This wide-ranging and inspiring volume of essays explores Nietzsche's philosophy of the free spirit. Nietzsche begins to articulate his philosophy of the free spirit in 1878 and it results in his most congenial books, including Human, all too Human, Dawn (or Daybreak), and The Gay Science. It is one of the most neglected aspects of Nietzsche's corpus, yet crucially important to an understanding of his work. Written by leading Nietzsche scholars from Europe and North America, the essays in this book explore topics such as: the kind of freedom practiced by the free spirit; the free spirit's relation to truth; the play between laughter and seriousness in the free spirit period texts; integrity and the free spirit; health and the free spirit; the free spirit and cosmopolitanism; and the figure of the free spirit in Nietzsche's later writings. This book fills a significant gap in the available literature and will set the agenda for future research in Nietzsche Studies.

Notes on Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Introduction, Rebecca Bamford

Part I: Origins

1. Skilled Marksman and Strict Self-Examination: Nietzsche on La Rochefoucauld, Ruth Abbey

2. The Ethical Ideal of the Free Spirit in Human, All Too Human, Christine Daigle

3. Beyond Selfishness: Epicurean Ethics in Nietzsche and Guyau, Keith Ansell-Pearson

4. The Free Spirit and Aesthetic Self-Re-Education, Duncan Large

5. Health and Self-Cultivation in Dawn, Rebecca Bamford

6. Ridendo Dicere Severum: On Probity, Laughter and Self-Critique in Nietzsche's Figure of the Free Spirit, Herman Siemens and Katia Hay

Part II: Developments, Applications, and Extensions

7. The Experiment of Incorporating Unbounded Truth, Katrina Mitcheson

8. Perspectives on a Philosophy of the Future in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Marcus Andreas Born

9. Nietzsche's "Free Spirit", Richard Schacht

10. Being Unattached: Freedom and Nietzsche's Free Spirits, Christa Davis Acampora

11. Free the Spirit!: Kantian, Jungian, and Neoplatonic Resonances in Nietzsche, Paul Bishop

12. Almost Everything is Permitted: Nietzsche's Not-So-Free Spirits, Daniel Conway

13. Is There a Free Spirit in Nietzsche's Late Writings?, Andreas Urs Sommer

Notes on Contributors

Index