No other modern philosopher has proved as influential as Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and none is as poorly understood. In the first new biography in decades, Rüdiger Safranski, one of the foremost living Nietzsche scholars, re-creates the anguished life of Nietzsche while simultaneously assessing the philosophical implications of his morality, religion, and art. Struggling to break away from the oppressive burdens of the past, Nietzsche invented a unique philosophy based on compulsive self-consciousness and constant self-revision. As groundbreaking as it will be long-lasting, this biography offers a brilliant, multifaceted portrait of a towering figure.

With equal attention to both the life and work of his subject, Safranski places the visionary skeptic in the context of philosophical predecessors and contemporaries like Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, and explores the sources of Schopenhauer's profound alienation from their "secularized religion of reason."

The story of Heidegger's life and philosophy, a quintessentially German story in which good and evil, brilliance and blindness are inextricably entwined and the passions and disasters of a whole century come into play, is told in this brilliant biography.

According to current deabtes, ’individualization’ has frequently been proposed as the conceptual counterpart to ’globalization’. It has often seemed that nothing would be left once these processes have fully unfolded, other than individual human atoms dispersed on a globe without any political, economic or cultural structures. Regardless of whether this description is based on any good and valid observation, nobody drew the conclusion that suddenly emerges as evident after reading Rüdiger Safranski’s lucid and timely exploration of the issue: globalization, if it occurs, means a radical change in the human condition. It brings human being in direct confrontation with the world in its totality. Almost unnoticed in broader debate, the scenario of globalization entails a return - in new a radical guise - of the time-honoured question of the ways of being-in-the-world of human beings. In this compelling new book, the philosopher Rüdiger Safranski grapples with the pressing problems of the global age: ‘Big Brother’ states, terrorism, international security and the seeming impossibility of ‘world’ peace. He suggests that the era ofglobalization should not be thought of as that epoch in world history in which all human beings will see themselves in the same, indistinct situation. There will always be, Sanfranski argues, some need for understanding one’s own situation by drawing boundaries and conceptualizing ‘otherness’ and individuality.

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Economist and Kirkus Reviews This “splendid biography” (Wall Street Journal) of Goethe presents his life and work as an essential touchstone for the modern age. A masterful intellectual portrait, Goethe: Life as a Work of Art is celebrated as the seminal twenty-first-century biography of the writer considered to be the Shakespeare of German literature. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), a remarkably prolific poet, playwright, novelist, and—as Rüdiger Safranksi emphasizes—a statesman and naturalist, first awakened not only a burgeoning German nation but the European continent with his electrifying novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. Safranski has scoured Goethe’s entire oeuvre, relying exclusively on primary sources, including his correspondence with contemporaries, to produce a “fresh and authentic” (Economist) portrait of the avatar of the Romantic era. Skillfully blending “artistic analysis with swift, sharp renderings” of the great political and intellectual figures Goethe encountered, “[Safranski’s] portrait of the prolific genius leaves the reader with lasting awe, even envy” of a monumental legacy (The New Yorker). As Safranski ultimately shows, Goethe’s greatest creation, even in comparison to his masterpiece Faust, was his own life.

The renowned scholar Rüdiger Safranski's Romanticism: A German Affair both offers an accessible overview of Romanticism and, more critically, traces its lasting influence, for better and for ill, on German culture. Safranski begins with the eighteenthcentury Sturm und Drang movement, which would sow the seeds for Romanticism in Germany. While Romanticism was a broad artistic, literary, and intellectual movement, German thinkers were especially concerned with its strong philosophical-metaphysical and religious dimension. Safranski follows this spirit in its afterlife in the work of Heinrich Heine, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, and through the later artistic upheavals of the twentieth century. He concludes by carefully considering Romanticism's possible influence in the rise of National Socialism and the student revolt of 1968. Romanticism: A German Affair is essential reading for anyone interested in the power of art, culture, and ideas in the life of a nation.

Un impresionante acercamiento a la vida y la obra de Franz Kafka, a los cien años de su desaparición. «Extraordinariamente concebido y brillantemente escrito.» Dieter Kaltwasser, General-Anzeiger «Hay que agradecerle a Safranski este preciso y sobrio libro.» Alexander Wasner, SWR2 Rüdiger Safranski nos presenta a Kafka ante la tarea de escribir y se acerca así al secreto de unos textos que presagiaron en gran medida la condición humana de nuestro tiempo. En las cartas y otros documentos del genial autor, Safranski descubre los momentos de felicidad que Kafka experimentaba ante su escritorio, y también aquellos instantes en los que el mundo se le aparecía como completamente extraño y ajeno. A partir de semejantes experiencias en el límite, las obras de Kafka se entienden entonces con una fuerza insólita. Kafka, de Safranski, nos conduce de forma magistral al centro de una obra literaria que se cuenta entre las cimas de la literatura universal. Para el autor de El proceso o El castillo, escribir fue la existencia misma; la escritura significaba para él mucho más que realizar una obra perfecta, pues solo en aquella encontraba Kafka un refugio ante la culpa y las miserias del mundo.

Rüdiger Safranski legt mit seinem großen Buch über Martin Heidegger die Biographie über den wirkungsmächtigsten (und umstrittensten) Philosophen des 20. Jahrhunderts vor. Es ist darüber hinaus auch die Biographie der Epoche, selbst ein Stück Philosophie über den Zusammenhang von Denken und Leben und der Ausdruck eines souveränen Verhältnisses zum philosophischen Erbe Heideggers. Und: endlich kann man Heidegger nicht nur lesen, sondern auch verstehen!

A mais importante biografia do grande filósofo alemão até hoje escrita. O livro de Rüdiger Safranski é um sucesso mundial que o professor gaúcho Ernildo Stein – um dos maiores especialistas em Heidegger na América Latina – apresenta para o leitor brasileiro, com a cuidadosa tradução da escritora Lya Luft, direto do alemão. A vida, a obra e o enigma de Heidegger são iluminados pela biografia escrita pelo professor e filósofo alemão Rüdiger Safranski. O título original era Um Mestre na Alemanha – Heidegger e seu Tempo. Uma frase do próprio prefácio de Safranski levou os editores norte-americanos a mudarem o título para Heidegger entre o Bem e o Mal – título que a editora brasileira considerou mais adequado, por levar em conta um dos aspectos principais da obra: a simpatia do filósofo pelo nazismo, característica que incomoda os admiradores do filósofo. A maestria de Heidegger o colocou cedo ao lado de nomes como Platão, Aristóteles, Kant e Hegel. Com Heidegger, a filosofia contemporânea ganhou um dos seus maiores expoentes. Ganhou também novos e radicais caminhos para a metafísica. Mas o filósofo viveu também as contradições de seu tempo. Safranski discorre sobre o envolvimento de Heidegger com o nazismo e com os conflitos do entreguerras, no embate entre o totalitarismo e uma nova filosofia. As ambiguidades do filósofo – entre o Bem e o Mal – são esclarecidas em uma análise original, que não se encontra em nenhuma outra biografia do autor. Safranski não cede à tentação de formular julgamentos sobre Heidegger. Melhor que isso, relata fatos inéditos e oferece uma avaliação detalhada e crítica sobre o desenvolvimento intelectual do filósofo e suas idas e vindas entre o pensamento e a política.