An Interpretation of Nietzsche's On the Uses and Disadvantage of History for Life

In this monograph, Anthony K. Jensen provides a critical analysis and guide to Nietzsche’s On the Uses and Disadvantage of History for Life, revealing a text that offers insight into the most important aspects of Nietzsche’s then-contemporary philosophy of history. Jensen contextualizes the figures and movements that serve as Nietzsche’s interlocutors, and situates this text within Nietzsche’s larger philosophical project. Through an examination of Nietzsche''s views, the author argues for the contemporary philosophical relevance of On the Uses and Disadvantage of History for Life, and advances the scholarly discussion of this oft-overlooked but nevertheless essential text.

With his An Interpretation of Nietzsche’s "On the Uses and Disadvantage of History for Life", Anthony K. Jensen shows how ''timely'' Nietzsche’s second "Untimely Meditation" really is. This comprehensive and insightful study contextualizes and analyzes a wide range of Nietzsche’s earlier thoughts about history: teleology, typology, psychology, memory, classical philology, Hegelianism, and the role historiography plays in modern culture. On the Uses and Disadvantage of History for Life is shown to be a ‘timely’ work, too, insofar as it weaves together a number of Nietzsche''s most important influences and thematic directions at that time: ancient culture, science, epistemology, and the thought of Schopenhauer and Burckhardt. Rather than dismiss it as a mere ‘early’ work, Jensen shows how the text resonates in Nietzsche’s later perspectivism, his theory of subjectivity, and Eternal Recurrence. And by using careful philological analysis of the text’s composition history, Jensen is in position to fully elucidate and evaluate Nietzsche’s arguments in their proper contexts. As such Jensen’s Interpretation should restore Nietzsche’s second "Untimely Meditation" to a prominent place among 19^th Century philosophies of history.