Nietzsche and Dostoevsky: Philosophy, Morality, Tragedy

by Jeff Love (Editor), Jeffrey Metzger (Editor)

After more than a century, the urgency with which the writing of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Friedrich Nietzsche speaks to us is undiminished. Nietzsche explicitly acknowledged Dostoevsky’s relevance to his work, noting its affinities as well as its points of opposition. Both of them are credited with laying much of the foundation for what came to be called existentialist thought. The essays in this volume bring a fresh perspective to a relationship that illuminates a great deal of twentieth-century intellectual history. Among the questions taken up by contributors are the possibility of morality in a godless world, the function of philosophy if reason is not the highest expression of our humanity, the nature of tragedy when performed for a bourgeois audience, and the justification of suffering if it is not divinely sanctioned. Above all, these essays remind us of the supreme value of the questioning itself that pervades the work of Dostoevsky and Nietzsche.

Genres: Philosophy, Russia, Nonfiction, Biography, Criticism

232 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2016

Reviews

[Terese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book days ago and don't yet feel equal to reviewing it, I sit down to do it, then consider how much I want to re-read it first. Which I will, but not right now. It is brilliant and fascinating, and I really loved most of these papers, but after this first reading I feel like I conflate some of them too much, and I need to go back in - so to speak - to really clarify my thoughts.

[Bowen Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collection of essay analysis between the two author’s brings in the question of tragedy among the human condition and its place in producing joy through suffering… some of the essays are technically explained through excessive jargon, while others are more character provoking.

Overall, it was an introspective journey that surprisingly had me considering more of Nietzsche’s philosophy more than Dostoevsky’s.