Nietzsche, Genealogy and Political Authority

Abstract

Tamsin Shaw has suggested that Nietzsche's concerns included the ideological capacity of the state. I show that some support for this interpretation can be drawn from Nietzsche's own views about the threat to moral and intellectual independence posed by modern forms of political authority. If taken seriously, his insights allow us to appreciate how independent political judgment, and hence individual autonomy, can be systematically imperiled by the operation of the modern state apparatus. In light of this discovery, I begin to construct a genealogical theory of legitimate authority that citizens can deploy in order to check state power. I argue that genealogical narratives have the power to impugn the normative authority of purportedly binding decisions and orders. Such narratives do so when they reveal a fault in the justificatory reasoning offered by state representatives in defense of their actions. At the heart of this theory there lies an account of the ways in which officers of the state can, and cannot, permissibly offer reasons in the course of justifying their decisions to citizens.