DOI
10.1515/niet.2013.42.1.67
Abstract
This essay proposes a reading of the concept and metaphor of the garden in Nietzsche’s philosophy as a contribution to exploring his aesthetics of the human earth and, accordingly, of his idea of the Sinn der Erde. Following Zarathustra’s agreement with his animals’ repeated declaration that „the world awaits you as a garden,” after his ordeal in struggling with the thought of eternal recurrence, the essay draws on Z and other writings to explore the senses of cultivation, design, and perspective which the garden embodies. Nietzsche recognizes and endorses another dimension of the garden in his discussions of Epicurus’ garden: it can be a site of refuge for the philosopher and a few friends when the right time for large scale cultivation is still to come. The relation between Z and BGE, as two different ways of expressing the same basic ideas, is clarified by delineating these contrasting aspects of the garden.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-2013
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2013 De Gruyter. This article first appeared in Nietzsche-Studien 42, no. 1 (November 2013): 67-84. doi:10.1515/niet.2013.42.1.67.
Please note that downloads of the article are for private/personal use only.
Recommended Citation
Shapiro, Gary. "Earth’s Garden-Happiness: Nietzsche’s Geoaesthetics of the Anthropocene." Nietzsche-Studien 42, no. 1 (November 2013): 67-84. doi:10.1515/niet.2013.42.1.67.