What the God-seekers found in Nietzsche : the reception of Neitzche's Übermensch by the philosophers of the Russian religious renaissance

293 Pages·2008·2.38 MB·English

by  Berdi︠a︡ev, Nikolaĭ, Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, Merezhkovsky, Dmitry Sergeyevich, Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, Solovyov, Vladimir Sergeyevich, Solovyov, Vladimir Sergeyevich, Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, Grillaert, Nel, Berdi︠a︡ev, Nikolaĭ, Merezhkovsky, Dmitry Sergeyevich, Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm

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Edited by
J.J. van Baak
R. Grübel
A.G.F. van Holk
W.G. Weststeijn
W G -
hat the od seekers
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found in ietzsche
t R n ’
he eception of ietzsche s
Ü p
bermensch by the hilosopheRs
R R R
of the ussian eligious enaissance
Nel Grillaert
Amsterdam - New York, NY 2008
Cover design: Aart Jan Bergshoeff
The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO
9706:1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence”.
ISBN-13: 978-90-420-2480-9
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2008
Printed in the Netherlands
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Chapter 1Introduction 1
1. Much ado about Nietzsche 1
2. The Nietzschean turn of the century 3
3. Definition of the problem and approach 7
4. General methodological framework 8
5. Structure of the book 12
6. Who were the God-seekers? 14
7. Note on references, translation and transliteration 17
Chapter 2 The Russian discovery of Nietzsche 19
1. How the German philosopher set foot on Russian soil 19
2. The first responses 24
3. The flexible Nietzsche 35
3.1. The aesthetic Nietzsche 35
3.2. The religious Nietzsche 36
3.3.The political Nietzsche 37
4. Looking for Nietzsche, finding Dostoevskii 37
5. Conclusion 48
Chapter 3 Dostoevskii’s philosophical anthropology 51
1. Introduction 51
2. An ongoing dialogue with God 51
3. Dostoevskii’s Christology 54
4. From ‘legend’ to anthropological ‘truth’ 65
4.1.The ontological status of the human being 66
4.2. Being what one is 67
4.3.Becoming what one is 69
4.4. The anthropology of freedom 71
5. Conclusion 76
vi
Chapter 4“Isn’t the unfortunate Nietzsche right?”:
Vladimir Solov’ëv’s response to Nietzsche 79
1. Introduction 79
2. The initial response to Nietzsche: merit nor danger 82
3. Solov’ëv’s sverkhchelovek: renaming Christ 85
4. Nietzsche’s Übermensch: defying Christ 90
5. Conclusion 104
Chapter 5 “Only the word order has changed”:
Bogochelovek and chelovekobog 107
1. Introduction 107
2. Bogochelovek 108
3. Prehistory of the chelovekobog 109
3.1.Nikolai Speshnev’s coining of the term 109
3.2.Dostoevskii’s Mephistopheles 112
3.3. Fictionalizing the demon 114
4. Kirillov’s “most great idea” 114
5. Ivan’s ‘anthropological’ upheaval 124
6. The Roman “ant-hill” 129
7. Conclusion 136
Chapter 6 Supplementing Christ:
Dmitrii Merezhkovskii’s use of Nietzsche’s Übermensch 139
1. Introduction 139
2. A transitional figure in Russian culture 141
3. The versatility of Nietzsche’s thought in Merezhkovskii’s
intellectual development 145
4. Merezhkovskii’s diagnosis: the vices of historical
Christianity 147
5. Merezhkovskii’s cure: the identification of
Übermensch and chelovekobog 150
6. Merezhkovskii’s new religious consciousness as a
way out 159
7. Merezhkovskii’s quotation of Nietzsche:
reconstructing Nietzsche’s tracks 167
8. The vicissitudes of Dostoevskii and Nietzsche 177
8.1. Towards an affirmative assessment of Nietzsche 178
8.2.Towards a new reading of Dostoevskii 183
9. The vicissitudes of Merezhkovskii’s paradigm 188
vii
9.1.Akim Volynskii: Tsarstvo Karamazovykh 188
9.2.Sergei Bulgakov: “Ivan Karamazov kak
filosofskii tip” 195
9.3. The Nietzsche boom in Dostoevskii criticism 197
9.4.The further functioning of chelovekobog and
Übermensch 201
10. Conclusion 203
Chapter 7 Free from God, free within God:
Nikolai Berdiaev’s use of Nietzsche’s Übermensch 207
1. Introduction 207
2. Berdiaev’s background 208
3. The fruitful Nietzsche 212
4. “Idealizing” Nietzsche: the immoralist rethought 215
5. The Antichrist remodelled: proselytizing a new
Christianity 217
6. Re-Christianizing the Übermensch 221
7. What Dostoevskii knew: moral freedom versus
moral freedom 227
8. What Solov’ëv and Merezhkovskii failed to know:
the other Übermensch 233
8.1. The antidote to Solov’ëv’s “Antichrist” 233
8.2. Re-modelling Merezhkovskii’s paradigm 236
9. Berdiaev’s quotation of Nietzsche:
reconstructing Nietzsche’s tracks 237
10. Conclusion 247
Chapter 8 Conclusion 249
Bibliography 261
Index 279

Acknowledgements
Many people have supported this book, which is based on the
dissertation for which I was awarded my PhD. I am deeply indebted to
Benjamin Biebuyck, my PhD supervisor and mentor at Ghent
University. He gave me a most inspirational insight in the rich thought
of Friedrich Nietzsche, enthusiastically followed me in my quest for
the God-seekers’ assessment of the German philosopher and provided
me with original perspectives in this complex matter. I feel very
grateful for his constant encouragement, his eagerness to read, re-read
and comment on my texts and for his active engagement in my work.
Cooperating with him was, and still is, a most pleasant and unique
experience. I want to acknowledge Thomas Langerak, who shared
with me his expertise in Russian literature and read and commented
on my dissertation. I would also like to thank Bernice Glatzer
Rosenthal and Evert van der Zweerde for reading and evaluating an
earlier version of this manuscript and giving very helpful comments
and suggestions. I am also very grateful to Danny Praet for his active
belief in my research, continuous support and thought-provoking
conversations.
I want to thank the Special Research Fund of Ghent
University (BOF) and the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) for
providing me the financial support to pursue my research for this
book.
I feel grateful to my colleagues of the German Department of
Ghent University, who created a very congenial atmosphere to work
in and whose lively interest in my research was a great support in the
making of this book. A warm thanks also to the colleagues of the
Department of Slavonic and East-European Studies and the
Department of Philosophy at Ghent University. Special thanks are in
order to Frederic Lamsens, Greet Pauwelijn, Marjolein De Wilde and
Carol Richards, who put a great effort in proofreading my manuscript.