Abstract:

In the fall of 1889, two of Denmark's leading intellectuals engaged in a spirited public debate over a then still obscure German philosopher, effectively inaugurating the long vogue of Friedrich Nietzsche. By the time the debate wound down in the spring of 1890, its two participants, the literary critic Georg Brandes and the philosopher Harald Høffding, had each outlined dramatically opposed visions for the future. Whereas Brandes advocated a radically aristocratic society meant to be dominated by Nietzschean Great Men, Høffding countered with a radically democratic alternative centered on the ordinary human being -- in effect one of the very first articulations of what would come to be called the Scandinavian welfare society. This lecture traces the long afterlife of this seminal "Nietzsche debate," demonstrating its continued relevance for the world we inhabit today.

Bio:

William Banks is a writer, editor and translator. He received his Ph.D in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin in 2013, and previously taught at the University of Minnesota. He is the editor and translator of Geog Brandes, Human Rights and Oppressed Peoples. Collected Essays and Speeches (Wisconsin, 2020) and Georg Brandes and Harald Høffding, The Great Debate. Nietzsche, Culture and the Scandinavian Welfare Society (Wisconsin, 2024) as well as the translator of Pelle Dragsted, Nordic Socialism. The Path Toward a Democratic Economy (Wisconsin, Spring 2025). He is also a regular contributor to Jacobin.