Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism?

[Doug Millison]

> Golomb, Jacob and Robert S. Wistrich, eds.
>    Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism? On the Uses and
>    Abuses of a Philosophy.  Princeton, NJ:
>    Princeton UP, 2002.


from the book's introduction
(http://www.pup.princeton.edu/chapters/i7403.html):


"The intriguing question that lies at the heart of
this original collection of essays is how Nietzsche
came to acquire the deadly "honor" of being considered
the philosopher of the Third Reich and whether such
claims have any justification. What was it in
Nietzsche that attracted such a Nazi appropriation in
the first place? To what extent is it legitimate to
view Nietzsche as a protofascist thinker? Does it make
any sense to hold him in some way responsible for the
horrors of Auschwitz? These issues are not as
clear-cut as they may seem, and though they have
attracted much polemical heat, they have not received
any truly systematic treatment. In this volume, we
have attempted to fill that gap in as concise and
comprehensive a way as possible by turning to a
variety of distinguished historians, Nietzsche
scholars, philosophers, and historians of ideas.
[...]"


I like this next part a lot:

"[...] It was clear from the outset that we could not
expect, nor indeed did we strive for, unanimous
conclusions on the thorny, complex, and emotionally
charged question of Nietzsche and fascism. A whole
range of views is presented here that attempts to do
justice in different ways to the ambiguity and
richness of Nietzsche's thought. 

Nietzsche encouraged his readers to shift their
intellectual viewpoints and be willing to experience
even radically incompatible perspectives. Thus by
dealing with the subject matter of this collection
from two different perspectives--that of philosophers
and of historians--we hope that a Nietzschean spirit
of intellectual tolerance will be reflected in this
volume. Nietzsche's life and thought will never be
reducible to a single constituency or political
ideology, as this volume makes plain. The ambiguities
and contradictions in his work as well as his elusive,
aphoristic style lend themselves to a wide range of
meanings and a multiplicity of interpretations.
Nevertheless, while acknowledging this diversity, the
editors cannot in good conscience be exempted from the
challenge of offering some guidelines regarding the
central issues raised by a book about Nietzsche and
fascism, even if the title (as seems appropriate in
this case) ends with a question mark. [...] "


Same goes for Pynchon and discussion of Pynchon, imo, 
"willing to experience even radically incompatible
perspectives"....



=====
<http://www.dougday.blogspot.com/>
<http://www.online-journalist.com/index.html>

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More
http://faith.yahoo.com