Lexington Books Nietzsche and the Horror of Existence

Product Description Nietzsche believed in the horror of existence: a world filled with meaningless suffering_suffering for no reason at all. He also believed in eternal recurrence, the view that that our lives will repeat infinitely, and that in each life every detail will be exactly the same. Furthermore, it was not enough for Nietzsche that eternal recurrence simply be accepted_he demanded that it be loved. Thus the philosopher who introduces eternal recurrence is the very same philosopher who also believes in the horror of existence. In this groundbreaking study, Philip Kain develops an insightful account of Nietzsche's strange and paradoxical view that a life of pain and suffering is perhaps the only life it really makes sense to want to live again. Review In Nietzsche and the Horror of Existence, Philip Kain deftly navigates the landscape of contemporary Nietzsche scholarship. His detailed analysis brings into alignment many of Nietzsche's seemingly self-contradictory claims. Kain reveals the profoundly subversive character of Nietzsche's thought and provides a new understanding of both the redemptive power of the affirmation of eternal recurrence and the complex relationship between master and slave morality.--Peter Heckman, Nebraska Wesleyan University Philip Kain's Nietzsche and the Horror of Existence is elegantly, precisely, and forcefully written with a comprehensive knowledge of Nietzsche's entire body of work. By pulling together Nietzsche's disparate thoughts on a few selected topics and systematically reconstructing them, Kain makes an important contribution to our understanding and appreciation of this nineteenth-century philosopher. The book is so well written that it can be profitably read by undergraduate and graduate students, as well as established scholars in philosophy, sociology, political theory, cultural studies, and literary criticism.--George McCarthy, Kenyon College About the Author Philip J. Kain is professor of philosophy and chair of the department of philosophy at Santa Clara University.