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Two erotic ideals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2014

FIONA ELLIS
FIONA ELLIS*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Heythrop College, University of London, W8 5HN, UK e-mail: f.ellis@heythrop.ac.uk
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Abstract

In his article ‘Nietzsche, Tristan, and the rehabilitation of erotic distance’ Joseph D. Kuzma identifies two seemingly opposed erotic ideals in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. He claims that Nietzsche applauded the first and sought to dispense with the second, and that this was his solution to the problem of nihilism. I argue that this ‘solution’ is as ill-defined as the ideals it involves, and that it either consigns us to hell or offers a terminological variant upon theism. I rescue Schopenhauer from some familiar charges and make a link with Simone Weil's reflections upon love's impossibility.

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Articles
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Religious Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 41 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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