The uneasy European

Abstract

Friedrich Nietzsche's later philosophical writings have rarely been examined in the context of the political culture that marks late nineteenthcentury Germany. But once we accept the inherently political nature of these writings, a purely philosophical interpretation seems limited. This article explores the way in which Nietzsche's understanding of a possible European identity is embedded in his reaction to the political culture of Imperial Germany. It is against this background that Nietzsche begins to form an idea of Europe as an alternative to the status quo of contemporary political culture, but at the same time his vision of Europe remains too vague to constitute a real political alternative.