Nietzsche as Cultural Physician by Daniel R. Ahern - 9780271030500

Pennsylvania State University Press

Nietzsche as Cultural PhysicianAuthor(s): Daniel R. Ahern\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Pennsylvania State University Press, United States\nImprint: Pennsylvania State University Press\nISBN-13: 9780271030500, 978-0271030500\nSynopsis\nIn 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. \n\nTo 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 anc.