Nietzsche

In this second volume of a trilogy that represents a landmark contribution to philosophy, psychology, and intellectual history, Walter Kaufmann has selected three seminal figures of the modem period who have radically altered our understanding of what it is to be human. His interpretations of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Buber are lively, accessible, and penetrating, and in the best scholarly tradition they challenge and revise accepted views.After an introductory chapter on Kierkegaard and Schopenhauer, with particular attention to the formers views on despair and the latters on insanity and repression, Kaufmann argues that Nietzsche was the first great depth psychologist and shows how he revolutionized human self-understanding. Nietzsches psychology, including his fascinating psychology of masks, is discussed fully and expertly.Heideggers version of existentialism is herein subjected to a devastating attack. After criticizing it, Kaufmann shows how the same mentality finds expression in Heideggers philosophy and in his now-infamous pro-Nazi writings. Here, as in his portraits of other major thinkers, the authors concern is to show that his subjects are of one piece.