Nietzsche on the Methods and Aims of Philosophy

The Seal of Liberation

Allison Merrick (California State University, San Marcos)

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English

Cambridge University Press
31 July 2025

Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900

We are, says Nietzsche, often unknown to ourselves. Most recent studies of Nietzsche's works focus on our reactions to conditions of self-estrangement, particularly nihilistic despair or decadence. Allison Merrick takes a different approach, focusing on what she argues is Nietzsche's greatest contribution to philosophical thought: the method of genealogy. While genealogical analysis is often understood as having vindicatory, subversive, or problematizing aims, Merrick emphasizes its emancipatory potential. Nietzsche's analysis reveals how our motivations and our feelings, our reflective thoughts and our judgments, are shaped by evaluative 'templates' of which we are often unaware and how these templates can be revealed, articulated, and overcome. By uncovering and challenging these hidden frameworks, Nietzsche's genealogical approach aims to render us less obscure to ourselves, to liberate us from value systems that no longer serve our interests, and to demonstrate how we might become less prone to guilt and shame.

By: Allison Merrick (California State University San Marcos)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781009370974
ISBN 10: 1009370979
Pages: 219
Publication Date: 31 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Introduction: why genealogy?; 1. The descent of our moral prejudices: on the subject of Nietzsche's genealogical analysis; 2. The order of rank: on the role of history in Nietzsche's genealogical analysis; 3. The most difficult backward inference: on the role of psychology in Nietzsche's genealogical analysis; 4. The moral defense: cruelty turned inward; 5. The psychological type of the redeemer; 6. The seal of liberation; 7. But how can we find ourselves again?; Acknowledgments; Reference List; Index.

Allison Merrick is Professor of Philosophy at California State University, San Marcos. She is the co-editor of Nietzsche and Politicized Identities (2024) and of 'Shame: Sources and Trajectories, ' a special issue of Psychoanalytic Inquiry (2024).