Bøger af Horst Hutter

Hutter's study explores the origins of classical conceptions of politics in the theory and practice of friendship in ancient Greece. It analyzes ancient Greek society as one in which political space was organized in terms of the metaphor of friendship. Tracing the importance of male friendship groupings in Greek society, and comparing them to similar formations in primitive societies known to us through anthropological data, it shows how political processes were conceived as friendship processes, and demonstrates how important friendship groupings were for these processes. Greek political philosophies are seen as universalizations of the principles of friendship. Hutter shows to what extent Platonism and Aristotlelianism as well as Stoicism received their inspiration from the practice of friendship. In particular, the theory and practice of Greek democracy are seen to be derived from the principles of friendship. Finally, the book shows the application of Greek theories of friendship to Roman society by Cicero. Noting the differences and similarities between Greece and Rome, it explores the redefinition that the theory of friendship underwent when applied to the Roman context. The concluding chapter briefly discusses the role of friendship in mass society and its politics.

Shaping the Future maps out the ascetic practices of a Neitzschean way of life. Hutter structures his argument around the belief that Nietzsche, despite his ostensive enmity to Platonism and Socratism, understood himself to be a Socratic and someone called upon by fate to renew the Platonic task of being a philosophical legislator of modern souls, culture, and political society. Hutter also considers the paths of reasoning opened up by Pierre Hadot in his studies of ancient philosophers as teachers of life and not just as providers of 'true' opinions and doctrines about the world.Shaping the Future applies the reasonings of Hadot to the work of Nietzsche, arguing that Nietzsche himself, throughout his philosophical career, conceived of doctrines as never identical to philosophy itself, but instead as a means of self-creation that had to be related to working on oneself. Hutter makes a great contribution to the study of Nietzsche and the growing movement that sees philosophy as a practical activity and way of life.