SOURCE: Jurist, Elliot L. “Introduction.” In Beyond Hegel and Nietzsche: Philosophy, Culture, and Agency, pp. 1-13. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2000.

[In the following introduction to his comparative study of Nietzsche and Hegel, Jurist outlines the main points of his book, which generally argues that there are important areas of agreement between the ideas of the two philosophers.]

From the perspective of mainstream philosophical culture, Hegel and Nietzsche both exemplify the superfluousness of nineteenth-century philosophy. Within the Continental tradition, on the other hand, Hegel and Nietzsche are typically juxtaposed as opposites in terms of their basic philosophical commitments, their styles, and even their life experiences. Indeed, one could argue that Hegel and Nietzsche are the two foundational figures of Continental philosophy, and, furthermore, that their legacy endures in that twentieth-century Continental philosophers can be classified, more or less, as Hegelians or Nietzscheans.¹

One can discern the opposition between Hegelians and Nietzscheans by comparing critical theory, which has a strong Hegelian influence, and poststructuralism, which has a strong Nietzschean influence. Critical theorists and poststructuralists alike, however, affirm the juxtaposition of Hegel and Nietzsche as philosophical opposites. For instance, Habermas (1987, p. 120) claims that Hegel is Nietzsche's “great antipode” and warns against “Nietzscheanisms of all kinds” (1983, p. 253), while Deleuze (1983, pp. 8-9, 195) asserts that “there is no compromise between Hegel and Nietzsche” and Derrida (1985, pp. 23, 59) refers to “hand-to-hand combat between Hegel and Nietzsche.”² The ready acceptance of a fundamental difference between Hegel and Nietzsche constitutes, ironically enough, a rare point of agreement between Habermas and these contemporary French thinkers.

This book has its origins in a certain uneasiness with the conception of Hegel and Nietzsche as philosophical opposites. There are clearly grounds for contrasting Hegel and Nietzsche, but this should not lead us to neglect the areas of consensus between them. Nor should we ignore the possibility, where their views seem to be at odds, of finding a way to render their views as complementary. My aim, simply stated, will be to place Hegel and Nietzsche in conversation with each other. This will entail paying attention to where they disagree as well as to where they agree, though the business of establishing differences and likenesses is not what is ultimately important. Resisting the customary antinomy, I aspire to probe their deepest philosophical motivations and to reassess their relationship in a way that preserves rather than diminishes its complexity. To a large degree I will be immersed in the exploration of nineteenth-century texts, yet I will be mindful of how the works have been read and used. Therefore, I will be as concerned with interpretations of Hegel and Nietzsche as with specifying their views.

Before articulating my perspective further, let me briefly describe some of the reasons why Hegel and Nietzsche have been perceived as opposites.

A major divide between Hegel's and Nietzsche's philosophies is found in the legacy of the Enlightenment: whereas Hegel valorizes reason and knowledge, Nietzsche gives primacy to the irrational and exhibits some skepticism toward knowledge.³ A closely related issue is whether modernity is worth salvaging, as Hegel believed, or whether it is to be despaired about, as Nietzsche contended. Hegelians assess modernity as problematic and oppressive but not hopeless; Nietzscheans tend to see it as dislocating and pathological, and thus to raise the specter of a new (postmodern) era.

Another perceived contrast between Hegel and Nietzsche has to do with Hegel's communitarian sympathies and Nietzsche's preference for an “aristocratic radicalism” in which individuals hold themselves above any community and have the strength to create values for themselves. All Hegelians—regardless of whether they are in the tradition of right or left Hegelians—exhibit serious concern about society and its institutions. Nietzscheans gravitate to the edge of society and are tempted by what lies below and beyond. Nietzsche's perspectivism is designed in part to undermine or at least to question the value of any kind of communitarian vision.

Hegel and Nietzsche are often understood, too, as holding contrasting views about the relation between philosophy and art. Hegel defends philosophy as a superior form of articulation, devaluing art for its reliance on an external and sensuous medium. While Hegel acknowledges that art and philosophy are both valid as human efforts to represent Spirit [Geist], he does not hesitate to conclude that philosophy accomplishes its end in a way that has rendered art less necessary. Nietzsche celebrates art as providing justification for life itself, condemning philosophy as clumsy and intrusive in comparison. In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche illustrates the harmful effect philosophy had on art, especially on tragedy. Yet Nietzsche does not simply reject philosophy. He seeks to transform philosophy to have a new, playful incarnation. Therefore, it is most perspicuous to think of Nietzscheans as attempting to remake philosophy in the image of art.

Certainly, Hegel and Nietzsche exhibit radically different philosophical styles. Hegel beckons us to endure “the strenuous labor of the concept” in order to complete the journey to knowledge (PhS, p. 35).⁴ Nietzsche hypothesizes that the best way to deal with the deepest philosophical problems is like taking a cold bath: “quickly into them and quickly out again” (GS n381; BGE n295). There is something predictable and obsessive about Hegel's philosophy: propagated in systematic form, it shows the subject struggling, but marching inexorably to attain certainty. Nietzsche invites philosophers to become followers of Dionysus and to learn how to dance (GS n381). His aphoristic style is marked by spontaneity, unconventionality, and even contradiction: it is an appropriate vehicle for displaying the decentered subject.

Hegel does not speak of himself in his philosophical works. He excludes himself as a matter of discretion, but also because of his wish to identify with the ideal of a universal subject. No doubt, too, Hegel, the person, might have diminished the system, revealing, so to speak, the Wizard of Oz behind the curtains. Nietzsche maintains that the realm of the personal is present, but usually concealed, within a philosopher's work. He argues, therefore, that we ought to contend with the personal (more precisely, the relationship between the personal and the theoretical) as a bona fide philosophical topic. Nietzsche's last work, Ecce Homo, is unnerving in part because of how intensely personal it is. As Nietzsche declares in one of his Nachgelassene Fragmente: “My writings speak only from my own experiences [Erlebnissen]—happily I have experienced [erlebt] much—: I am in them with body and soul.” (SW 12, p. 232)

The notable contrast in the styles of Hegel and Nietzsche has a parallel in their respective lives and careers. Hegel's career got off to a slow start; he was considered inferior to the younger Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, and he spent a number of years without a university position. Eventually, Hegel became a renowned philosopher, occupying Johann Gottlieb Fichte's chair of philosophy in Berlin, growing more conservative politically, joining the company of the elite in Prussian society, and enjoying his family and a large circle of friends and students. Nietzsche, on the other hand, began his career in a blaze of glory, becoming a professor at the age of 24. Nietzsche's work as a philologist became controversial with his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, and as his health problems mounted he began to remove himself from his academic position at the University of Basel. Nietzsche's fate was to become a lonely, itinerant philosopher. When he went mad, his philosophical works were just starting to become known throughout Europe; however, Nietzsche was deprived of recognition such as Hegel ultimately received in his lifetime.

In one of the most influential writings on the contrast between Hegel and Nietzsche, the 1941 book From Hegel to Nietzsche, Karl Löwith concludes that Hegel was the last great metaphysician and Nietzsche the first anti-metaphysician.⁵ According to Löwith, Christianity is the crucial divide between Hegel's affirmation of the metaphysical tradition and Nietzsche's new beginning. This point of view is plausible, but it does not necessarily allow for the most fruitful exploration of their respective philosophies. Other scholars, including Walter Kaufmann, Daniel Breazeale, and Stephen Houlgate, have made valuable contributions to our understanding of the relationship between Hegel and Nietzsche by articulating parallels in their metaphysics and epistemology.⁶

My treatment of the relationship between Hegel and Nietzsche builds on these predecessors, but I pursue a new direction. I focus on the psychological sensibility that informs Hegel's and Nietzsche's philosophical projects, and I pay especially close attention to the theme of agency, which is crucial in their respective attempts to imagine satisfied human lives. In taking this angle, I have been inspired by those philosophers who have shown reluctance to accept Hegel and Nietzsche as opposites. On the critical-theory side, Horkheimer and Adorno (1986, p. 44) argue that “Nietzsche was one of the few after Hegel who recognized the dialectic of enlightenment.” Even though Hegel and Nietzsche might occupy different poles in the dialogue of reason and unreason, Horkheimer and Adorno appreciate that both thinkers engage that dialogue. Indeed, they try to incorporate both Hegel and Nietzsche in arguing against vindicating rationality by forsaking irrationality. For Adorno in particular, philosophy must benefit from the example of psychoanalysis, which affirms the inescapability of irrationality without dismissing rationality

On the French side, Georges Bataille (1985, p. 219) writes that “Nietzsche is to Hegel what a bird breaking its shell is to a bird contentedly absorbing the substance within.” Bataille's point, it would seem, is that Nietzsche is an advance over Hegel—quite literally, a birth takes place with the shattering of the protective but enclosed and confining (metaphysical) egg. Yet, in intimating that Nietzsche's philosophy represents progress over Hegel's, Bataille acknowledges the period of gestation as well as the birth, thus confirming a developmental, organic link between Hegel and Nietzsche.⁷ I infer that it is misguided to look back to Hegel by displacing Nietzsche (as Adorno emphasizes), but that it is equally undesirable to embrace Nietzsche by ignoring that his philosophy unfolds from Hegel (as Bataille reveals).⁸ This insight serves as a guide for my study.

In chapter 1, I develop the idea that according to Hegel and Nietzsche philosophy is integrally related to culture. More specifically, I contend that both thinkers agree that philosophy is a product of culture and also that philosophy ought to be a response to culture. Hegel and Nietzsche distance themselves from the foundational myth of modern philosophy, the Cartesian myth, which (unwittingly or not) places a wedge between philosophical culture and the rest of culture. Although Hegel does not revile philosophy, as Nietzsche does, we can uncover a parallel between them in terms of what I call “the psychology of knowledge.” The psychology of knowledge offers an alternative paradigm to epistemology in demanding that we concern ourselves with the confluence between knowledge and human well-being.

In chapter 2, I engage the philosophical conceptions of culture in Hegel and Nietzsche. I delineate three senses of culture: as customs, as Bildung, and as self-fathoming. Hegel and Nietzsche concur that customs represent an antiquated sense of culture that is at odds with individual self-expression, although Hegel is characteristically less vehement than Nietzsche on this subject. Both thinkers also use the nature/culture distinction in order to affirm that culture ought not be regarded simply as the negation of nature; culture moves beyond nature by being inclusive of it. Hegel and Nietzsche regard Bildung as a necessary form of training which is directed to our subjective experience. They distinguish true and false versions of Bildung, endorsing the former in terms of fostering a dynamic kind of agency. Yet both philosophers also express reservations about the ideal of Bildung. As they see it, there is a need to conceptualize a new meaning of culture, which I term “self-fathoming.” While the first two senses of culture are well-grounded in Hegel's and Nietzsche's writing, the third sense is admittedly more speculative on my part. Self-fathoming denotes our particular plight in modernity where a disparity opens up between the objective space of customs and the subjective space of Bildung. This places a new and difficult burden on us. Self-fathoming is not a matter of looking within; it involves a more elaborate inquiry regarding how we have come to think of ourselves in the way we do. In particular, self-fathoming requires that we face up to self-misunderstanding, self-deception, and self-thwarting. Self-fathoming is prompted by the wish to confront the dissatisfaction of modern culture and coincides with the philosophical challenge of embracing the psychology of knowledge.

In chapter 3, I address Hegel's and Nietzsche's views of ancient Greek culture. As they see it, Greek culture represents a contrast to modern culture in being healthy and providing satisfaction to its citizens. Yet neither Hegel nor Nietzsche is content with idealizing the Greeks. Both affirm that we can and should learn from the Greeks but warn against nostalgically looking to the past as a way to absolve ourselves from dealing with the present. My chapter turns upon Hegel's and Nietzsche's distinct perspectives on Greek tragedy as a means of grasping Greek culture. Hegel sees tragedy as affirming the institutions of society, whereas Nietzsche views tragedy as affirming life in the face of the abyss of meaningless. For Hegel, the spectator is addressed qua citizen; for Nietzsche, the spectator is addressed qua human being. Nonetheless, both Hegel and Nietzsche regard tragedy as the means by which Greek culture raised fundamental questions about itself. Tragedy is equally compelling for Hegel and Nietzsche; not only do both see it as a source for the psychology of knowledge and self-fathoming, but they incorporate it in their respective philosophical projects.

In chapter 4, I examine Hegel's and Nietzsche's critique of modern culture and consider their influence on Horkheimer, Adorno, Habermas, and Heidegger. I argue that there are some significant points of convergence between Hegel and Nietzsche in the analysis of what is wrong with modern culture: the failure to provide satisfaction is a result of a division in self-identity, and the corresponding premium that comes to be placed on subjectivity leads to the devaluing of what lies outside it. Furthermore, Nietzsche follows Hegel in noting the ascension of usefulness as a dominant criterion of value in modern culture. For Nietzsche, though, usefulness is linked to the ascendance of science as a cultural ideal. This reminds us that any account of the differences between Hegel and Nietzsche must acknowledge changes that took place in their respective eras. Nietzsche's conclusions about modern culture are more negative than Hegel's: alienation has turned into despair. Yet his despair must be contextualized. It is true that Nietzsche refrains from any global solution to the crisis of modern culture. His sense of disappointment is keener, and he is more insistent that we ought not avoid negative affects, such as anger and sadness, that are generated by modernity. Nietzsche assesses modern culture as hopeless, but he is not hopeless about agency as a means of resisting it. Like Hegel, Nietzsche offers a rescription of agency as a way to overcome the dissatisfaction of modern culture.

In part II of the book, Hegel and Nietzsche have more of an opportunity to speak without interruption. The main focus is on their respective understandings of human agency. The chapters in this part are shorter than those in part I. In chapter 5, I begin with some general reflections on the meaning of human agency. I distinguish between persons and agents, and I turn to Charles Taylor's genealogical account of the latter. I pay special attention to how Hegel and Nietzsche fit within Taylor's schema. Using Taylor's terms, I argue that Hegel attempts to integrate both “self-objectivation” (the scientific project of self-investigation) and “self-exploration” (the artistic project linked to expressivism), whereas Nietzsche affirms the latter but is ambivalent about the former. Although Nietzsche is dubious about utilizing the language of science and objectivity, he does value “self-control.” In subsequent chapters, I explore in more detail what Hegel and Nietzsche mean by agency: in chapter 6-9 I take up Hegelian agency, and in chapters 10-13 I pursue Nietzschean agency.

Chapter 6 concerns Hegel's concept of recognition. The concept of recognition serves as Hegel's proposed solution to the crisis of modern culture; it also provides a basis for clarifying his theory of agency. Recognition is conceived as specifying a bond that deepens the sense of connection among members of society and thereby heals the split between the individual and society. Recognition harks back to the bond fostered by the polis, although it sustains rather than eclipses individuality. I distinguish the socio-political and epistemological functions of recognition, and I demonstrate, in particular, that recognition must be linked to the main theme of the Phenomenology of Spirit: self-knowledge. As I see it, it is crucial to appreciate that recognition includes self-recognition. Two specific aspects of self-recognition are distinguished: the self as socially constituted and the self as self-identical. The latter contains a further distinction between “being-for-itself” and “being-for-another.” Hegel's theory of agency hinges on the integration of our self-concern (being-for-itself) with our concern for others (being-for-another). Borrowing psychoanalytic terms, one could say that human agency entails an integration of narcissism and relatedness. For Hegel, such an integrated sense of agency is a prerequisite for social integration. In that chapter I also discuss the relation between recognition and several other basic Hegelian concepts: cognition, satisfaction, experience, and desire.

In chapters 7 and 8, I offer a close reading of Hegel's concept of recognition in the Phenomenology of Spirit. Hegel's declaration in the Self-Consciousness chapter that self-consciousness attains “satisfaction” only in relating to another (PhS, p. 110) is a demand for a fundamental revision of epistemology and thus of modern philosophy itself. I trace the failed initial attempt at modernizing the concept of recognition in the Self-Consciousness chapter to the “internal” recognition in the Reason chapter, and then on to socio-historical developments, such as “natural and ethical” recognition in ancient Greece, “legal” recognition in ancient Rome, and the hope for “mutual” recognition that emerges from the Enlightenment and from Kant's moral philosophy. I show that Hegel's psychological discourse is sustained throughout PhS, coexisting with the louder voices of science, system, and the authority of reason. Hegel revises philosophy in order to contend with the dissatisfaction he detects in modern culture; the project of recollecting the vicissitudes of agency culminates in an ameliorated sense of agency that is designed to foster satisfaction in the future.

In chapter 9, I explore Hegelian agency more broadly. I reflect on Alexandre Kojève's appropriation of recognition, which distorts Hegel's actual view but which encourages us to reflect on what Hegel means by satisfaction and agency. In particular, Kojève's reading highlights desire as the backdrop to the concept of recognition. Next I examine recent reinterpretations of Hegel in the works of Axel Honneth and Jessica Benjamin, both of whom recast recognition to emphasize the intersubjective basis of agency and introduce psychoanalysis in this connection. Finally, I offer my own reading, which is indebted to Honneth and Benjamin but which gives more expression to some of the tensions between narcissism and mutual recognition. A psychoanalytic reading of Hegel brings out the crucial intersubjective element in his conception of agency and helps us to discern what remains viable in his thinking about recognition.

In chapter 10, I begin to unpack Nietzsche's idea of agency. I argue that his regarding agency as comprising multiple components does not negate the possibility of integration. I maintain that four factors delineate what Nietzsche means by integrated agency: accepting narcissism as the source of motivation, acknowledging the demands of the body (especially instincts), avowing affects, and defining oneself in relation to the past. Ultimately, Nietzsche regards integrated agency as entailing coherence and determination, but not transparency or unity. Since it is obviously controversial to ascribe to Nietzsche a commitment to integrated agency, it will be important to acknowledge the limits he places on agency and to take due notice of comments that suggest a position of anti-agency. As I see it, Nietzsche is ambivalent but not necessarily inconsistent in the way he conceives of agency. One can value integration without achieving it in a perfect sense, and one might enjoy being released from agency without being prepared to abandon it entirely.

In chapter 11, I consider the will to power. Focusing on both the concept of ‘the will’ and the concept of ‘power’, I investigate whether Nietzsche uses ‘power’ to mean mastery or domination. Siding with neither the proponents of mastery nor those of domination, I argue that, for better or worse, there is evidence for both points of view. In being consistent with narcissism, instincts, and affects, the will to power helps us to understand Nietzsche's understanding of integrated agency. I also reflect on the will to power as a recasting of the Hegel's notion of being-for-itself and as a challenge to his notion of being-for-another.

In chapter 12, I delve into an aspect of Nietzsche's philosophy that has been little explored: how he conceptualizes our relations to others. I argue that, while Nietzsche's approach to agency deepens and complicates Hegel's interest in self-concern, it is less evident how he thinks about concern for others. I begin by examining Nietzsche's comments about the relation between self and other. I then take account of his numerous reflections about friendship. I conclude that, though Nietzsche fails to acknowledge basic aspects of human relationships, such as mutuality, he is far from indifferent to considering our relation to others. Nietzsche's struggle with others in his own life is, no doubt, a clue to his view of relationships.

In chapter 13, I branch out to look at current perspectives that can be understood as outgrowths of Nietzschean agency. I begin with Jacques Derrida, emphasizing the influence of Emmanuel Levinas on his thought. I also introduce Jacques Lacan, who is not directly influenced by Nietzsche but whose psychoanalytic theory expounds the notion of decentered agency in a way that constitutes one vision of Nietzschean agency. Lastly, I consider Judith Butler, whose theories about gender and agency borrow from Nietzsche via Michel Foucault's emphasis on the body as culturally constructed. Butler's recent turn to “the psychic life of power” confirms the plausibility of connecting her perspective to Nietzschean agency. Derrida, Lacan, and Butler all extend Nietzschean agency by resorting, at least in part, to psychoanalysis. In the final section of chapter 13, I offer my own version of Nietzschean agency, stressing the importance of affects—an aspect of his philosophy not taken up by Derrida, Lacan, or Butler.

In the epilogue, I summarize the conclusions of my study of the relationship between Hegel and Nietzsche. My attempt to work through their relationship is meant to exemplify their shared commitment to working through all allegedly opposing concepts, to thinking beyond what is easy to take for granted. Insofar as I bring Hegel and Nietzsche together, I am seeking to disburden us from an outmoded and useless antinomy. To fix a contrast between these two thinkers without acknowledging the changes that occurred during the nineteenth century is tantamount to refusing to accept precisely what Hegel and Nietzsche claim about the relationship between philosophy and culture. To internalize Hegel's and Nietzsche's claim about philosophy and culture, on the contrary, raises questions that reach well beyond the interpretation of the nineteenth century.

My reading of Hegel, which highlights the ideal of satisfied agency and his overall attention to psychology, brings him closer to Nietzsche. Thus, it is evident that I am partial to the anthropological reading of Hegel. Although the ontological reading preserves what has primacy for Hegel himself, it is corrupted by his grandiose and self-serving fantasy about the fulfillment of Geist within his own culture. There are hermeneutic questions to face once one departs from Hegel's own self-understanding. At the same time, there are Hegelian reasons that might justify the choice to dwell on anthropology rather than ontology. Hegel claims that philosophy “provides satisfaction [Befriedigung] only for those interests which are appropriate to their time” (Hegel's introduction to LHP, p. 106). In this context, Hegel observes that Plato and Aristotle no longer satisfy us as they satisfied the Greeks; correspondingly there should be no need for us to seek our own satisfaction according to Hegel's standards. To be sure, it is important not to obscure what Hegel believed and to try to understand Hegel within his context, but this not does not require present-day philosophers to disregard what is pressing to them.

By highlighting Hegel's concept of recognition, I make my sympathy for the tradition of left Hegelianism apparent. Yet, as I see recognition, it is not only a socio-political vision that promotes our sense of connection to others; it also contains a notion of agency that demonstrates how constitutive others are in the formation of identity. There are good reasons to be suspicious about the seamless web of self-recognition, recognition of others, and social reconciliation that Hegel offers. However, this ought not hinder our appreciation of his insights into agency, which are developed in an illuminating way in the theory and the practice of psychoanalysis. Hegel shows us that a theory of agency must account for both narcissism and relatedness, and also for their interrelation. Indeed, Hegel's brilliance as a psychologist deserves more acknowledgement than it usually receives.

Paying attention to Hegel as a psychologist is an antidote to the simplistic, “sound bite” view of Hegel as the philosopher of totality. Hegel is not the philosopher of totality any more than Nietzsche is the philosopher of exploitation. Paying attention to Hegel as a psychologist deepens our appreciation of the uniqueness of his philosophy. In his depiction of the live drama of modern agency, Hegel shows a psychological astuteness that is not matched by Kant, Fichte, or Schelling. Undoubtedly, it is important to explore Hegel's Kantian roots and to try to contextualize his relation to early German Idealism. One might wonder, though, about the implications of the current tendency to dwell on Hegel's relation to Kant. It is tempting to read this tilt back to Kant as a substitution for Hegel's tilt forward to Marx. Perhaps the current tendency is not as neutral a scholarly development as it might seem. I raise this point not in the name of advocating an older and better Hegel, but as a reminder of the complex interaction of culture and memory that contributes to the construction of the Hegel of our own time.

If my reading of Hegel brings him closer to Nietzsche, it is also the case that my reading of Nietzsche brings him into closer proximity to Hegel. My reading of Nietzsche emphasizes his psychological approach to modernity and agency. I think that it is one-sided to view him exclusively as an advocate of self-invention. While I appreciate how Nietzsche anticipates postmodernism, I also think it is important not to ignore that his focus on the quest for individual self-realization through integrated agency and his aesthetic elitism (particularly his disdain for popular culture) situate him within modernist thinking. Nietzsche departs from Hegel in registering despair about modernity; yet this despair is best understood as a radicalization of the alienation that Hegel describes. Of course, it is a mistake to assimilate Nietzsche too readily to the philosophical tradition; at the same time, one should avoid the opposite extreme (as do proponents of the “wild and freaky” Nietzsche, who obscure his rethinking of modern agency). Dionysian experience, however compelling, can occupy us for only part of our lives. Nietzsche was well aware that it does not offer a complete vision of a satisfied life.

Nietzsche's ambivalence toward agency means that it is difficult to specify with any confidence what he really thinks. This can be frustrating, especially in comparison to Hegel. Yet, as I see it, this is also what makes Nietzsche an extraordinarily honest and realistic thinker. Nietzsche's view that the body, instincts, and affects cannot be expunged from human agency counterbalances many philosophical conceptions of agency. His appreciation of the limits of agency is also important; it anticipates and is fully consistent with psychoanalytic notions of decentered agency. Although Nietzsche does not give us an adequate picture of our relation to others, his idea of the will to power is more profound than Hegel's notion of being-for-itself.

Hegel's notion of recognition postulates the intersubjective basis of agency, yet this does not mean that one has to endorse Hegel's expectation that self-recognition will produce social reconciliation. Nietzsche's notion of the will to power and his emphasis on the body, instincts, and affects contribute to decentered agency, but this does not require one to accept his idiosyncratic view of our relation to others. Intersubjectivity and decentering can be understood as complementary as long as one does not imagine that this automatically dissolves the deep and abiding tensions between the will to power and recognition. My title, Beyond Hegel and Nietzsche, indicates that we can now see through the artificiality of demands that we choose between what these two thinkers offer. It is meant to suggest “both Hegel and Nietzsche” as well as “after Hegel and Nietzsche.”

Notes

1. One could strengthen this intuition by supplementing it with a Hegel/Marx axis and a Nietzsche/Heidegger axis, as do Ferry and Renault (1990). The distinction then would be especially apt as a description of the generational politics of French philosophy. Foucault, Derrida, and Deleuze, all of whom were influenced by Nietzsche, rebelled against the Kojève-influenced generation of philosophers (especially Jean Hyppolite, their teacher), who were deeply influenced by Hegel. Yet numerous questions would still abound. What about the importance of Husserl? And what about Hegel's influence on Derrida, not to mention his influence on Heidegger?

2. The distinction between a Hegel/Marx axis and a Nietzsche/Heidegger axis would have to address the influence of Nietzsche and Heidegger on the Frankfurt School. Even Habermas went through a phase of being influenced by Heidegger. (For a discussion of the Frankfurt School's responses to Heidegger, see McCarthy 1991, pp. 83-96.)

3. A voluminous literature concerning the legacy of the Enlightenment has grown out of the work of Habermas and his students and colleagues. See, e.g., Honneth et al. 1992a and 1992b. Nietzsche is too often read as exclusively a figure of the counter-Enlightenment. One must assess Nietzsche's view in light of a passage like the following (from a section of Daybreak titled “German Hostility to the Enlightenment”): “The Enlightenment we must now carry further forward [weiterzuführen]: let us not worry about the ‘great revolution’ and the ‘great reaction’ against it which have taken place—they are no more than the sporting of waves in comparison with the truly great flood which bears us along!” (D n197). Danto (1993, p. 136) has argued that Nietzsche is a part of the Enlightenment project, “agreeing in large measure with its logic, but dismissing the complacency of regarding homo sapiens europanesis as the apex.”

4. The translation here amends Miller's “the strenuous effort of the Notion” (die Anstrengung des Begriffs).

5. Löwith (1967, p. vi) speaks of Hegel's “consummation” and Nietzsche's “new beginning.”

6. Kaufmann (1968) finds a parallel between Hegel and Nietzsche in their “dialectical monism.” Breazeale (1975), in a much more complex assessment, compares Hegel and Nietzsche in the framework of “the crisis of modern thought,” ultimately viewing them as “allies in the struggle against metaphysical, moral and epistemological dualism” (pp. 147, 162). Breazeale's article thoroughly explores Nietzsche's references to Hegel; it also contains the best historical survey of writing on the topic of the relationship between Hegel and Nietzsche. Houlgate (1986) focuses on Hegel's and Nietzsche's critiques of metaphysics and argues that the key to understanding the relationship between the two thinkers is to be found in their discussions of Greek tragedy. In some ways, Houlgate's view comes closest to my own; in his conclusion, he asserts that “Hegel and Nietzsche are actually allies against metaphysical abstraction and against the fragmented weakness and ‘decadence’ of the modern age” (p. 220).

7. For a good discussion of Hegel's and Nietzsche's influence on Bataille's thinking, see Stoekl 1992, pp. 261-301.

8. Butler (1997a, pp. 24, 32) draws attention to some parallels between Hegel and Nietzsche concerning the self-thwarting of “unhappy unconsciousness” and “slave morality” and also concerning how the subject is defined by turning inward and turning against itself. Butler emphasizes the theme of self-thwarting to the exclusion of what I term “self-fathoming.” Other scholars have made scattered comments about the relationship between Hegel and Nietzsche that are deserving of notice here. Rosen (1989, p. 204) declares that “those who insist upon a sharp juxtaposition between Hegel and Nietzsche have understood neither one nor the other.” White (1987, p. 40) argues that “the conflict between Nietzsche and Hegel has never, I believe, been adequately analyzed, much less resolved.” Rorty (1989, p. 79) observes in passing that Hegel transforms philosophy into a literary genre by offering ironic redescriptions of the past, and that Nietzsche then fulfills that ideal: “Nietzsche may have been the first philosopher to do consciously what Hegel had done unconsciously.” (ibid., p. 103)

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