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/lp/penn-state-university-press/nietzsche-virtue-ethics-virtue-politics-NAcqx7lvjj
- Publisher
- Penn State University Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2006 by The Pennsylvania State University.
- ISSN
- 1538-4594
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
Nietzsche: Virtue Ethics . . . Virtue Politics? CHRISTINE DAIGLE n this article, I propose to reconstruct Friedrich Nietzsche's ethical teachings and read them as a form of virtue ethics.1 This reading is partly inspired by Kaufmann's generous rendering of Nietzsche's ethics. In his classic study, Kaufmann supposes that Aristotle's philosophy had a great influence on Nietzsche's ethics. He also asserts that Nietzsche's criticism of Christianity cannot be rightly appreciated without noting the Aristotelian ethics that inspired it.2 Kaufmann's assertions are grounded in a connection he establishes between the Aristotelian notion of megalopsychia found in Nicomachean Ethics and the figure of the Übermensch. I will approach this connection in a variety of ways in the first section of my essay and will show how we must go beyond Kaufmann. If one chooses to dismiss the connection between Aristotle's and Nietzsche's ethics, as I will do, this does not mean that Nietzsche's ethics cannot be read as an instance of virtue ethics. In the second section, I will articulate how it is possible to interpret the ethical ideas of Nietzsche as forming a type of virtue ethics that focuses on the character development of the agent. I will define
Journal
The Journal of Nietzsche Studies – Penn State University Press
Published: Nov 6, 2006