The Pre-Platonic Philosophers (International Nietzsche Studies) [Hardcover]

Friedrich Nietzsche (Author), Whitlock Whitlock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000 | Series: International Nietzsche Studies

This extraordinary document supplies to English-language readers a missing link in the chain of development of a preeminent nineteenth-century philosopher. "The Pre-Platonic Philosophers" reproduces the text of a lecture series delivered by the young Friedrich Nietzsche (then a philologist) at the University of Basel between 1872 and 1876. In these lectures, Nietzsche surveys the Greek philosophers from Thales to Socrates, establishing a new chronology for the progression of their natural scientific insights. Roughly formulating many of the themes he later developed at length, Nietzsche sketches concepts such as the will to power, eternal recurrence, and self-overcoming and links them to specific pre-Platonics. Greg Whitlock is the first scholar to have wrestled Nietzsche's difficult manuscript into English. This superbly readable translation, complete with Nietzsche's own extensive sidenotes and philological citations, is accompanied by a prologue, an introductory essay, commentary on the lectures, and voluminous bibliographical materials. Whitlock's translation confirms that Nietzsche grouped Socrates with the earlier Greeks, rather than with Plato and other "mixed character philosophers" as many interpreters have claimed. That Nietzsche's philosophical sympathies lay with the pre-Platonics, as opposed to the pre-Socratics, bears substantially on his later rejection of absolutes such as Truth, Knowledge, Beauty, and Being. An overlooked major text of classical studies, "The Pre-Platonic Philosophers" is invaluable both as a record of Nietzsche's views on the early Greek thinkers and as a prefigurement of key aspects of his mature philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An excellent translation and commentary on these important texts, important ones not just for Nietzsche's views but for those of the pre-Platonic philosophers themselves." -- Fred W. Burnett, Religious Studies Review ADVANCE PRAISE "A prodigious feat of scholarly research and an important contribution to Nietzsche scholarship. In the future, anyone interested in the evolution of Nietzsche's thought will simply have to pay attention to Whitlock's interpretation." -- Daniel Breazeale, author of Philosophy and Truth: Selections from Nietzsche's Notebooks of the Early 1870s "Greg Whitlock's translation of Nietzsche's lectures on the pre-Socratic philosophers provides the very first access in English to these vital texts. The young Nietzsche's idea of what philosophy can and should (and should not) do is summarized in his readings of Pythagorus, Heraclitus, Zeno, and the rest. The lectures conclude with Nietzsche's first and most compelling reading of Socrates. For the first time the English reader can share this odd but compelling view back to the Greeks from the standpoint of Nietzsche's lectures in 19th century Basel--and share in an understanding of the task Nietzsche set himself as a philosopher." -- Sander Gilman, author of Conversations with Nietzsche: A Life in the Words of His Contemporaries

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 1ST edition (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252025598
• ISBN-13: 978-0252025594
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #492,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A milestone in Nietzsche scholarship, October 2, 2001

By 

Dennis M. Clark (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Pre-Platonic Philosophers (International Nietzsche Studies) (Hardcover)

This book is remarkable on several levels. As a work of scholarship, it is an awesome achievement, considering that Greg Whitlock was able to produce a coherent text of Nietzche's lecture notes, and performed the most helpful task of looking up every citation, confirming its source, and providing extensive notes to clarify the details of the lectures.

But even more surprising and satisfying is the section that Whitlock modestly calls a "Translator's Commentary", which is actually a challenging and profound engagement with Nietzsche, the various Greek philosophers under discussion, Nietzsche's near contemporaries in German science, philosophy, and philology, and later thinkers as well. In fact, one of the more exciting parts of the text is where Whitlock challenges various statements by Heidegger and, I think, comes out on top. This is not mere history of philosophy, but a genuine encounter with some very provocative ideas.

At the end of this book, the reader must be absolutely conviced that the Pre-Platonic philosophers are not just interesting historically, but that each of them was a brilliant thinker with a highly developed intuitive gift for charging ahead into new intellectual territory. Nietzsche's deep passion for these thinkers is irresistible, and the reader cannot help but marvel at his ability to synthesize the Greeks with the science of his day and then use that to begin his own extraordinary philosophical journey.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Important Text, but..., June 5, 2003

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M. Roberts "uberspoons" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Pre-Platonic Philosophers (International Nietzsche Studies) (Hardcover)

Let me start out by saying that this text is a welcome addition to the serious attempts made to bring Nietzsche's notebooks into publication. Not only, for those of us who are serious Nietzsche schorlars, does The Will To Power have many faults (see my review for it) but we also do not have much if any serious work being done in attempting to translate these 16,000 pages or so of notebook material.

One will see in this text Nietzsche's extraordinary knowledge of the greeks. Most of us know that Nietzsche started his academic life as a philologist, and found in the Greek culture something which pointed him towards the philosophical inquiry he would come to make in his life. I encourage all to partake in Nietzsche's discussion with the Greeks, for it will provide critical insight into the devlopment of his philosophy.

This text is the lecutre course that he gave at Basel in 1868. It provides an account of the most important thinkers before the time of Plato, in accordance to Nietzsche's own struggle with their (the thinkers) fragments. If one finds this text interesting, I would recommend looking into the Birth of Tragedy, Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, and just to get some background info on the lives and fragments obtained from these thinkers, Kirk, Raven, and Schofield's The Pre-Socratic Philosophers.

With that said, this text does have its limitiations. At some moments the translation is very good, and at other moments rather poor. There are sections, for example, in the Chapter on Empedocles that are very important that do not make it into the English translation. Moreover, the translation seems to make use of common English expressions when the actual German dictates a more dramatic expression. Like I say in all my reviews of Nietzsche's notebooks, his texts makes one want to learn German, so do that if you can. If one cannot, read it alongside an expert in German and you will be able to see the rather superficial areas of translation.

So, an important text with some mechanical problems in the translation. Still worth the investment though, and it provides a good intro in NIetzsche's insight into the Greek world.

Amor fati

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars briefly, February 9, 2008

By 

Alaric - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Pre-Platonic Philosophers (International Nietzsche Studies (INS)) (Paperback)

The other reviews cover the details. I recommend this book; it is excellent and a bargain for the price and quality. Read this and R J Hollingdale's biography and you will have a strong grounding grounding to start with. Also: Mazzino Montinari's Nietzsche Lesen, also translated by Whitlock.