Nietzsche's Dangerous Game: Philosophy in the Twilight of the Idols (Modern European Philosophy) (Hardcover)

by Daniel W. Conway (Author) "Thus scribbled Nietzsche in the twilight of his sanity, just months before his storied collapse in Turin..." (more)
Key Phrases: besetting decadence, successor epoch, decadent philosopher, Ecce Homo, New York, The Birth of Tragedy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Daniel W. Conway has written an important book that warrants sreious attention from both Nietzsche scholars and the broader scholarly community interested in Nietzsche's critique of modernity." Aln D. Schrift, Philosophy in Review

Product Description
This is the first book-length treatment of the unique nature and development of Nietzsche's post-Zarathustran political philosophy. This later political philosophy is set in the context of the critique of modernity that Nietzsche advances in the years 1885-1888, in such texts as Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, The Case of Wagner, and Ecce Homo. Daniel Conway has written a powerful book about Nietzsche's own appreciation of the limitations of both his writing style and of his famous prophetic "stance".

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 281 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521573718
• ISBN-13: 978-0521573719
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,630,290 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ludicrous and Incompetent, July 8, 2003

By	Aristotle's Beast (Monrovia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nietzsche's Dangerous Game: Philosophy in the Twilight of the Idols (Modern European Philosophy) (Paperback)

This book is not well researched. It is based on a couple dozen short snippets of Nietzsche's work that Conway uses over and over again. The rest of what the other reviewer who gave it only one star said is correct. The whole point of Conway's book is to say that Nietzsche was vain, wanted nothing more than to control his followers, and that his readers are all fools -- which must surely include Conway. Conway is a postmodernist whose prose is mostly unreadable. His political orientation is Hegelian. But Nietzsche was free of the Hegelian nonsense. Conway rejects the individual. But the individual is the central concept of Nietzsche's political thought. Conway believes in totalitarianism, like Marx. He has no faith in people, only in groups and their leaders. Conway wants the PoMo future: utter ignorance and strong arm leaders who are allegedly benevolent because they have been freed of the fetters of law and existing contracts. Conway thinks Nietzsche is an irrationalist, but Nietzsche ridiculed irrationalism throughout his career. Conway and his postmodern moralist cohorts believe 'it is a sin against everything of value to become scientific' to cite just one bit of Nietzsche's mockery that fits the PoMo mind frame (CW Postscript 1). This book is worth almost no one's time, and all students should avoid it.

11 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Clever but immature, September 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Nietzsche's Dangerous Game: Philosophy in the Twilight of the Idols (Modern European Philosophy) (Paperback)

This book is clever and well-written and thoroughly researched. In this sense it is a solid academic book. But it is superficial and immature, delighting in self-reference and merely reading Nietzsche against Nietzshe ('if everything is untrue is this claim also untrue?') without recognizing Nietzsche's response to this sort of thing. Rather than trying to show that he betters his subject matter, the author would have done well to consider, as any number of Continental philosophers have already done, how Nietzshce and Nietzscheans have responded to this criticism, and thus why Nietzsche is not playing a game at all.