Philosophy & Rhetoric Oct 2022 Open Access

The Essay and the Art of Interpretation: Caygill and Nietzsche

Stephen Howard

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article speculatively reconstructs what I call Howard Caygill’s “unwritten book” on Nietzsche, based on the collection of Caygill’s philosophical essays, Force and Understanding (2021). I propose that an engagement with Nietzsche’s thought runs throughout Caygill’s work, although it would be a mistake to label Caygill a “Nietzschean.” One particularly relevant aspect of Nietzsche’s philosophy is his conception of philological reading. After outlining this, I examine the Nietzsche who emerges from Caygill’s essays and thus the central themes of the “unwritten book.” I close by considering the implications of my account for the distinction between two philosophical forms: the treatise and the essay.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2022-10-01
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.55.3.0274
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