Nietzsche's Gift (review)

Abstract

270 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY those of us who cannot accept this latter view, the hope that our ultimate moral principles are not in conflict is a belief to be abandoned. In short, Sidgwick's sceptical conclusion shows that in a secular, evolutionary moral world, philosophers have no choice but to accept the actuality of moral disagreement and, if they are so inclined, take an interest in projected instrumentalities for its removal. This, of course, is the program of instrumentalist ethics; and it is my belief that Sedgwick's scepticism leads to further investigation along these lines. As a final word, it is worth mentioning that the high price of the book virtually restricts its market to "serious" Sidgwick scholars. I believe it is the duty as well as in the interest of the publisher to make this important volume available in a cheaper, widely circulated edition, so that the critical issues Sidgwick raises could be set before a larger public. DONALDF. KOCH Michigan State University Harold Alderman. Nietzsche's Gift. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1977. Pp. 184. $13.50, cloth; $5.50, paper. In this brief, well-written essay there is a focus upon a few "thematic constants" that run through Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra and a concern to understand Nietzsche as a "philosopher of philosophy." The sympathetic exposition and interpretation of Nietzsche 's most poetic work is interesting and carefully defineated. In an elegant chapter on "Nietzsche's Masks," Alderman avers that a great deal that is implicit in Thus Spake Zarathustra is made explicit in other major works. In addition, The Will to Power is repudiated as a source of insight into Nietzsche's thought because it is a "nonbook" and represents "hypotheses which Nietzsche abandoned" (p. 5). This insistent approach to the overall philosophy of Nietzsche is specifically d/rected to Heidegger's claim, in his massive Nietzsche, that "die eigentliche Philosophic bleibt als 'Nachlass' Zi2ruck." Curiously enough, Alderman maintains that his conversations with Heidegger and his study of his writings deeply influenced his understanding of Nietzsche. As we progress through Alderman's lucid essay, we begin to see that by cutting himself off from the materials in the Nachlass he offers incomplete accounts of the instrumentalist theory of truth, as well as of Nietzsche's central idea of "perspectivalism." If we concentrate on the interpretation of Thus Spake Zarathustra, we find Aiderman at his best. The spirited, playful, experimental approach to philosophy in Nietzsche 's thought is given free rein and Alderman is an ardent spokesman for the picture of Nietzsche as a poetic transformer of philosophical thinking. Lamenting the relative neglect of the allegories, symbols and metaphors in Thus Spake Zarathustra, the author patiently sifts his way through them in his account. A key to Nietzsche's "symbology" is said to be found in the recognition of opposites: dusk and dawn, abyss and peak, midnight and noon, death and birth, the last man and Zarathustra, etc. (p. 16). It is held that, for Nietzsche, philosophy is a "drama," an expression of individual experience and insight through the universality of language. The conversation between the religious hermit and Zarathustra is carefully delineated and it is said that Zarathustra brings a "'gift" to man: to teach us to become human. Rather than tell the hermit that Gott ist tot, Zarathustra goes to the city and announces that he teachds the Ubermensch. BOOK REVIEWS 271 Rather than seeing a conflict between Zarathustra's concern with man and his teaching that man must be overcome, Alderman claims that Nietzsche is saying that each of us must create within ourselves the "overman" (p. 27). Offering a humanistic interpretation of the message of Zarathustra, Alderman summarizes what he thinks are the ways in which we may become creatively human: by accepting the facticity of human actuality; by accepting this "camel's burden" as the basis upon which we may build a self; and, finally, by seeking self-creation with the innocence of the child (p. 35). In continuing his interpretation of Zarathustra's sayings, the author emphasizes the relation between speech and silence so much that one suspects the invisible presence of the thought of Leo Strauss. Whether this...