The Cultural Politics Of Aristocratic Radicalism

Nietzsche’s political thought has always been a controversial topic. Some scholars think Nietzsche’s thoughts is unpolitical or anti-political, and thus the so called "Nietzsche’s political philosophy" does not really exist. Even among the researchers who pay attention to Nietzsche’s political discussions, there are diverse understandings and interpretations on the nature of Nietzsche’s political thought.The present study claims that Nietzsche’s political philosophy exists, and defines it as a kind of "cultural politics" of "aristocratic radicalism". The analysis in the dissertation aims at a clarification of the notions of "aristocratic radicalism" and "cultural politics".The first chapter of this dissertation makes clear why we may characterize Nietzsche’s political philosophy as "aristocratic radicalism". The first section of this chapter approaches Nietzsche’s "aristocratism" by spelling out his objection to democracy, his criticism of the "Platonism for the’people’" and slave morality of Christianity, and his advocating the warrior spirit of freeman. The second section analyses the "radicality" of Nietzsche’s aristocratism, indicating that his "aristocratism" is neither a return to the old hereditary noble system nor a conservative alliance with religion, but a kind of radical "atheism of the political right", and a serious rejection to conservative nationalism.The third section of Chapter1demonstrates that the strategy of Nietzsche’s "aristocratic radicalism" is a kind of "immoralism". Starting with the metaphysical foundation of immoralism, namely the will to power, the section analyses the paradox between an intellective pursuit of will to truth and life preservation of vital instinct, and the "positive nihilism" of "reevaluation of all the values". It also spells out the typical figures and political regimes of "immoralism" as well as their significations, further clarifying the basic standpoint and the complex connotation of "aristocratic radicalism".The second chapter looks into Nietzsche’s political discussion, especially focusing on his uncompromising critique of the main stream modern political ideologies. Nietzsche’s critique of real politics highlights the basic character of his "cultural politics", that is, culture as prior to politics, the aim of which should be culture rather than power or the happiness of the people. The first section of this chapter analyses Nietzsche’s critiques of statism, nationalism, anti-Semitism, liberalism, and conservatism, which are ideologies that seem to oppose each other. The second section analyses the foundations and preconditions of the aforementioned political critiques, i.e. the critiques of the Enlightenment, especially the critiques of British moral sentimentalism, utilitarianism, Rousseau’s equalitarianism and its socialistic influence. And these critiques boil down to Nietzsche’s critiques of the rational optimism of Enlightenment and the historicistic beliefs.Section3elucidates Nietzsche’s own "concept of politics" behind his critiques of ideological politics and political ideas of Enlightenment, i.e. the idea of "the great politics" vis-a-vis "the petty politics" of nationalism and socialism etc. in a democratic times. The so called "great politics" relates to the issue that Europe contends for the dominion of the earth in the world order. Along with the breakdown of the Christian tradition of western civilization symbolized by "the death of God", the rise of popular democratic politics, and "the dawn of the European nihilistic times", European civilization will unavoidably fall into a declining era. Liberalism, socialism, nationalism and conservatism cannot prevent this fate; only "the great politics" of breeding a new generation of "artist-philosopher" legislators in Europe and reestablishing a new hierarchical order of values can overcome the crisis of modernity in Europe, which is manifested in the decline of religion and the liberal-democratization. So it is obvious that the political radicality of "the great politics" is no less than that of the European left wing’s revolutionary ideology.The third chapter concerns whether the foothold of Nietzsche’s "concept of politics" lies in the real politics (die Realpolitik) or rather in cultural politics. The first section points out the uniqueness of Nietzsche’s concept of culture, and explains what is the "cultural politics" in Nietzsche’s sense. The second section makes explicit to what extent Nietzsche’s "aristocratic radicalism" is relevant for the real politics, and the complex relationship between his "cultural politics" and real politics, such as its relation to Nazi, and the relationship between his anti-semitistic, anti-democratic, anti-feministic discourses and the related political practices etc. Nietzsche expresses his philosophical views in terms of bold political discourse, hoping that his thought could be interpreted from the perspective of "cultural politics". However, he cannot prevent others from making use of his thought ideologically from the perspective of real politics.The conclusion is a brief discussion on the significance of Nietzsche’s political philosophy in understanding the crisis of western modernity, especially that of political modernity. Though Nietzsche agrees with Tocqueville’s judgment that "the general trend of democracy can not be reversed", he does not totally attribute it to the ideology of Enlightenment, but traces it back to the equalitarianism of Christianity and the crisis of western civilization, which is caused by the breakdown of Christian tradition. From this perspective and with such a historic judgment, Nietzsche proposes to cope with the crisis by means of "the cultural politics" of "aristocratic radicalism". Nietzsche judges liberal democratic politics as a cultural nihilism, but his very rhetoric discourses unavoidably become the theoretical resources for radical right-winged conservatism as against liberal democracy. On the other hand, despite On the one hand, Nietzsche’s insight into the crisis of western modernity, we must reflect upon the limit of "the cultural politics" of Nietzsche’s aristocratic radicalism, because his solution to the crisis is problematic and inseparable from his diagnosis and judgment of the very crisis. The study of Nietzsche’s political philosophy cannot be confined to Nietzsche’s own horizon. Only when we reach a vantage point beyond Nietzsche’s political philosophy, we are able to see the limit of his thought. This is the ultimate meaning of studying Nietzsche’s political philosophy.