Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Nietzsche and Nietzscheanism
- 1 Nietzscheanism and existentialism
- 2 Nietzscheanism and poststructuralism
- 3 Nietzscheanism and politics
- 4 Nietzscheanism and feminism
- 5 Nietzscheanism and theology
- 6 Nietzscheanism and posthumanism
- 7 Nietzscheanism, naturalism and science
- Conclusion
- Chronologies
- Questions for discussion and revision
- Further reading
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Nietzscheanism and feminism
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Nietzsche and Nietzscheanism
- 1 Nietzscheanism and existentialism
- 2 Nietzscheanism and poststructuralism
- 3 Nietzscheanism and politics
- 4 Nietzscheanism and feminism
- 5 Nietzscheanism and theology
- 6 Nietzscheanism and posthumanism
- 7 Nietzscheanism, naturalism and science
- Conclusion
- Chronologies
- Questions for discussion and revision
- Further reading
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores the seemingly unlikely, but in fact significant, place Nietzsche has held in feminist thought. It begins by highlighting the deep ambiguity of this place: on the one hand Nietzsche is widely regarded as an outrageous misogynist because of some of his published statements on women; on the other, many prominent feminist theorists have found resources in his work for combating the patriarchal philosophical tradition. The chapter considers both aspects of Nietzsche's relation to feminism, but concentrates on the latter. It looks at the nature and extent of Nietzsche's perceived misogyny, and his dismissal by some feminists on this ground. It then examines the various attempts to “rehabilitate” Nietzsche for use by feminist theory. In fact the value of Nietzsche for feminism was recognized relatively early, by German feminists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After acknowledging this early influence, the chapter focuses on more recent and influential feminist interpretations of Nietzsche. It introduces Kofman's argument that there is no single, essentialist view of “woman” in Nietzsche's texts, but different types of women, including life-affirmative ones. It examines Irigaray's influential reading of Nietzsche in Marine Lover, which both reveals Nietzsche's deep complicity with patriarchal tradition and opens up his work towards feminist concerns. The chapter then explores one example of Nietzsche studies in contemporary anglophone feminism in the work of Kelly Oliver.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Understanding Nietzscheanism , pp. 135 - 158Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2011