Living for Others? Friedrich Nietzsche and the “Impossibility” of Altruism

Abstract

Thinking of others? Living for others? To love others? The questions of altruism, in the hands of Friedrich Nietzsche, deflagrate like dynamite. His critique of altruistic morality is irreverent and, at first glance, seems to leave no room for repartee. The image of neighbour that human beings create in their minds is always, in Nietzsche’s eyes, a mere projection of themselves, and “love of neighbour” is a contradiction in terms: one can only love oneself, love for others is impossible. Moreover, when this love seems to manifest itself, it is never an original feeling, but always an attachment to our own representation of others. The Nietzschean demolition of proximity really seems to leave no room for alternatives. It seems. Because thinking with Nietzsche beyond Nietzsche is possible, just as it is possible to trigger ethical relaunches between the lines of his invectives. Even for the concept of proximity itself.