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Nietzsche's Teaching: An Interpretation of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"
The first comprehensive interpretation of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra ―an important and difficult text and the only book Nietzsche ever wrote with characters, events, setting, and a plot. Laurence Lampert’s chapter-by-chapter commentary on Nietzsche’s magnum opus clarifies not only Zarathustra’s narrative structure but also the development of Nietzsche’s thinking as a whole.
“An impressive piece of scholarship. Insofar as it solves the riddle of Zarathustra in an unprecedented fashion, this study serves as an invaluable resource for all serious students of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Lampert’s persuasive and thorough interpretation is bound to spark a revival of interest in Zarathustra and raise the standards of Nietzsche scholarship in general.”―Daniel W. Conway, Review of Metaphysics
“A book of scholarship, filled with passion and concern for its text.”―Tracy B. Strong, Review of Politics
“This is the first genuine textual commentary on Zarathustra in English, and therewith a genuine reader’s guide. It makes a significant and original contribution to its field.”―Werner J. Dannhauser, Cornell University
“This is a very valuable and carefully wrought study of a very complex and subtle poetic-philosophical work that provides access to Nietzsche’s style of presenting his thought, as well as to his passionately affirmed values. Lampert’s commentary and analysis of Zarathustra is so thorough and detailed. . . that it is the most useful English-language companion to Nietzsche’s ‘edifying’ and intriguing work.”― Choice
Selected as one of Choice’s outstanding academic books for 1988
“An impressive piece of scholarship. Insofar as it solves the riddle of Zarathustra in an unprecedented fashion, this study serves as an invaluable resource for all serious students of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Lampert’s persuasive and thorough interpretation is bound to spark a revival of interest in Zarathustra and raise the standards of Nietzsche scholarship in general.”―Daniel W. Conway, Review of Metaphysics
“A book of scholarship, filled with passion and concern for its text.”―Tracy B. Strong, Review of Politics
“This is the first genuine textual commentary on Zarathustra in English, and therewith a genuine reader’s guide. It makes a significant and original contribution to its field.”―Werner J. Dannhauser, Cornell University
“This is a very valuable and carefully wrought study of a very complex and subtle poetic-philosophical work that provides access to Nietzsche’s style of presenting his thought, as well as to his passionately affirmed values. Lampert’s commentary and analysis of Zarathustra is so thorough and detailed. . . that it is the most useful English-language companion to Nietzsche’s ‘edifying’ and intriguing work.”― Choice
Selected as one of Choice’s outstanding academic books for 1988
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
400 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1987
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About the author
Laurence Lampert
15 books21 followersLaurence Lampert is a leading scholar in Nietzsche studies. He received both his master's and doctorate degrees from Northwestern University (in 1968 and 1971).
He taught at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis for over thirty years and is now a professor emeritus there.
An informative interview with Laurence Lampert, conducted by the Nietzsche Circle, can be found here (pdf).
He taught at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis for over thirty years and is now a professor emeritus there.
An informative interview with Laurence Lampert, conducted by the Nietzsche Circle, can be found here (pdf).
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 6, 2025
I wish that more people knew about Lampert's interpretation of Nietzsche. When we first encounter Nietzsche, we encounter his 'no-saying' philosophy: no to God, no to meaning (with the arrival of nihilism), and no to morals. But is there anything to which Nietzsche says 'yes'? His 'yes-saying' philosophy is found only in one book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and there too, it is hidden, only found by close readers: Nietzsche's 'yes-saying' philosophy is eternal recurrence, which receives its highest and most spiritual description in Part III of Zarathustra.
The eternal recurrence of life, in precisely the same way, infinitely many times: this is Nietzsche's highest (and least well understood) teaching. Lampert is right on the money when he asks: if Nietzsche continuously described eternal recurrence as his highest teaching, and even sought to find support for his teaching in the theoretical physics of his time - an action that is surely in opposition to Nietzsche's general rejection of metaphysics - are we really right in assuming eternal recurrence to be a mere 'thought exercise' or 'shocking question for self-reflection', as contemporary philosophers interpret Nietzsche?
It is about time we take eternal recurrence to be a project for the future of humanity - this is the only way in which we can overcome the desire for revenge against existence, and with it, all pessimism-nihilism.
Somewhere in this book, Lampert uses the term 'purposeless play' to define eternal recurrence. Purposeless play is also the term used by some scholars of Hinduism to refer to leela - I can't help but think that there is there some common ground here. The eternal recurrence of the same is a leela-based view of the world: one that no longer seeks escape from Becoming, but to completely immerse oneself in it. Could the coming dance of Dionysus be accompanied by - Krishna's flute? -
The eternal recurrence of life, in precisely the same way, infinitely many times: this is Nietzsche's highest (and least well understood) teaching. Lampert is right on the money when he asks: if Nietzsche continuously described eternal recurrence as his highest teaching, and even sought to find support for his teaching in the theoretical physics of his time - an action that is surely in opposition to Nietzsche's general rejection of metaphysics - are we really right in assuming eternal recurrence to be a mere 'thought exercise' or 'shocking question for self-reflection', as contemporary philosophers interpret Nietzsche?
It is about time we take eternal recurrence to be a project for the future of humanity - this is the only way in which we can overcome the desire for revenge against existence, and with it, all pessimism-nihilism.
Somewhere in this book, Lampert uses the term 'purposeless play' to define eternal recurrence. Purposeless play is also the term used by some scholars of Hinduism to refer to leela - I can't help but think that there is there some common ground here. The eternal recurrence of the same is a leela-based view of the world: one that no longer seeks escape from Becoming, but to completely immerse oneself in it. Could the coming dance of Dionysus be accompanied by - Krishna's flute? -
January 3, 2011
Comment:
Excellent. "Enactment of the Nietzschean agenda in science and politics promises a new sense of the sacred, a return of Dionysos and Ariadne." Or, as Nietzsche once said, from time to time there is magic. Nietzsche, unlike our academics, recognizes that reason must be supplemented by 'magic'. Now, this 'magic' can be understood as either a cosmological or a psychological category -or both. This is one the greatest unstated difficulties in Nietzsche interpretation. That is - do we understand his 'magic' as cosmology or psychology?
Excellent. "Enactment of the Nietzschean agenda in science and politics promises a new sense of the sacred, a return of Dionysos and Ariadne." Or, as Nietzsche once said, from time to time there is magic. Nietzsche, unlike our academics, recognizes that reason must be supplemented by 'magic'. Now, this 'magic' can be understood as either a cosmological or a psychological category -or both. This is one the greatest unstated difficulties in Nietzsche interpretation. That is - do we understand his 'magic' as cosmology or psychology?
February 4, 2023
აი ისეთი წიგნია, ვიპოვე და ვეთაყვანები. იმ ზეკაცად გაქცევს რომელსაც ზარატუსტრა ეძებდა, გენიალურია.
May 27, 2015
A fairly thorough and useful explication of one of philosophy's greatest texts.
That being said, part of the value of Nietzsche's method in his work is the deciphering and deterritorializaiton of it, and many times I felt this book to be too much explication and not enough interpretation; or at least it took itself to be such.
That being said, part of the value of Nietzsche's method in his work is the deciphering and deterritorializaiton of it, and many times I felt this book to be too much explication and not enough interpretation; or at least it took itself to be such.
August 9, 2023
Lampert is an apostle of FN and this seems to me his greatest strength and weakness. Believers see things non-believers don't see, and thus there are hyperboles about Nietzsche not encountered elsewhere, but it also means that crucial things are unexplained. Lampert clearly has a grasp of the whole of Zarathustra, and he pays appropriate attention to the literary aspects and how they point to issues of philosophical substance, but I receive no real enlightenment concerning the status of eternal return (is it an imperative or a statement of fact?), nor in what sense it is unprecedented (he attempts an explanation it in the conclusion but I don't think successfully), nor why only this teaching "lets beings be what they are" and provides a check on modern science, etc. Despite the frustrations, however, it contains a treasure trove of information and supplies the necessary orientation, preparation for coming to grips with Nietzsche's very difficult book. Essential reading for FN's Zarathustra.
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September 30, 2008The book presents philosophical concepts of morality that are opposed to Christianity tradition. It remarks the unlimited capacities that men have, base on concepts such as superman and overman
December 7, 2009
This reminds me of what Hubert Dreyfus did for Heidegger and Foucault.
June 2, 2015
i think it 's great .... confusing a little .. yet it's great
i didnt finish it yet ... but i'm eager to do
i didnt finish it yet ... but i'm eager to do
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews