During years of close friendship, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Paul Rée (1849-1901) shared ideas and developed a new and original approach to philosophy and ethics. The course of their partnership, from its origins in shared hopes to its ending in a painful breakdown of personal relations, is the subject of this book.The full story has not been told before. Some of its biographical aspects - especially the three-sided relationship
involving the young Lou Salomé which had severe emotional consequences for Nietzsche - have been known. Yet many personal details are presented here for the first time. The philosophical account is equally
absorbing, showing how this collaboration was a crucial stage on Nietzsche's way toward his most original and radical contributions to philosophy.'Réealism' was the label Nietzsche gave to Rée's naturalistic doctrine, which drew on the evolutionary theory of natural selection to explain the moral concepts of good, evil, conscience and justice. Just as importantly, Rée wrote in a cool, highly disciplined style, very different from most German writers of
the time. Both aspects of his work made a strong impact on Nietzsche, who developed this project in his own way in a series of works starting with Human, All-Too-Human. Yet he eventually came to criticise and reject
'Réealism' as inadequate to the task of a revaluation of values, and replaced the 'historical approach' with his own genealogy of morality.In a strikingly poetic passage in The Gay Science, Nietzsche describes a 'star friendship': the brief meeting of two stars whose paths cross and then diverge forever, perhaps as part of some pattern beyond their knowledge. This book gives the 'star friendship' of Nietzsche and Rée the treatment it has always
needed. In doing so, it brings to light fresh aspects of one of the most important of modern thinkers.
Industry Reviews
`This is a very timely book. Much of the current interest in Nietzsche, and some of the best recent scholarship, concerns questions of his naturalism, his stance toward Darwin, his historical and genealogical method, his critique of morality, and his moral psychology. Small's erudite study shows us how these aspects of Nietzsche's thought originated, how they developed, and how they themselves came under his critical scrutiny. . . .'
Paul S. Loeb, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
`....under his critical scrutiny. . . . I have focused on Small's account of the philosophical partnership between Nietzsche and Rée, and in particular on his discussion of the role of Darwin in this partnership. But readers will also learn from Small's penetrating analysis of their shared ideas on freedom, character, and punishment; from his judicious and psychologically insightful review of their personal friendship (including the famous "Lou
affair"); and from his aesthetically discerning treatment of the influence of Rée's aphoristic style on what is often regarded as Nietzsche's original stylistic invention.. . . Highly recommended. This book will be of
interest to general readers, undergraduates, graduates, and scholars in the field.'
Paul S. Loeb, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
