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Books by Matthew Meyer

The Routledge Guidebook to Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This is the second chapter of my forthcoming book. Comments welcome!

The Routledge Guidebook to Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This is the first chapter of a forthcoming book on Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Nietzsche's Free Spirit Works: A Dialectical Reading, 2019

Between 1878 and 1882, Nietzsche published what he called 'the free spirit works': Human, All Too... more Between 1878 and 1882, Nietzsche published what he called 'the free spirit works': Human, All Too Human; Assorted Opinions and Maxims; The Wanderer and His Shadow; Daybreak; and The Gay Science. Often approached as a mere assemblage of loosely connected aphorisms, these works are here re-interpreted as a coherent narrative of the steps Nietzsche takes in educating himself toward freedom that executes a dialectic between scientific truth-seeking and artistic life-affirmation. Matthew Meyer's new reading of these works not only provides a more convincing explanation of their content but also makes better sense of the relationship between them and Nietzsche's larger oeuvre. His argument shows how these texts can and should be read as a unified project even while they present multiple, in some cases conflicting, images of the free spirit. The book will appeal to anyone who is interested in Nietzsche's philosophy and especially to those puzzled about how to understand the peculiarities of the free spirit works.

Nietzsche’s work was shaped by his engagement with ancient Greek philosophy. Matthew Meyer analyz... more Nietzsche’s work was shaped by his engagement with ancient Greek philosophy. Matthew Meyer analyzes Nietzsche’s concepts of becoming and perspectivism and his alleged rejection of the principle of non-contradiction, and he traces these views back to the Heraclitean-Protagorean position that Plato and Aristotle critically analyze in the Theaetetus and Metaphysics IV, respectively. At the center of this Heraclitean-Protagorean position is a relational ontology in which everything exists and is what it is only in relation to something else. Meyer argues that this relational ontology is not only theoretically foundational for Nietzsche’s philosophical project, in that it is the common element in Nietzsche’s views on becoming, perspectivism, and the principle of non-contradiction, but also textually foundational, in that Nietzsche implicitly commits himself to such an ontology in raising the question of opposites at the beginning of both Human, All Too Human and Beyond Good and Evil.

Co-Edited Anthologies by Matthew Meyer

Recent Anglophone scholarship has successfully shown that Nietzsche's thought makes important con... more Recent Anglophone scholarship has successfully shown that Nietzsche's thought makes important contributions to a wide range of contemporary philosophical debates. In so doing, however, this scholarship has lost sight of another important feature of Nietzsche's project, namely his desire to challenge the very conception of philosophy that has been used to assess his merits as a philosopher. In other words, contemporary scholarship has overlooked Nietzsche's contributions to metaphilosophy, i.e. debates centered around the nature, methods, and aims of philosophy. This new collection of essays brings together an international group of distinguished scholars to explore and discuss these contributions and debates.

Papers by Matthew Meyer

British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2015

This essay seeks to overcome the divide that has emerged in recent scholarship between Alexander ... more This essay seeks to overcome the divide that has emerged in recent scholarship between Alexander Nehamas’ reading of Nietzsche as an aestheticist who eschews the dogmatism implicit in the scientific project and Brian Leiter’s reading of Nietzsche as a hard-nosed naturalist whose project is continuous with the natural sciences. It is argued that Nietzsche turns to the natural sciences to justify a relationalist ontology that not only eliminates metaphysical concepts such as ‘being’ and ‘things-in-themselves’, but also can be linked to key components of the aestheticist reading. As a result, Nietzsche’s naturalism should not be understood as opposing important features of his aestheticism. Instead, Nietzsche’s project should be understood in terms of a naturalized aestheticism that rejects the metaphysical- moral interpretation of existence espoused by philosophers such as Plato, Kant, and Schopenhauer.

understanding the quarrel not simply as a difference between two activities, but also as a clash ... more understanding the quarrel not simply as a difference between two activities, but also as a clash between two worldviews. Whereas a pessimistic understanding of life and the world provided the framework for both Homeric epic and Attic tragedy, it was Socrates" optimism and the way in which Socrates coupled the activity of philosophy with an optimistic worldview that brought a corresponding end to poetry and the poetic or tragic worldview.

In The Political Theory of Aristophanes: Explorations in Poetic Wisdom

This is a version of a paper I published some ten years ago (2002) in Nietzscheforschung (prior t... more This is a version of a paper I published some ten years ago (2002) in Nietzscheforschung (prior to entering a PhD program). The research on the secondary literature could have been more extensive and I do have concerns about some of the specifics of the argument. Nevertheless, I am still committed to the central thesis of the paper: Thus Spoke Zarathustra should be read as a tragedy that accomplishes in deed what The Birth of Tragedy described in theory. The companion piece to this paper is my recently published article in The Journal of Nietzsche Studies, "The Comic Nature of Ecce Homo."

Book Reviews by Matthew Meyer

Do ordinary tables and chairs really exist? This will seem like a silly question to many, but a n... more Do ordinary tables and chairs really exist? This will seem like a silly question to many, but a number of contemporary philosophers are taking this question quite seriously. Arguments against the existence of ordinary objects have ranged "from naturalist inclinations to accept only the ontology yielded by our best physical theories to pure a priori arguments based on apparent contradictions in our ordinary concepts." 1 In response to these arguments, philosophers such as Amie Thomasson and Daniel Korman have taken on the task of making reflective sense of "our unreflective common sense worldview" 2 to assure us that "things are more or less the way they seem" with regard to ordinary objects. 3

Hayek once warned against making a fetish of democracy. In Against Democracy, libertarian philoso... more Hayek once warned against making a fetish of democracy. In Against Democracy, libertarian philosopher Jason Brennan takes this lesson to heart. He urges us to consider rejecting democracy or rule by the people in favor of an epistocracy or rule by the knowledgeable. The general intuition driving the book is legitimate: incompetent voters increase the likelihood of incompetent governance, and incompetent governance can cause significant harm both domestically and internationally. At the same time, Brennan also has to show that citizens have no inalienable right to vote and run for political office, that the gains won by a more competent electorate outweigh the costs associated with the systematic disenfranchisement of incompetent voters, and that such systematic disenfranchisement will not result in a government that is not only by the competent but also for the competent. These are challenges that Brennan struggles to meet.

Appeared in The Journal of Nietzsche Studies (43.1)

The Routledge Guidebook to Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This is the second chapter of my forthcoming book. Comments welcome!

The Routledge Guidebook to Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra

This is the first chapter of a forthcoming book on Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Nietzsche's Free Spirit Works: A Dialectical Reading, 2019

Between 1878 and 1882, Nietzsche published what he called 'the free spirit works': Human, All Too... more Between 1878 and 1882, Nietzsche published what he called 'the free spirit works': Human, All Too Human; Assorted Opinions and Maxims; The Wanderer and His Shadow; Daybreak; and The Gay Science. Often approached as a mere assemblage of loosely connected aphorisms, these works are here re-interpreted as a coherent narrative of the steps Nietzsche takes in educating himself toward freedom that executes a dialectic between scientific truth-seeking and artistic life-affirmation. Matthew Meyer's new reading of these works not only provides a more convincing explanation of their content but also makes better sense of the relationship between them and Nietzsche's larger oeuvre. His argument shows how these texts can and should be read as a unified project even while they present multiple, in some cases conflicting, images of the free spirit. The book will appeal to anyone who is interested in Nietzsche's philosophy and especially to those puzzled about how to understand the peculiarities of the free spirit works.

Nietzsche’s work was shaped by his engagement with ancient Greek philosophy. Matthew Meyer analyz... more Nietzsche’s work was shaped by his engagement with ancient Greek philosophy. Matthew Meyer analyzes Nietzsche’s concepts of becoming and perspectivism and his alleged rejection of the principle of non-contradiction, and he traces these views back to the Heraclitean-Protagorean position that Plato and Aristotle critically analyze in the Theaetetus and Metaphysics IV, respectively. At the center of this Heraclitean-Protagorean position is a relational ontology in which everything exists and is what it is only in relation to something else. Meyer argues that this relational ontology is not only theoretically foundational for Nietzsche’s philosophical project, in that it is the common element in Nietzsche’s views on becoming, perspectivism, and the principle of non-contradiction, but also textually foundational, in that Nietzsche implicitly commits himself to such an ontology in raising the question of opposites at the beginning of both Human, All Too Human and Beyond Good and Evil.

Recent Anglophone scholarship has successfully shown that Nietzsche's thought makes important con... more Recent Anglophone scholarship has successfully shown that Nietzsche's thought makes important contributions to a wide range of contemporary philosophical debates. In so doing, however, this scholarship has lost sight of another important feature of Nietzsche's project, namely his desire to challenge the very conception of philosophy that has been used to assess his merits as a philosopher. In other words, contemporary scholarship has overlooked Nietzsche's contributions to metaphilosophy, i.e. debates centered around the nature, methods, and aims of philosophy. This new collection of essays brings together an international group of distinguished scholars to explore and discuss these contributions and debates.

British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 2015

This essay seeks to overcome the divide that has emerged in recent scholarship between Alexander ... more This essay seeks to overcome the divide that has emerged in recent scholarship between Alexander Nehamas’ reading of Nietzsche as an aestheticist who eschews the dogmatism implicit in the scientific project and Brian Leiter’s reading of Nietzsche as a hard-nosed naturalist whose project is continuous with the natural sciences. It is argued that Nietzsche turns to the natural sciences to justify a relationalist ontology that not only eliminates metaphysical concepts such as ‘being’ and ‘things-in-themselves’, but also can be linked to key components of the aestheticist reading. As a result, Nietzsche’s naturalism should not be understood as opposing important features of his aestheticism. Instead, Nietzsche’s project should be understood in terms of a naturalized aestheticism that rejects the metaphysical- moral interpretation of existence espoused by philosophers such as Plato, Kant, and Schopenhauer.

understanding the quarrel not simply as a difference between two activities, but also as a clash ... more understanding the quarrel not simply as a difference between two activities, but also as a clash between two worldviews. Whereas a pessimistic understanding of life and the world provided the framework for both Homeric epic and Attic tragedy, it was Socrates" optimism and the way in which Socrates coupled the activity of philosophy with an optimistic worldview that brought a corresponding end to poetry and the poetic or tragic worldview.

In The Political Theory of Aristophanes: Explorations in Poetic Wisdom

This is a version of a paper I published some ten years ago (2002) in Nietzscheforschung (prior t... more This is a version of a paper I published some ten years ago (2002) in Nietzscheforschung (prior to entering a PhD program). The research on the secondary literature could have been more extensive and I do have concerns about some of the specifics of the argument. Nevertheless, I am still committed to the central thesis of the paper: Thus Spoke Zarathustra should be read as a tragedy that accomplishes in deed what The Birth of Tragedy described in theory. The companion piece to this paper is my recently published article in The Journal of Nietzsche Studies, "The Comic Nature of Ecce Homo."

Do ordinary tables and chairs really exist? This will seem like a silly question to many, but a n... more Do ordinary tables and chairs really exist? This will seem like a silly question to many, but a number of contemporary philosophers are taking this question quite seriously. Arguments against the existence of ordinary objects have ranged "from naturalist inclinations to accept only the ontology yielded by our best physical theories to pure a priori arguments based on apparent contradictions in our ordinary concepts." 1 In response to these arguments, philosophers such as Amie Thomasson and Daniel Korman have taken on the task of making reflective sense of "our unreflective common sense worldview" 2 to assure us that "things are more or less the way they seem" with regard to ordinary objects. 3

Hayek once warned against making a fetish of democracy. In Against Democracy, libertarian philoso... more Hayek once warned against making a fetish of democracy. In Against Democracy, libertarian philosopher Jason Brennan takes this lesson to heart. He urges us to consider rejecting democracy or rule by the people in favor of an epistocracy or rule by the knowledgeable. The general intuition driving the book is legitimate: incompetent voters increase the likelihood of incompetent governance, and incompetent governance can cause significant harm both domestically and internationally. At the same time, Brennan also has to show that citizens have no inalienable right to vote and run for political office, that the gains won by a more competent electorate outweigh the costs associated with the systematic disenfranchisement of incompetent voters, and that such systematic disenfranchisement will not result in a government that is not only by the competent but also for the competent. These are challenges that Brennan struggles to meet.

Appeared in The Journal of Nietzsche Studies (43.1)

Mattia Riccardi, "Der Faule Fleck des Kantischen Kriticismus:" Erscheinung und Ding an sich bei N... more Mattia Riccardi, "Der Faule Fleck des Kantischen Kriticismus:" Erscheinung und Ding an sich bei Nietzsche. Basel: Schwabe Verlag, 2009. 243 pp. ISBN: 978-3-7965-2571-1. Hardcover, € 54.60. It has long been recognized that Nietzsche's relationship to Kant and neo-Kantianism is of utmost importance for understanding fundamental aspects of his philosophy. Despite recent scholarship on this topic, i there is still more to be said. In "Der Faule Fleck des Kantischen Kriticismus:" Erscheinung und Ding an sich bei Nietzsche, Mattia Riccardi traces the Kantian distinction between appearance (Erscheinung) and the thing-in-itself (Ding an sich) through various stages of Nietzsche's career. Riccardi argues that whereas the young Nietzsche worked within a framework that presupposed the Kantian distinction, the mature Nietzsche eventually overcame the distinction with the relational

This talk argues that neoliberalism might represent the path to authoritarian rule and so the rea... more This talk argues that neoliberalism might represent the path to authoritarian rule and so the real road to serfdom.

This is an older paper that I am reposting....

A Critical Guide to Thus Spoke Zarathustra (eds. K. Ansell-Pearson and P. Loeb, 2021

Nietzsche's Metaphilosophy, 2019

The purpose of this paper is to explore the philosophical significance of laughter and comedy in ... more The purpose of this paper is to explore the philosophical significance of laughter and comedy in Nietzsche's works. Although a few scholars have noted this dimension of Nietzsche's project, these themes have yet to make their way into mainstream Nietzsche scholarship. Moreover, references to Nietzsche in current philosophical work on laughter, humor, and comedy are rare. By bringing attention to the important role that laughter and comedy play in Nietzsche's later works, I implicitly advance the case that Nietzsche scholars should pay more attention to laughter and comedy and that Nietzsche should be discussed more frequently in contemporary work on the philosophy of laughter, humor, and comedy. The structure of the paper is straightforward. In the first section, I provide evidence attesting to the significance of laughter in Nietzsche's works and then explore its philosophical significance. In the second section, I do the same with comedy by drawing parallels between Nietzsche's later philosophy and the Dionysian comedies of Aristophanes. In so doing, I show how laughter and comedy are central to Nietzsche's life-affirming ethics and his project of self-creation, but I also note that Nietzsche's understanding of laughter and comedy may challenge some of our most fundamental ethical intuitions.