Nietzsche as Philosopher [Paperback]

Arthur C. Danto (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0231050534 | ISBN-13: 978-0231050531 | Publication Date: June 15, 1965 | Edition: Columbia University Press Morningside ed

"With skill and discernment Danto reveals the important strands of Nietzsche's wildly tangled skein and weaves them into a pattern." -- New York Times Book Review

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About the Author

First published in 1965, Danto's study argues that Nietzsche offers a systematic and coherent philosophy, anticipating many of the questions that define contemporary philosophy. Danto's commentaries helped canonize Nietzsche as a philosopher and continue to illuminate subtleties in Nietzsche's work as well as his immense contributions to the philosophies of science, language, and logic. This new edition, which includes five additional essays, not only further enhances our understanding of Nietzsche's philosophy; it responds to the misunderstandings that continue to muddy his intellectual reputation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press; Columbia University Press Morningside ed edition (June 15, 1965)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231050534
• ISBN-13: 978-0231050531
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,158,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A sober reading of Nietzsche, June 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Nietzsche as Philosopher (Paperback)

There are some wild readings of Nietzsche out there (nothing wrong with that), but in this book Danto works out of the British/American more conservative school of philosophy and tries to discover if there is a logical system to Nietzsche's works. Danto is one of the most readable philosophers out there, and is sensitive to the problems of systemizing Nietzsche. Overall a nice antidote to give to overzealous intellectuals who read a little Nietzsche and then feel qualified to start calling themselves one of the ubermensch.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Way Out, July 20, 2011

By 

Gherardini "Gherardini" (Heraclitusville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nietzsche as Philosopher (Paperback)

Two hundred six pages of Danto's explication of Nietzsche illuminate more than the remaining 19. So Danto himself sheds more light than dark on Nietzsche and therefore points a way out of the "will-to-truth" (or the "myth of the given") to the "will-to-power."

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just...Aweful. Get A Graham Parkes Book Instead-, June 10, 2011

By 

Alaric - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nietzsche as Philosopher: Expanded Edition (Columbia Classics in Philosophy) (Paperback)

Arthur C. Danto's forte is clearly academic art criticism and theory.
This volume (1965) was clearly an effort to 'cash in'.
The laziness in extracting anglo-american analytic theories and applications begs the question "Was writing this book an inconvenience for you, Artie?" and amounts to no more than: wellp, basically Berkely and Richard Rorty but undisciplined and irresponsibly fascistically enthused, hurp durp.

The prose is nearly unreadable, the arguments are assembled like lincoln logs, and Danto's omnipresent belletrism betrays the most physically repugnant stench of conceit and self-satisfaction imaginable. He plods unit-by-rhetorically questioning-unit on for what seems like eons only to deliver, "well, that's what he's saying, more or less, minus the Teutonic obtuseness." Just don't bother with this book, it is Actively unhelpful.

J.P. Stern for all his faults, being a litterateur type as Danto, is greatly preferable as a commentator to this ressentiment laden screech ape. Did I mention the analytic philosophy reputation associated with this volume is largely unearned?

Save your money, avoid this baby-boomer tripe, and invest in a volume on Nietzsche by Graham Parkes instead.