knowledge.

Alan Rosenberg is Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Queens College, The City University of New York, USA and is Associate Editor of Foucault Studies. Joseph Westfall is Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Houston-Downtown, USA. He is the editor of The Continental Philosophy of Film Reader (Bloomsbury, forthcoming).

Overall, the anthology helps effectively dispel the notion that Foucault might be, as he once famously said, "simply Nietzschean" ... [One] hopes that the anthology will generate a new wave of scholarship with a sustained focus on the relationship between Nietzsche and Foucault, no longer an uncharted territory but nevertheless a field for many future discoveries. * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews * Foucault is, in his own words, 'simply Nietzschean' but his relation to Nietzsche is rarely simple. This welcome volume explores complexities and tensions in this relationship across issues ranging from genealogy, truth and knowledge to religion, care of the self and power in order to interrogate the similarities and differences between their philosophical projects. * David Owen, Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, University of Southampton, UK *