Undergraduate Dissertation Proposal

Name:
Course Title:
Proposed Title:
Nietzsches Polis. Creative Destruction or Destructive Creation of the State?
Preliminary Research Question:
To what extent can Friedrich Nietzsches engagement with social contract theories form a theory
of the state?
Literature Review:
Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most polarizing figures in western philosophy who has
undoubtedly influenced later thinkers and traditions such as Focault in post-structuralism and
Adorno in critical theory. However, his contribution to political theory remains extremely
controversial with some who argue that Nietzsche was an apolitical thinker and others who would
ascribe an aristocratic, un-egalitarian conception of politics. This controversy is compounded by
his changing views over his lifetime and the polemic and enigmatic style used in his writings. It
would be hard to argue whether his more direct, and notably pessimistic, statements regarding
political concepts such as the state could amount to a solid and definitive politics of Nietzsche.
However, I think that it would be too easy to simply read Nietzsche as it is and not try to
attempt a contextual understanding of his contribution to political theory. In particular I think that
his ideas on morality and culture are profound and could be seen as an engagement with the
tradition of the social contract, which theorizes how and why individuals would give up autonomy
to some common, overarching authority, i.e the state. I would argue that Nietzsches work can
serve as an interesting adversary to the Hobbesian model whose arguments draw heavily from an
understanding of a state of nature to build justifications for the authority of the state. Nietzsches
early philological work in The Greek State and later views in A Genealogy of Morals has similar
undertones regarding human nature, but reaches a divergent perspective whereby he is inspired
and even praises expressions of domination such as the will to power and its manifestations in
notions such as the ubermensch.
In this sense I want to challenge the view that Nietzsche was not a political thinker, and
explore whether Nietzsche can offer some counter-theory of the state through his views on culture
and morality, instead of trying to draw from his direct political statements
Discussion of Methods/Approach:
Non Quantitative, Non Empirical/Critical/Reflective/Hermeneutical.
First I want to explore Hobbesian and other theories of the social contract such as
Rousseau and even Rawls, particularly highlighting their appeals to a sense of morality in justifying
their theories; maybe also touching on other traditions such as utilitarianism, Hegelianism/Kant
and also historical materialism in Marx.
Second I will critically assess Nietzsches work most relevant on ethics, particularly A
Genealogy of Morals but also earlier Nietzsche in his work on the Ancient Greeks, attempting to
dissect his views on them and what he thought of the state; particularly focusing on whether he
did hate the state or whether it was a certain morality that the state may embody. Here I will also
try to identify his themes of cultural creation and destruction versus cultural stagnation and
possibly link it to the idea of Creative Destruction of economic and poilitical institutions in
economics.
Lastly I will try to link these together, and draw on the theme of creation and destruction
versus preservation. That is whether he was anti-statist due to the historical context (his dislike of
German nationalism) or whether it was more of a certain mentality of preservation and stagnation
that the (or his?) conception of the state embodied, and thus hindered the cultural flourishing he
so admired of the Greeks and possibly wished for his Ubermensch. I want to highlight that even
though Nietzsche as a political thinker may be tenuous to some, it is still possible to draw on him
for ideas regarding political theory.
Preliminary Outline:
1. Introduction
2. A Critique of the Social Contract?
3. Early Nietzsche and The Greek State & Homers Contest
4. Late Nietzsche A Genealogy of Morals
5. Creation, Destruction, Preservation and the State
6. Conclusion
Preliminary Bibliography:
Kazantzakis, N., 2012. Friedrich Nietzsche on the Philosophy of Right and the State. SUNY Press.
Burckhardt, J., 2013. History of Greek culture. Courier Corporation.
Drochon, H., 2016. Nietzsche's Great Politics. Princeton University Press. Vancouver
Yovel, Y. ed., 2012. Nietzsche as affirmative thinker: papers presented at the Fifth Jerusalem
Philosophical Encounter, April 1983 (Vol. 13). Springer Science & Business Media.
Julian Young, 2014. Individual and Community in Nietzsche's Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
Ansell-Pearson, K., 1996. Nietzsche contra Rousseau: a study of Nietzsche's moral and political thought.
Cambridge University Press.
Reinert, H. and Reinert, E.S., 2006. Creative Destruction in Economics: Nietzsche, Sombart, Schumpeter.
In Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900) (pp. 55-85). Springer US.
Katsafanas, P., 2012. Nietzsche on agency and self-ignorance. Journal of Nietzsche Studies, The, 43(1),
pp.5-17.
Siemens, H. and Roodt, V. eds., 2008. Nietzsche, Power and Politics: Rethinking Nietzsche's Legacy for
Political Thought. Walter de Gruyter.
Hunt, L.H., 1985. Politics and Anti-Politics: Nietzsche's View of the State. History of Philosophy
Quarterly, 2(4), pp.453-468.
Parrish, R., 2006. Violence Inevitable: The Play of Force and Respect in Derrida, Nietzsche, Hobbes, and
Berlin. Lexington Books.
+++ Nietzsche Translations Hobbes, and more.