The Deed Is Everything: Nietzsche on Will and Action

Nietzsche is often held to be a sceptic about human agency, keen to debunk it along every dimension. Rather than dismissing notions of autonomy and morality, The Deed is Everything presents a new and engaging interpretation of Nietzsche as being committed to an 'expressivist' conception of agency.

Ridley argues that, contrary to debunking the existence of agents or selves, Nietzsche develops highly distinctive accounts of freedom, morality, and selfhood. The text revisits a variety of central Nietzschean themes - including self-creation, the sovereign individual, will to power, Kantian and Christian morality, and amor fati - often to unexpected effect. The Nietzsche who emerges from this analysis has a clear conception of human agency and a robust commitment to the value of human excellence in all of its forms.

This comprehensive study of Nietzsche and expressive action is important reading for all Nietzsche scholars and philosophers of agency.


Author: Aaron Ridley
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 09/19/2018
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.60h x 5.70w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780198825449

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2019

About the Author

Aaron Ridley studied Philosophy at the universities of York and Cambridge. He is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton, and his research interests include aesthetics, the philosophy of music, R.G. Collingwood and Friedrich Nietzsche, topics on which he has published widely. His books include Nietzsche's Conscience: Six Character Studies from the 'Genealogy' (1998) and Nietzsche on Art (2007).