Walter Kaufmann
Walter Kaufmann (July 1, 1921 - September 4, 1980) was a German 20th-century philosopher, scholar, and poet. He is chiefly remembered for his translations of Nietzsche and his anthology of so-called existentialist work, Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. However, he produced much original philosophy which is seen to have great merit on its own account.
He believed that critical analysis and acquiring knowledge is a liberating and empowering force. Much of his work is concerned to some degree with, or touches upon, subjects related to what we now call authenticity.
He had a full life, converting from Christianity to Judaism at the age of twelve. The rise of Nazism did not influence, nor deter his conversion. Kaufmann discovered later that all his grandparents were Jewish. His writings testify to ongoing changes in his spiritual beliefs.
He emigrated to America in 1939, and attended Williams College, where he majored in Philosophy, and took many religion classes. He then spent 15 months in military service abroad during World War II. Returning to America, Kaufmann earned his PhD in the philosophy of religion from Harvard in April 1947, with a dissertation on "Nietzsche's Theory of Values". Before the end of the month, he was appointed a professor of philosophy at Princeton, where he remained until his death in 1980.
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Partial Bibliography
Original Works
- Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
- From Shakespeare to Existentialism
- Critique of Religion and Philosophy
- Tragedy and Philosophy
- Hegel (later re-issued in two paperback volumes)
- The Faith of a Heretic
- Without Guilt and Justics
- Cain and Other Poems
- The Future of the Humanities
- Religions in Four Dimensions
- Discovery the Mind, a trilogy consisting of
- Man's Lot: A Trilogy, consisting of
- Life at the Limits
- Time is an Artist
- What is Man?
Translations
- Twenty-Five German Poets (supersedes the earlier Twenty German Poets)
- Goethe's Faust (Part One and selections from Part Two)
- Judaism and Christianity, essays by Leo Baeck
- I and Thou, by Martin Buber
- Beyond Good & Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, by Friedrich Nietzsche
- The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs, by Friedrich Nietzsche
- Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Friedrich Nietzsche
- On the Genealogy of Morals', by Friedrich Nietzsche
- Ecce Homo, by Friedrich Nietzsche
- The Will to Power, by Friedrich Nietzsche
Anthologies/Edited works
- Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre
- Religion from Tolstoy to Camus (a companion to the above)
- Philosophic Classics, 3 volumes
- Hegel's Political Philosophy
Forewords/Contributions
- Foreword to Alienation by Richard Schacht
- Foreword to Frau Lou, by Rudolph Binion
- Foreword to The Present Age, by Søren Kierkegaard (Translated by Alexander Dru)
References
- A website which has useful links to his work and life
- The Faith of a Heretic. This is the magazine article, originally published in Harper's, which grew into the book of the same name.
- Walter Kaufmann Manuscripts Princeton University Library's collection of Kaufmann's manuscripts.