Nietzsche’s Earthbound Wisdom: The Philosopher, the Poet, and the Sage

An incisive exploration of Nietzsche as a bold, visionary poet-philosopher.

Today, Nietzsche is justly celebrated for his rich, philosophical naturalism, but Keith Ansell-Pearson warns that we must not overlook the visionary dimension of his thinking and his focus on the need to cultivate a new care of the self and care of life. In Nietzsche’s Earthbound Wisdom, Ansell-Pearson recovers Nietzsche’s love for a philosophy that guides us through our passions, one that opens us more fully to the possibilities of life and the joy of knowledge.

Ansell-Pearson offers close readings of Nietzsche’s texts in conversation with philosophical and literary figures including Augustine, Baudelaire, Carlyle, Dostoevsky, Emerson, Flaubert, Stendhal, and more. Throughout, Ansell-Pearson examines Nietzsche’s sophisticated critique of literary naturalism and his alternative conception of the poet as a seer who has a deep longing for a new earth.

Keith Ansell-Pearson is emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is the author and editor of several books on Nietzsche, including Nietzsche’s Search for Philosophy and The Nietzsche Reader.