So, if you're on Facebook, just search "LEFT-NIETZSCHEANS" and join the group.
I posted this rundown there:
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CHARACTERISTICS OF NIETZSCHE'S THOUGHT THAT ARE AMENABLE TO LEFTIST THOUGHT:
Just to be clear, these characteristics of Nietzsche's thought are not only amenable to traditional left critical thought, but have either directly or indirectly (virally) influenced it:
1) Extreme, generalized iconoclasm.
2) Extreme anti-religious views; view of Christianity as a slave morality, a "herd morality," and a misfortune that stymies full individual self-realization.
3) A type of anti-statism: "The state is the coldest of all old monsters. Coldly, it lies, too; and this lie creeps from its mouth: 'I, the state, am the people.'" [Thus Spake Zarathustra] Compare to fascist conception of state, which is 100% opposite to this.
4) Dislike of anti-Semitism and German nationalism.
5) A view that social forces conspire to deny individuals' individuality and the realization of their full, latent powers.
6) A view of power relations and a genealogy of morals showing how ideology ("morals") could manufacture consent for unjust power relations between people, or the status quo.
7) The idea that a New World - a new, greater form of society - was possible and necessary for humans to achieve greatness.
8) Idea of "will to power" bringing forth a new kind of man, a "Superman," contrasted with Marxist idea of man's alienation from labor, and how reconciling that alienation would also produce full-realized individuals.
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NIETZSCHE'S THOUGHT HOSTILE TO LEFT ANALYSIS:
And here are Nietzsche's ideas not amenable, and even hostile, to traditional leftist thought:
1) Hatred of democracy ("mania for counting noses")
2) Dislike of socialism as a herd or slave morality similar to Christianity
3) Misogyny
4) Seemed to believe in a "natural" system of elites and aristocrats under whom lessers would simply have to endure
5) Nietzsche's extreme individualism is often counterposed to actions of social solidarity; sometimes a type of contrarian solipsism seems to be endorsed by Nietzsche
6) Inconsistent views on racial or ethnic characteristics, sometimes essentializing nationalities and other ethnicities
7) Dislike of anarchism and most anti-authoritarian type thought as being the product of the envious, jealous individuals resentful of their own impotence
8) General inconsistency in views. His views can contradict one another from book to book, even from paragraph to paragraph. You cannot tease out one consistent set of principles/ethics from Nietzsche's complete works. In fact, Nietzsche admitted he hated consistency, and also called philosophical systems "shining mirages."
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Left-Nietzscheans could include:
Michel Foucault Georges Bataille (syndicalist-era) Georges Sorel Giorgio Agamben Pierre Klossowski A.V. Lunacharsky Maxim Gorky Emma Goldman
Cheers,
-B.