Did Nietzsche have a (classical) liberal core?

On February 11, 2012, in Philosophy, by Sanjeev Sabhlok

I'm not a philosophy specialist, but from my limited readings, have formed the impression that Nietzsche (with his Superman) came from the positive liberty/collectivist approach of Rousseau (who promoted public education, for instance), and statist approaches of Hegel (which flowered through Marx). I also recall reading in a few places that Nietzsche's amoral Superman was influential in the moral malaise underpinning the rise of Hitler. 

And to an extent this view is validated from the selection of 40 of his quotations that I chanced upon today, here; eg:

  • "Morality is but the herd-instinct in the individual"
  • "No one talks more passionately about his rights than he who in the depths of his soul doubts whether he has any"  (note that I have a view about positive rights, e.g. "right" to work, that could potentially be framed this way, if one is being very nasty, but I don't agree with such sentiments)
  • "What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself"
  • "A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies."

On the other hand, there is at least a small flavour of classical liberal perspectives, and so Nietzsche can't perhaps be attributed as entirely having 'caused' Hitler (of course no one holds such power over others, anyway). I list a few such quotations below:

3. The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.

9. In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.

12. We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the way in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.

14. Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

20. I counsel you, my friends: Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.


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2 Responses to “Did Nietzsche have a (classical) liberal core?”

  1. Did Nietzsche have a (classical) liberal core? http://t.co/Dy2yyvOD #philosophy

  2. Did Nietzsche have a (classical) liberal core? http://t.co/MouJ8KRP

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