Abstract

Friedrich Nietzsche is typically seen as a radical critic of the western philosophical tradition. This article considers why this image is so widely accepted. It argues that part of the reason for its acceptance is that Nietzsche paints a picture of himself as the independent, radical innovator in his later writings. If we look at the works of the middle period, we find that by contrast, he repeatedly situates himself within wider traditions and discusses what he has learned from them.