Give Oneself a Life: autobiography as philosophical methodology in the young Nietzsche

Abstract

At the carrefour between the stylistic dimension and the positive
content of the philosophical thesis in his works, autobiography rises
as the device according to which both of them are reunite, becoming
indissociable. This procedure is obvious in texts like Ecce Homo, but it is
already present in older works, like the autobiographical essays from his
secondary school time. The analysis of how, at this point, the problem of
the writing of oneself as a political-philosophical practice comes up, can
lead us to propose a coherent strategical principle to the reading of
Nietzsche’s writings as “work”.