Letter From the Editor

Dear Readers,

In this issue, we bring you four longer explorations of topics central to Nietzsche’s thought. Alexander Nehamas revives the discussion of “falsification” in Nietzsche’s work, challenging the notion that Nietzsche is committed at any time in his life to the view that all human beliefs “falsify” reality—what has come to be known as the “falsification thesis”— and reopening questions about the value of truth, and of falsehood, for Nietzsche. Professor Nehamas was among the first to draw the attention of scholars interested in Nietzsche to these important issues, and in his contribution he answers many of the voices who have joined this debate over the years. Deeply connected to the themes of truth and falsification in Nietzsche’s work, of course, is his scathing critique of metaphysical philosophy and philosophers—perpetrators of some of the most outrageous falsehoods at which Nietzsche takes aim. Jonathan Mitchell proposes in his contribution a novel way of specifying the scope of Nietzsche’s critique, aimed at making better sense of the attitudes Nietzsche recommends toward the whole metaphysical enterprise. Nietzsche’s rejection of metaphysical philosophy and, perhaps more pointedly, metaphysical consolations, raise urgent questions about the value of life and how and whether to affirm it, especially in the face of the ineradicable suffering in human experience. Jeremy Forster and W. Jared Parmer tackle these issues, respectively, in their studies of life-affirmation and its conditions, and of cruelty as a unique source of suffering—and perhaps a unique resource—in Nietzsche’s estimation.

With this issue, too, I am very pleased officially to welcome Scott Jenkins (University of Kansas) on board as Associate Editor of JNS. He brings to this position a terrific breadth of expertise in the history of philosophy, from Kant and German Idealism to Ancient philosophy and Early Modern and contemporary European philosophy. In addition to JNS, his articles have appeared in The Oxford Handbook of Hegel, The Routledge Companion to Nineteenth Century Philosophy, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Journal of the History of Philosophy, Inquiry, and many other venues. Special thanks to Paul Katsafanas (Boston University) for serving as Associate Editor pro tem, and for continuing on as our North American Nietzsche Society (NANS) liaison and guest editor for NANS issues. Please visit http://jns .gsu.edu for this and other news, access to recent issues, special announcements (including an announcement from Nietzsche-Studien about its recent change in editorship), calls for papers for upcoming special issues of JNS, and links to Nietzsche societies in the United States and abroad. Note that two societies have calls for papers with deadlines in Autumn 2017; please visit the International Society for Nietzsche Studies (ISNS), at www.internationalnietzsche.org, and the North American Nietzsche Society, now at www.northamericannietzschesociety.com, for details.

Yours truly,
Jessica N. Berry