Epilogue

Abstract

Each phase of Nietzsche’s philosophy is regulated by a task (Aufgabe). However this task is defined, at whatever stage of his work, it is continually performed under the diagnostic presupposition of the décadence and degeneration of life and culture, including politics and the politics of ressentiment. In Nietzsche’s early work, his primary task is the rebirth of German culture. It is a task inspired by Schopenhauer, Wagner and the ancient Greeks. Even then, this task possesses a political dimension which addresses the democratization of the German educational system and the question of the relation between culture and the state, the delineation of which appears to have been presented by Burckhardt.

Then … something said to me voicelessly … ‘You are the one who has unlearned how to obey: now you shall command! Do you know what it is all men most need? Him who commands great things. This is the most unpardonable thing about you: You have the power and you will not rule.

(Z Stillest Hour)