In Ratner-Rosenhagen’s hands, Kaufmann’s Nietzsche is the Enlightenment’s “problem thinker” and “serious philosopher” who expressed himself-and this is key-in aphorisms. But it was Kaufmann’s Nietzsche that would capture the imagination of American thinkers. Ratner-Rosenhagen provides rudimentary outlines of versions celebrated by Leo Strauss, Hannah Arendt, Paul Tillich, and especially Theodor Adorno (pp. Several immigrant and émigré Nietzsches existed in American thought before Kaufmann’s work became prominent. Taken together these two parts of the book constitute the heart and soul of American Nietzsche.
Along with the Interlude, this portion of the book also helps explain his relevance to the thinking realms of a democratic culture. That section goes to the paradoxical core of why Nietzsche is both valuable and problematic for philosophers and deep thinkers of all stripes. In this final entry of my series I return to him in order to reflect on a brief but noteworthy section of the book. Other reviewers have taken note, and I concur that Ratner-Rosenhagen’s analysis of that translator and promoter of Nietzsche’s thought deserves praise. Walter Kaufmann is a key figure in American Nietzsche.
Prior Entries: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.
0 kommentar(er)
