Date of Thesis

Spring 2025

Description

My Honors Thesis in Political Science builds upon the scholarly tradition of reading beyond Friedrich Nietzsche’s explicit discussions of women, which are oftentimes blatantly misogynistic. As a philosopher typically included in the Western existentialist canon, Nietzsche’s ethics of self-transcendence is relevant to one of the vital feminist objectives: individual autonomy. His commentary in Beyond Good and Evil, The Gay Science, On the Genealogy of Morals, and The Use and Abuse of History for Life prescribe ways of being that disrupt traditional moral systems and their accompanying social conditioning. If we examine patriarchy as one of these value systems that are presented as immutable, natural truth throughout Western culture, we become empowered as feminists to actively participate in the dismantling of patriarchy. We become inclined to transition from a passive posture to an active one in the making of meaning. Chapter one interrogates existing feminist interpretations of Nietzsche’s ethics that I argue misinterpret his claims or take his aphorisms at face value. Furthermore, I explore how his genealogical method of looking at history can be used to understand how the contingent constructions of gender become so ingrained that they seem inevitable or natural, limiting individuals’ range of possibilities and self knowledge. Chapter two investigates how Nietzsche’s ambivalent approach to history is useful to feminists, due to his emphasis on actively engaging with origins in order to overcome present stagnation. Ultimately, my thesis recognizes how Nietzsche’s existentialist approach to self-transformation, self-overcoming, and self-creation can be of use for feminist politics in the contemporary era, despite his claims of being an “anti-political” thinker. My analysis reveals the problematic, life-denying implications of certain feminist practices through the application of a Nietzschean ethical lens.

Keywords

Nietzsche studies, feminism, political theory, existentialism

Access Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Type

Bachelor of Arts

Major

Political Science

Minor, Emphasis, or Concentration

Women's and Gender Studies

First Advisor

Kate Bermingham

Second Advisor

Peter Groff

Third Advisor

Mehmet Dosemeci

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