Nietzsche, Biology and Metaphor

Nietzsche, Biology and Metaphor explores the German philosopher’s response to the intellectual debates sparked by the publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species. By examining the abundance of biological metaphors in Nietzsche’s writings, Gregory Moore questions his recent reputation as an eminently subversive and (post-) modern thinker, and shows how deeply Nietzsche was immersed in late nineteenth-century debates on evolution, degeneration and race. The first part of the book provides a detailed study and new interpretation of Nietzsche’s much disputed relationship to Darwinism. Uniquely, Moore also considers the importance of Nietzsche’s evolutionary perspective for the development of his moral and aesthetic philosophy. The second part analyzes key themes of Nietzsche’s cultural criticism - his attack on the Judaeo-Christian tradition, his diagnosis of the nihilistic crisis afflicting modernity and his anti-Wagnerian polemics - against the background of fin-de-siècle fears about the imminent biological collapse of Western civilization.

• Provides a contextualization of Nietzsche’s philosophy and his place in the history of ideas • First detailed consideration of Nietzsche’s relationship to Darwinism • New interpretations of key themes in Nietzsche’s thought

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. Evolution: 1. The physiology of power; 2. The physiology of morality; 3. The physiology of art; Part II. Degeneration: 4. Nietzsche and the nervous age; 5. Christianity and degeneration; 6. Degenerate art; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

‘Gregory Moore’s Nietzsche, Biology and Metaphor addresses an area of Nietzsche studies that has for long called for such a detailed and well-informed work? Moore’s success lies in uncovering the subtleties, both historical and intellectual, of Nietzsche’s complex position on evolution, nature and the human.’

– The Times Higher Education Supplement

\'Deeply researched and closely argued, dispassionately and lucidly written, and skilfully integrating an extraordinary quantity of recondite primary materials, this book is a landmark in Nietzsche studies and an exemplary work of intellectual history.\'

– Journal of European Studies