Authors:
Fills a gap in the literature on Nietzsche and Montaigne
Contains novel readings of chapters in the Essais
Satisfies the needs of both Nietzsche scholars and Montaigne scholars
Buy it now
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.
Table of contents (8 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
About this book
This book is a historically informed and textually grounded study of the connections between Montaigne, the inventor of the essay, and Nietzsche, who thought of himself as an “attempter.” In conversation with the Essais, Nietzsche developed key themes of his oeuvre: experimental scepticism, gay science, the quest for drives beneath consciousness, the free spirit, the affirmation of sexuality and the body, and the meaning of greatness.
Robert Miner explores these connections in the context of Nietzsche's reverence for Montaigne—a reverence he held for no other author—and asks what Montaigne would make of Nietzsche. The question arises from Nietzsche himself, who both celebrates Montaigne and includes him among a small number of authors to whose judgment he is prepared to submit.Reviews
“Robert Miner wisely focuses his attention on the unique ways in which Montaigne and Nietzsche stage their respective interventions. Both thinkers are concerned to arrive at a ‘deeper,’ more comprehensive truth about moral psychology, and both recognize the need to approach these questions in a novel, idiosyncratic, high-stakes, and self-critical fashion. Both are aware of the limitations of standard approaches to moral psychology, and both wish to resist the common pieties and lazy prejudices that ensnare lesser scholars. This book will open up a rich and fertile field of comparative scholarship devoted to the Montaigne-Nietzsche pairing.” (Daniel Conway, Texas A&M University, USA)
“In Nietzsche and Montaigne, Robert Miner has created for his readers a dialogue of the dead, in which Nietzsche and the author he revered like no other find themselves united in their attempt to cultivate freedom of spirit while having quite different ends in view: where Nietzsche flies towards a high greatness that will give the earth a meaning, Montaigne aims lower, attaining greatness by making himself at home on the earth he walks upon. The contrast is compelling. Combining philological and philosophical skills, celebrating the joys of earthbound and airborne life alike, Nietzsche and Montaigne will have its readers sprouting legs and wings of their own.” (Richard Scholar, Oriel College, University of Oxford, UK)
“Michel de Montaigne was one of the few writers for whom Friedrich Nietzsche expressed consistent admiration across the course of his career. Robert Miner is surely correct to describe them as kindred spirits. In this ambitious undertaking, Miner brings these two notoriously complex and elusive thinkers into conversation on a range of important topics – skepticism, perspectivism, science, self-knowledge, sexuality, free spirits, and greatness. While several scholars have compared and contrasted Nietzsche and Montaigne on specific topics, Miner’s is the first sustained treatment of this intriguing and rewarding dialogue. His book a very welcome accomplishment.” (Ruth Abbey, University of Notre Dame, USA)
“With both a commanding knowledge of both Nietzsche and Montaigne and an uncommon clarity of prose, Miner enacts a beautiful and urgent conversation between these two untimely thinkers. The result is a strikingly original study that will reward careful examination by students and specialists alike.” (Jeffrey A. Bernstein, College of the Holy Cross, USA)
Authors and Affiliations
-
Baylor University, Waco, USA
Robert Miner
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Nietzsche and Montaigne
Authors: Robert Miner
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66745-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-66744-7Published: 19 October 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-88310-6Published: 18 May 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-66745-4Published: 30 September 2017
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 294
Topics: Continental Philosophy, Nineteenth-Century Literature