Sezgi Durgun

Nietzsche’s Reception: Politics of Philosophy

In this essay I outline and comment on the Nietzsche appeal among the representative figures of German nationalist ideology and of Zionist thought in Germany. From the 1890’s until 1920’s Nietzsche’s thought had a strong appeal among nationalist intellectuals; during the period following the 1890’s, Nietzsche was becoming famous in the European intellectual circles, Concerning the nationalistic reception of Friedrich Nietzsche it can be easily seen that both camps advocate their own picture of Nietzsche and furnish their nationalist vocabulary with Nietzschean terms. In order to discuss these two competing accounts, I plan to outline the main aspects of this “Nietzsche appeal”. This will bring about the problem of why and how Nietzsche’s thought is constantly reformulated by these national projects.