Le crépuscule des idoles / Le cas Wagner

by Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Albert (Translator), Christian Jambet (Editor)

Quelles sont les «idoles» auxquelles s'attaque Nietzsche et dont il annonce le crépuscule? Ce sont, nous dit-il, les valeurs forgées par la religion chrétienne et imposées comme seule vérité. La tâche du philosophe consiste alors à mettre en lumière l'origine de ces a priori moraux. Les valeurs, une fois démontrée l'erreur qui nous les fait croire
universelles, sonnent creux sous le marteau du philosophe. Car s'il cherche moins à détruire qu'à questionner et ausculter, sa visée est bien le renversement de toutes les valeurs, pour rendre à la vie, affadie par deux millénaires de christianisme, sa vigueur et sa santé.

Le Crépuscule des idoles et Le Cas Wagner, qui l'accompagne, sont les deux derniers textes publiés avec l'aval de Nietzsche, quelques mois avant sa crise de démence de janvier 1889. Ils constituent, comme il l'écrit dans une lettre à Carl Fuchs du 9 septembre 1888, «une parfaite introduction d'ensemble à [sa] philosophie».

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

256 pages, Pocket Book

Published November 15, 2017

About the author

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.

Reviews

[Heg]

ca fait reflechir de baisé

[maï-ly · Rating 3 out of 5]

peak comedy 3.75

[Tache D'Encre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nietzsche est pour l'instant mon philosophe préféré. Même si je ne me retrouve pas en accord avec l'entièreté de sa pensée, ce qui est normal, je trouve toutes ses réflexions très intéressantes. De plus, il est extrêmement drôle et son livre est parsemé d'ironie et d'humour et j'ai souvent ri. Avouez que ce n'est pas commun pour de la philosophie !

Le début peut paraître compliqué, car étant une philosophe allemand, Nietzsche a tendance à inventer des mots. Mais c'est le premier que je lis de lui et je l'ai dans l'ensemble bien compris donc ne vous inquiétez pas à ce sujet !

[Lucas bignes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mon deuxième livre de philo … je l’ai trouvé compliqué ?!

[Liam Waw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crépuscule des idoles dinguerie par contre le cas Wagner on sssssoufle sayé frr