Nietzsche's Philology of the Present

Nietzsche's Philology of the Present" discusses Nietzsche's views on philology as a critique of philological institutions and pedagogical practices. It argues that these dimensions have largely been ignored by scholars, who have instead focused on Nietzsche as a thinker concerning philological method. Nietzsche, however, understands philology and the philologist as fundamentally shaped by the discipline's pedagogical role, and both his criticisms and his hopes for philology are concentrated around its educative power. Recognizing this allows us to see that Nietzsche's philology constitutes a "philology of the present": it responds directly to the current state of philological education and practice, and it envisions philology, practiced rightly, as a solution to the ills of the present.