Nietzsche’s Colonial Philosophy Readjusted

Domenico Losurdo’s Nietzsche, The Aristocratic Rebel is the most comprehensive synopsis of Nietzsche’s political thought ever written, while representing a convincing countermovement to the ‘hermeneutics of innocence’ which pervades contemporary Nietzsche studies. Nevertheless, Losurdo’s book is not without its deficiencies. The following essay addresses Losurdo’s reading of Nietzsche’s colonial philosophy, disclosing what some of these deficiencies are. They lead Losurdo to delimit the ‘demystifying potential’ of Nietzsche’s philosophical activity and to render unclear, if not to leave strictly undefined, the system of slavery Nietzsche actually supports, as the cornerstone of Losurdo’s criticism is Nietzsche’s anti-abolitionism.