Abstract

This essay explores Nietzsche’s attitude to the Enlightenment, which the author argues underwent a major reversal between his so-called middle works and his later writings. The author examines the nature of this change and considers some of the reasons behind it. In the process, some of Nietzsche’s “postmodern” admirers are taken to task for appropriating his criticisms of the Enlightenment without acknowledging his ambivalence toward it. Furthermore, the radical change in Nietzsche’s view of the Enlightenment is taken as evidence of the periodization of his thought, which some prominent Nietzsche scholars have disputed.