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Nietzsche Past & Future

Our Nietzschean Future

Paul O’Mahoney considers the awful fate Nietzsche predicts for humanity.

Scattered through Nietzsche’s writings are proclamations of his ‘untimeliness’, expressing the conviction that he will be ‘born posthumously’. He claims that few in his time have ears to hear him, that he must trust in future generations to understand him, and also that he is preparing that future audience. Along with these proclamations goes his prediction that one day his name will be associated with a crisis unprecedented in human history. Nietzsche appears to suggest that his work may help precipitate the most acute stages of this crisis; but he also positions himself as humanity’s guide through and beyond the coming upheaval.

What is the nature of this predicted crisis? The most common reading of it represents, I believe, a misconception or underestimation of its nature and scope.

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