Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
What a Philosopher Is : Becoming Nietzsche - Laurence Lampert
eTextbook alternate format product

Instant online reading.
Don't wait for delivery!

What a Philosopher Is

Becoming Nietzsche

By: Laurence Lampert

Paperback | 1 February 2021 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback


RRP $79.95

$62.99

21%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $15.75 with

 or 

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

The trajectory of Friedrich Nietzscheâs thought has long presented a difficulty for the study of his philosophy. How did the young Nietzscheâ"classicist and ardent advocate of Wagnerâs cultural renewalâ"become the philosopher of Will to Power and the Eternal Return?
 
With this book, Laurence Lampert answers that question. He does so through his trademark technique of close readings of key works in Nietzscheâs journey to philosophy: The Birth of Tragedy, Schopenhauer as Educator, Richard Wagner in Bayreuth, Human All Too Human, and âSanctus Januarius,â the final book of the 1882 Gay Science. Relying partly on how Nietzsche himself characterized his books in his many autobiographical guides to the trajectory of his thought, Lampert sets each in the context of Nietzscheâs writings as a whole, and looks at how they individually treat the question of what a philosopher is. Indispensable to his conclusions are the workbooks in which Nietzsche first recorded his advances, especially the 1881 workbook which shows him gradually gaining insights into the two foundations of his mature thinking. The result is the most complete picture weâve had yet of the philosopherâs development, one that gives us a Promethean Nietzsche, gaining knowledge even as he was expanding his thought to create new worlds.
 
Industry Reviews
"In What a Philosopher Is: Becoming Nietzsche Laurence Lampert examines Nietzsche's early writings through what he calls the first mature work-the fourth book of The Gay Science, known as "Sanctus Januarius"-in order to reveal the coherence of Nietzsche's seemingly disparate projects. But reading the workbooks themselves does allow Lampert a convincing account of the continuity that is otherwise hidden. He shows, to take the most prominent example, that Nietzsche's idea of the eternal recurrence of the same didn't come from nowhere. It can be thrilling to see Nietzsche's ideas contextualized this way." * Rain Taxi *
"This new book from North America's greatest living Nietzsche scholar raises and answers the important question of Nietzsche's notion of the philosopher and describes how he himself became such a philosopher. It is a wonderful complement to the rest of Lampert's remarkable work on Nietzsche and will be of great interest to anyone interested in the life and thought of this world-historical thinker." -- Michael Allen Gillespie, Duke University
"What a Philosopher Is demonstrates how truth, life, and the relation between them inform and govern Nietzsche's thought. What Lampert undertakes is nothing less than to describe, drawing on Nietzsche's writings and correspondence, what the Germans call the Werdegang - translated loosely, the 'becoming' - of Nietzsche as the philosopher he is known for being today." -- Paul Bishop, University of Glasgow

"In his preface to the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche asks that his readers develop a new art of reading-what he will call "rumination"-so that he may be understood. Lampert is undoubtedly one of the best readers Nietzsche has ever had, and in identifying the eternal return as the way out of nihilism he has transcended the type of close textual reading Strauss offers. With What a Philosopher Is, Lampert has started to practice this new art of rumination."

-- Hugo Drochon * The Review of Politics *

More in Philosophy

The Reason for God : Belief in an age of scepticism - Timothy Keller
Review of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler : ERIS gems - George Orwell
Utopia for Realists : And How We Can Get There - Rutger Bregman

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
In Praise of the Earth : A Journey into the Garden - Byung-Chul Han
How to Feel : An Ancient Guide to Minding Our Emotions - The Buddha
How Lucky Am I : A Skeleton's Guide to Living Your Best Life - Christian Watson
12 Rules for Life : Antidote to Chaos - Jordan B. Peterson

RRP $26.99

$20.75

23%
OFF
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse - Charlie Mackesy

RRP $45.00

$31.75

29%
OFF
The Golden Road : How Ancient India Transformed the World - William Dalrymple
Start With Why : How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action - Simon Sinek
The Seeker and the Sage - Brigid Delaney

RRP $32.99

$26.99

18%
OFF