Arendt | Nietzsche — Genealogien, Affinitäten, Differenzen

36th International Nietzsche Congress (Annual Conference of the Nietzsche Society)

The conference aims to examine the connections and differences in the thinking and writing of Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche. Their works are connected both historically and systematically. Both reflected on their own time and the major intellectual contexts in ways that were as independent as they were influential. Both drew on similar sources, such as ancient philosophy and poetry. Both grappled with questions of power, guilt and resentment. Both were interested in the role of storytelling in the constitution of subjectivity and collectivity, but both also took a critical view of exaggerated trust in art. Concrete paths of reception and intellectual genealogies can be traced through the philosophical work of Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers and other contemporaries.

Although both were intensely preoccupied with modernity, Arendt and Nietzsche wrote against the backdrop of completely different historical experiences. Differences between their philosophical and political perspectives, their writing styles and their relationship to the public sphere must therefore be considered alongside their affinities. Studies on Nietzsche’s significance for Arendt are as welcome as comparisons that lead to mutual illuminations.