Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter August 20, 2021

Nietzsche’s Compassion

  • Vasfi O. Özen EMAIL logo
From the journal Nietzsche-Studien

Abstract

Nietzsche is known for his penetrating critique of Mitleid (now commonly rendered as “compassion”). He seems to be critical of all compassion but at times also seems to praise a different form of compassion, which he refers to as “our compassion” and contrasts it with “your compassion” (BGE 225). Some commentators have interpreted this to mean that Nietzsche’s criticism is not as unconditional as it may seem – that he does not condemn compassion entirely. I disagree and contend that even though Nietzsche appears to speak favorably of some forms of compassion, he regards the nature of all compassion to be fundamentally bad. Furthermore, I suggest that Nietzsche’s discussion on different forms of compassion have significant implications for achieving greatness and meaning in life. More specifically, I argue that, for Nietzsche, “our compassion,” however regrettable qua compassion it is, may give occasion for a rare and peculiar insight into “co-suffering” with others, which in turn results in overcoming compassion entirely. I also argue that although Nietzsche objects to compassion, he approves of a form of what feminist theorists might now call “anticipatory empathy.” Even though a large body of literature has evolved over Nietzsche’s critical evaluation of compassion, his understanding of a non-compassionate response to suffering is, in my view, rather overlooked and should receive more attention.


To the memory of İhsan Akev–a great teacher, opera singer, and human being


Bibliography

Ansell-Pearson, Keith: “Beyond Compassion: On Nietzsche’s Moral Therapy in Dawn”, Continental Philosophy Review 44 (2011), 179–20410.1007/s11007-011-9181-xSearch in Google Scholar

Cartwright, David E.: “Schopenhauer’s Compassion and Nietzsche’s Pity”, Schopenhauer-Jahrbuch 69 (1988), 557–67Search in Google Scholar

Diamantides, Marinos: “Law’s Ignoble Compassion,” in Peter Goodrich / Mariana Valverde (eds.), Nietzsche and Legal Theory: Half-written Laws, New York 2005Search in Google Scholar

Frazer, Michael: “The Compassion of Zarathustra: Nietzsche on Sympathy and Strength,” The Review of Politics 68 (2006), 49–7810.1017/S0034670506000052Search in Google Scholar

Freedberg, Sharon: “Re-examining Empathy: A Relational-Feminist Point of View,” Social Work 52 (2007), 251–910.1093/sw/52.3.251Search in Google Scholar

Halliwell, Stephen: The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems, Princeton, NJ 200210.1515/9781400825301Search in Google Scholar

Haraldsson, Robert Hilmar: The Problem of “Mitleid” and the Morality of “Mitleid”: A Reading of Nietzsche on Morality [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, Publication No. 9821251], Pittsburgh, PA 1997Search in Google Scholar

Harris, Daniel I.: “Compassion and Affirmation in Nietzsche,” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 48 (2017), 17–2810.5325/jnietstud.48.1.0017Search in Google Scholar

Heise, David R.: “Conditions for Empathic Solidarity,” in Patrick Doreian / Thomas J. Fararo (eds.), The Problem of Solidarity: Theories and Models, Amsterdam 1998, 197–211Search in Google Scholar

Janaway, Christopher: “On the very Idea of ‘Justifying Suffering’,” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 48 (2017), 152–7010.5325/jnietstud.48.2.0152Search in Google Scholar

Jordan, Judith V.: Relational-Cultural Therapy, Washington, DC 201810.1037/0000063-000Search in Google Scholar

Konstan, David: Pity Transformed, London 200110.1145/566900.566903Search in Google Scholar

Özen, Vasfi O.: “Nietzsche’s Theory of Empathy” (forthcoming)10.1080/05568641.2021.1938649Search in Google Scholar

Panaïoti, Antoine: Nietzsche and Buddhist Philosophy, Cambridge 201310.1017/CBO9781139382144Search in Google Scholar

Preston, Stephanie D.: “A Perception-Action Model for Empathy,” in Tom Farrow / Peter Woodruff (eds.), Empathy in Mental Illness, New York 2007, 428–4710.1017/CBO9780511543753.024Search in Google Scholar

Reginster, Bernard: The Affirmation of Life: Nietzsche on Overcoming Nihilism, Cambridge, MA 200810.4159/9780674042643Search in Google Scholar

Richardson, John: Nietzsche’s Values, New York 202010.1093/oso/9780190098230.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Tevenar, Gudrun von: “Nietzsche’s Objections to Pity and Compassion,” in Gudrun von Tevenar (ed.), Nietzsche and Ethics, Bern 2007, 263–81Search in Google Scholar

Ure, Michael: Nietzsche’s Therapy: Self-Cultivation in the Middle Works, Lanham, MD 2008Search in Google Scholar

Verkerk, Willow: Nietzsche and Friendship, London 201910.5040/9781350047372Search in Google Scholar

Vignemont, Frédérique de / Jacob, Pierre: “What Is It like to Feel Another’s Pain?”, Philosophy of Science 79 (2012), 295–31610.1086/664742Search in Google Scholar

Vitaglione, Guy D. / Barnett, Mark A.: “Assessing a New Dimension of Empathy: Empathic Anger as a Predictor of Helping and Punishing Desires,” Motivation and Emotion 27 (2003), 301–2510.1023/A:1026231622102Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2021-08-20
Published in Print: 2021-08-18

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 3.6.2023 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/nietzstu-2021-0010/html
Scroll to top button