The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Constructing the Agon

Constructing the Agon
Constructing the Agon

From his early essay ‘Homer’s Contest’ to his final writings, Nietzsche’s fundamental model of both individual and collective modes of government is provided by the model of Greek institution of the agon, classically represented in the political contests conducted in the agora, in dramatic competitions such as the Dionysia, and in the Olympic games. Nietzsche’s agonism, it is argued, is bound up with his doctrine of will to power, his understanding of freedom (autonomy) and his perfectionism as well as his commitment to (psychological and sociological) realism in ethics and political theory, to his development of genealogy as an historical approach to philosophy, and to his deployment of exemplars to articulate alternative ethical ideals. Using this framework, this chapter explores Nietzsche’s relationship to contemporary political philosophy in terms of the themes of realism, agonism and genealogy.

299-313
Taylor & Francis
Owen, David
9fc71bca-07d1-44af-9248-1b9545265a58
Katsafanas, Paul
Owen, David
9fc71bca-07d1-44af-9248-1b9545265a58
Katsafanas, Paul

Owen, David (2018) Constructing the Agon. In, Katsafanas, Paul (ed.) The Nietzschean Mind. 1st ed. Taylor & Francis, pp. 299-313. (doi:10.4324/9781315146317).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

From his early essay ‘Homer’s Contest’ to his final writings, Nietzsche’s fundamental model of both individual and collective modes of government is provided by the model of Greek institution of the agon, classically represented in the political contests conducted in the agora, in dramatic competitions such as the Dionysia, and in the Olympic games. Nietzsche’s agonism, it is argued, is bound up with his doctrine of will to power, his understanding of freedom (autonomy) and his perfectionism as well as his commitment to (psychological and sociological) realism in ethics and political theory, to his development of genealogy as an historical approach to philosophy, and to his deployment of exemplars to articulate alternative ethical ideals. Using this framework, this chapter explores Nietzsche’s relationship to contemporary political philosophy in terms of the themes of realism, agonism and genealogy.

Text
Constructing the Agon1 - Accepted Manuscript
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 23 February 2016
Published date: 1 January 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 412484
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/412484
PURE UUID: 35a58353-1034-45e4-8c63-bf54ee9db886
ORCID for David Owen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8865-6332

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 17 Jul 2017 13:59
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:35

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: David Owen ORCID iD
Editor: Paul Katsafanas

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×