What do you think?
Rate this book
Blijf de aarde trouw: Pleidooi voor een nietzscheaanse terrasofie
‘De aarde is ziek en die ziekte heet de mens’. Deze diagnose stelde Friedrich Nietzsche al zo’n 150 jaar geleden. De ergste ziekte van de moderne mens is zijn vervreemding van de natuur om hem heen en van de aarde. De remedie zoekt Nietzsche in een manier van filosoferen waarin niet langer de Mens centraal staat, maar de Aarde en de wijze waarop wij de aarde zouden kunnen gaan bewonen en bewerken. De oproep van Nietzsche om een terrasofie te ontwikkelen, een nieuwe wijsheid omtrent het leven op aarde, is tot nu toe onderbelicht gebleven. Dit boek wil deze lacune opvullen. Het volgt Nietzsche op zijn persoonlijke zoektocht op de voet. Henk Manschot houdt een beargumenteerd pleidooi om Nietzsches motto ‘Blijf de aarde trouw’ tot leidraad te nemen voor een hedendaagse ecologische levenskunst die zowel een persoonlijke opdracht omvat als een maatschappelijke oriëntatie voor de toekomst.
- GenresPhilosophy
Paperback
Published October 28, 2016
4 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 11, 2017
In this (Dutch) book Henk Manschot presents Nietzsche as a thinker who can guide us in dealing with the pressing matters of survival in the Anthropocene. How can it be that both in style and substance, this 19th-century philosopher anticipated a concept of ecological solidarity and planetary citizenship that would gain traction only century later? Well, Nietzsche's thinking cannot be dissociated from his nomadic lifestyle, his pedestrianism and the intimate contact with marine and alpine nature. Manschot's argument connects to a study of Nietzsche's first Mediterranean sojourn in Sorrento (1876) in which Paolo D'Iorio persuasively shows how intense visual observations and sensorial experiences 'en plein air' were slowly refined into philosophical ideas. Manschot argues that the philosopher's experimental and nature-oriented lifestyle is reflected in his dynamic, earthbound cosmology of which Zarathustra is the most radical and deeply felt articulation. In his reading of Thus Spake Zarathustra Manschot discerns the contours of a 'terra-sophy' developed around the central question of how man relates to Earth. These naturalistic ideas fundamentally challenged the modern project of 'disenchantment' and de-coupling between man and cosmos.
The second part of the book elaborates this terrasophy along three axes. Manschot takes as a guideline the triple concern that shaped the pre-modern philosophical agenda: how do we relate to ourselves? How do we relate to others? And how do relate to the wider cosmos? The first question is addressed via Nietzsche's project of self-examination and self-perfection. It is important to understand that this was not a moralistic project focused on negative virtues but an open process of experimentation in search of 'The Great Health'. Here Manschot points to an interesting parallel with Gandhi, who saw his life as a series of 'experiments with truth'.
Prof. Manschot approaches the question about the relationship with others through a reflection on the contemporary significance of the notion of 'local culture'. Here the relationship with Nietzsche's thinking is more tenuous. The process of globalisation has eroded the meaning of place. Movements such as Buen Vivir in Latin-America, territorialism (in Italy) and bio-regionalism attempt to revitalise the meaning and practice of local stewardship.
In a final chapter, the author explores the implications of Nietzsche's systemic naturalism: man and Earth dynamically relate to one another in an endless process of evolution. We ought to understand this relationship as entailing a responsibility to reinforce the vitality and resilience of both.
I enjoyed this book. Manschot has a didactic and personable way of building his argument (it is no surprise that he started his career as a Franciscan friar). I believe that the core intuition that lies at the basis of this book is a sound one. Nietzsche's visceral way of philosophising, in intimate contact with nature, shapes his outlook on the fundamental question of how to live with each other on Earth. But I'm not sure I want to follow the author all the way and picture Nietzsche as a proto-sustainability guru.
The second part of the book elaborates this terrasophy along three axes. Manschot takes as a guideline the triple concern that shaped the pre-modern philosophical agenda: how do we relate to ourselves? How do we relate to others? And how do relate to the wider cosmos? The first question is addressed via Nietzsche's project of self-examination and self-perfection. It is important to understand that this was not a moralistic project focused on negative virtues but an open process of experimentation in search of 'The Great Health'. Here Manschot points to an interesting parallel with Gandhi, who saw his life as a series of 'experiments with truth'.
Prof. Manschot approaches the question about the relationship with others through a reflection on the contemporary significance of the notion of 'local culture'. Here the relationship with Nietzsche's thinking is more tenuous. The process of globalisation has eroded the meaning of place. Movements such as Buen Vivir in Latin-America, territorialism (in Italy) and bio-regionalism attempt to revitalise the meaning and practice of local stewardship.
In a final chapter, the author explores the implications of Nietzsche's systemic naturalism: man and Earth dynamically relate to one another in an endless process of evolution. We ought to understand this relationship as entailing a responsibility to reinforce the vitality and resilience of both.
I enjoyed this book. Manschot has a didactic and personable way of building his argument (it is no surprise that he started his career as a Franciscan friar). I believe that the core intuition that lies at the basis of this book is a sound one. Nietzsche's visceral way of philosophising, in intimate contact with nature, shapes his outlook on the fundamental question of how to live with each other on Earth. But I'm not sure I want to follow the author all the way and picture Nietzsche as a proto-sustainability guru.
August 27, 2022
Hoe kan Nietzsche ons helpen beter met de aarde om te gaan? Manschot doet een dappere poging. Maar zoals Nietzsche zei: het is nog geen tijd voor oplossingen. Eerst moeten de crises beter doorvoeld worden.
October 12, 2018
Deze moet je gelezen hebben!
October 11, 2019
Zeer interessante interpretatie van Nietzsche als ecofilosoof.
January 23, 2025
Helder geschreven en verfrissend boek. Nietzsche’s werk wordt met talrijke voorbeelden en citaten langs de natuur-as bekeken. De individuele beleving van, het experimenteren met de natuur, en de uiteindelijke transformatie vh individu tot uebermensch vormt het filosofische framework. Ook worden de verschillen en overeenkomsten met een mogelijke aanpak vd huidige ecologische crises gelegd. Individu vs mensheid, aarde vs gaia.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews