At the core of many of the conflicts—indeed standoffs—that have defined intellectual debate in the last few decades, is the supposed antinomy between Hegel and Nietzsche. Hegelian defenders of intersubjectivity and Nietzschean friends of decentered subjectivity are barely on speaking terms. The great strength of Jurist's powerfully argued and extremely scholarly book is to shun this supposition, and invite us to rethink the relation between Hegel and Nietzsche in order to better defend a conception of philosophy that is sensitive to the claims of agency and culture. There is a great deal to learn from this fine book.
Simon Critchley
Hegel and Nietzsche are frequently taken as defining the antithetical extremes of continental philosophy. Without neglected crucial differences, Jurist indicates how much they share in common, especially concerning the relation of philosophy to culture. He argues that their distinctive views about agency complement each other. In his perceptive investigation, how shows how, taken together, they enable us to clarify recent debates about identity, recognition, intersubjectivity, and the decentering of the self. His reflections on Adorno, Horkheimer, Habermas, Honneth, Benjamin, Lacan, Derrida, Butler, and many others are always thought-provoking. Jurist eminently succeeds in his project of moving us beyond the polarities that define so many contemporary philosophic debates.
Richard J. Bernstein, New School for Social Research