Joy and Laughter in Nietzsche's Philosophy

Analyzing the importance of joy laughter and cheerfulness in Nietzsche's thought this volume addresses an under-examined topic in the secondary literature. By exploring disparate aspects of these interrelated emotions it provides new insights into his key ideas.<br/><br/>The contributors-among them philosophers and political scientists-illustrate the significance of these feelings to reveal political ramifications of their affirmative potential and their broader role in Nietzsche's philosophical aims. These include how the joyful disposition Nietzsche commends informs his free spirit's self-overcoming attempts to revalue all values and prospects of ultimately transfiguring humanity.<br/><br/>Among other topics scholars assess the <i>Übermensch</i> and shared joy learning to laugh at oneself Schopenhauer's jokes Pascal's cheerfulness and the Dada movement's subversively playful aesthetic. By contemplating Nietzsche's emphasis on joy and laughter the volume reveals a thinker who far from being a caricature of hopeless nihilism is in fact the hitherto unrecognised champion of an alternative liberatory politics.<br/>