Walter Kaufmann: Encyclopedia - Walter Kaufmann

Walter Kaufmann

Walter Arnold Kaufmann (July 1, 1921 - September 4, 1980) was a 20th-century Jewish German philosopher, scholar, and poet. He produced much original philosophy, most of which was on subjects related to what would now be called authenticity. He also wrote on, among other things, atheism, tragedy, and Shakespeare. His translations of Nietzsche and his anthology of existentialist works, such as Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, are also celebrated works of his.

Kaufmann believed that critical analysis and acquiring knowledge was a liberating and empowering force.

He had a full life, converting from Christianity to Judaism at the age of twelve. The rise of Nazism did not influence, nor deter his conversion. Kaufmann discovered later that all his grandparents were Jewish. He, in a 1959 Harper's Magazine article, personally denounced Judaism, making it clear that he was atheistic, that is, according to him, a "heretic", by summarily rejecting all religious values and practices.

He emigrated to America in 1939, and attended Williams College, where he majored in Philosophy, and took many religion classes. He then spent 15 months in military service abroad during World War II. Returning to America, Kaufmann earned his PhD in the philosophy of religion from Harvard in April 1947, with a dissertation on "Nietzsche's Theory of Values." Before the end of the month, he was appointed a professor of philosophy at Princeton, where he remained until his death in 1980. In 1960, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Among his students were several important Nietzsche scholars: Richard Schacht, Alexander Nehamas and Ivan Soll.

Walter Kaufmann - Partial bibliography

Walter Kaufmann - Original works

• Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
• From Shakespeare to Existentialism
• Critique of Religion and Philosophy
• Tragedy and Philosophy
• Hegel: A Reinterpretation
• The Faith of a Heretic
• Without Guilt and Justice
• Cain and Other Poems
• Existentialism, Religion, and Death: Thirteen Essays
• The Future of the Humanities
• Religions in Four Dimensions
• Discovering the Mind, a trilogy consisting of
  • Goethe, Kant, and Hegel
  • Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Buber
  • Freud Versus Adler and Jung
• Man's Lot: A Trilogy, consisting of
  • Life at the Limits
  • Time is an Artist
  • What is Man?

Walter Kaufmann - Translations

• Twenty-Five German Poets (superseded the earlier Twenty German Poets)
• Goethe's Faust (Part One and selections from Part Two)
• Judaism and Christianity, essays by Leo Baeck
• I and Thou, by Martin Buber

As composed or published by Friedrich Nietzsche in chronological order:

• The Birth of Tragedy Or: Hellenism And Pessimism
• Human, All-Too-Human: A Book for Free Spirits, followed by the akin volumes:
  • Mixed Opinions and Maxims
  • The Wanderer and His Shadow
• The Dawn
• The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
• Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None
• Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future
• On the Genealogy of Morals (with R. J. Hollingdale)
• The Case of Wagner
• Twilight of the Idols
• The Antichrist
• Nietzsche contra Wagner
• Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is
• The Will to Power (with R. J. Hollingdale)

Walter Kaufmann - Anthologies/edited works

• The Portable Nietzsche
• Basic Writings of Nietzsche, designed to be complementary with above
• Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre
• Religion from Tolstoy to Camus, a companion to the above
• Philosophic Classics, in two volumes
• Hegel's Political Philosophy

Walter Kaufmann - Articles Book Chapters and Introductions

• “Nietzsche’s Admiration for Socrates,” Journal of the History of Ideas, v. 9, October 1948, pp. 472-491. Earlier version: “Nietzsche’s Admiration for Socrates” (Bowdoin Prize, 1947; pseud. David Dennis)
• “Goethe and the History of Ideas,” Journal of the History of Ideas, v. 10, October 1949, pp. 503-516.
• “The Hegel Myth and Its Method,” Philosophical Review v.60, No. 4 (October 1951), pp. 459-486.
• “Hegel’s Early Antitheological Phase,” Philosophical Review v. 61, no. xxx (1952), pp. 595-599.
• “Some Typical Misconceptions of Nietzsche’s Critique of Christianity,” Philosophical Review v. 63, no. 1 (January 1954), pp. 3-18.
• “Nietzsche and Rilke,” Kenyon Review, XVII (1955), pp. 1-23.
• “Toynbee and Superhistory” Partisan Review, vol. 22, no. 4, Fall 1955, pp. 531-541. Reprinted in Toynbee and History. Critical Essays and Reviews. Edited by M. F. Ashley Montagu. Porter Sargent Publishers, Boston, 1956.
• “A Hundred Years after Kierkegaard,” Kenyon Review, XVIII, pp. 182-211.
• “Jaspers’ Relation to Nietzsche,” in Paul Schilpps, ed., The Philosophy of Karl Jaspers (New York: Tudor, 1957), pp. 407-436.
• “The Faith of a Heretic,” Harper’s Magazine, February 1959, pp. 33-39. Reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• “Existentialism and Death,” Chicago Review, XIII, 1959, pp. 73-93. Revised version reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• “” in The Meaning of Death, Herman Feifel, New York: The Blakiston Division / McGraw-Hill, 1959.
• Preface to Europe and the Jews: The Pressure of Christendom on the People of Israel for 1900 Years, 2d ed, by Malcolm Hay. Boston: Beacon Press, 1961.
• “A Philosopher’s View,” in Ethics and Business: Three Lectures. University Park, Pa., 1962, pp. 35-54. Originally presented at a seminar sponsored by the College of Business Administration of the Pennsylvania State University on March 19, 1962.
• “Nietzsche Between Homer and Sartre: Five Treatments of the Orestes Story," Revue Internationale de Philosophie v. 18, 1964, pp. 50-73.
• “Nietzsche in the Light of his Suppressed Manuscripts,” Journal of the History of Philosophy v. 2, October 1964, pp. 205-226.
• “” in Philosophy and Educational Development, Ed. by G. Barnett. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1966.
• “,” in Art and philosophy, a symposium. Hook, Sidney, ed. New York University Press, New York. 1966
• “Buber’s Religious Signficance,” from The Philosophy of Martin Buber, ed. P. A. Schilpp and Maurice Friedman (London: Cambridge University Press, 1967) Reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• “The Reception of Existentialism in the United States,” Midway, vol. 9 (1) (Summer 1968), pp. 97-126. Reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• Foreword to Frau Lou: Nietzsche's Wayward Disciple, by Rudolph Binion. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1969.
• Introductory essay, Alienation Richard Schacht, Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1970
• “The Future of Jewish Identity,” The Jerusalem Post Magazine August 1, 1969, pp. 607. Reprinted in Congressional Bi-Weekly, April 3, 1970; in Conservative Judaism, Summer 1970; in New Theology no. 9, 1972, pp. 41-58, and in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976.)
• Foreword to An Introduction to Hegel’s Metaphysics, by Ivan Soll. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1969.
• “The Origin of Justice,” Review of Metaphysics v. 23, December 1969, pp. 209-239.
• “Beyond Black and White,” Midway, v. 10(3) (Winter 1970), pp. 49-79. Also Survey no. 73 (Autumn 1969), pp. 22-46. Reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• "Hegel's Ideas about Tragedy" in New Studies in Hegel's Philosophy, ed. Warren E. Steinkraus (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1971), pp. 201-220.
• “The Death of God and the Revaluation,” in Robert Solomon, ed., Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays (New York: Anchor Press, 1973), pp. 9-28.
• “The Discovery of the Will to Power,” in Robert Solomon, ed., Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays (New York: Anchor Press, 1973), pp. 226-242.
• Foreword in Truth and Value in Nietzsche: A Study of His Metaethics and Epistemology by John T. Wilcox. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1974
• “Nietzsche and Existentialism,” Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Foreign Literatures, v. 28(1) (Spring 1974), pp. 7-16. Reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• “Hegel’s Conception of Phenomenology” in Phenomenology and Philosophical Understanding, Edo Pivcevič, ed., pp. 211-230 (1975).
• “Unknown Feuerbach Autobiography,” Times Literary Supplement 1976 (3887): 1123-1124.
• “A Preface to Kierkegaard,” in Soren Kierkegaard, The Present Age and Of the Difference Between a Genius and an Apostle, trans. Alexander Dru, Harper Torchbooks, pp. 9-29. Reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• “On Death and Lying,” Reprinted in Existentialism, Religion, and Death (New York: New American Library, 1976).
• “Letter on Nietzsche,” Times Literary Supplement 1978 (3960): 203.
• “Buber’s Failures and Triumph,” Revue Internationale de Philosophie v. 32, 1978, pp. 441-459.
• “Buber: Of His Failures and Triumph,” Encounter 52(5): 31-38 1979.
• Reply to letter, Encounter 55(4): 95 1980.
• “Art, Tradition, and Truth,” Partisan Review, XVII, pp. 9-28.

Walter Kaufmann - Sound recordings

• "Existentialism"
• "Kierkegaard and the Crisis in Religion"
• "Nietzsche and the Crisis in Philosophy"
• "Oedipus Rex"
• "The Power of the Single Will"
• "Three Satanic Interludes"
• "The Will to Power Reexamined"

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