La dimension eugéniste de la “grande politique” de Nietzsche

Résumé En

This paper aims at shedding light on the late Nietzsche’s eugenics, viewed as part of the political project developed from Beyond Good and Evil onwards. I argue that Nietzsche is both a positive and negative eugenicist: he wishes to control human procreation in order to promote a higher type of men, not only by crossing suitable individuals and varieties, but also by preventing “degenerate” populations from breeding. It may seem surprising that a philosopher who portrayed himself as untimely should have adopted a post-Darwinian ideology. In order to explain this paradox, it is essential to acknowledge the mixture of ancient and modern which characterizes Nietzsche’s position. His artificial selection can indeed be situated midway between those of the two founding fathers of eugenics, Plato and Galton. However, Nietzsche’s breeding can also happen through dietetics, a fact which requires to put the importance of human selection into perspective in the global economy of the Versuch.