| In
this new interpretation of Nietzsche's thought, Daniel Ahern examines
Nietzsche's understanding of physiology and argues that Nietzsche
saw himself in the role of a ''physician'' of culture. Through what
he calls Nietzsche's ''clinical standpoint,'' Ahern describes Nietzsche's
views on the history of Western culture in terms of the ''physiological
dynamics'' of exhaustion, decadence, sickness, and health. This physiology
is a simultaneous interpretation of the will to power and constitutes
both Nietzsche's ''diagnoses'' of the ''spiritual'' sickness of modern
nihilism and its possible cure.
To describe how ''spirit'' can be both a force of degeneration
and vitality, Ahern studies Nietzsche's perception of the history
and culture of both the ancient Greeks and Jews. In doing so, he
provides a sound textual basis for confronting the potentially inflammatory
aspects of Nietzsche's little discussed cultural criticism.
This book marks the first serious exploration of Nietzsche's diagnosis
and prognosis for modernity and of the centrality to Nietzsche's
thought of his conception of himself as a physician of culture. |
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