03 | Unsteady State | What the Right gets wrong about Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche is a difficult figure to pin down politically. He's popularly known as the favourite philosopher of the architects of the Holocaust, and of today's neo-Nazis and far-right ideologues who venerate strength, domination and the exercise of traditionally male-coded virtues. But then there's the other Nietzsche, the Nietzsche who was a fierce critic of German nationalism and antisemitism, and whose work has gone on to become central to feminism and queer theory. What can Nietzsche tell us about today's febrile climate of state and gender politics?

This episode is third in a five-part series.

Guest: Adrian Daub, Professor of Comparative Literature and German Studies at Stanford University, co-host of the podcast In Bed With the Right

Producer: David Rutledge

The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2024)

What Tech Calls Governing by Adrian Daub (Stanford University Press 2026)

Episode 1 | Unsteady State | Politics and the good life - The Philosopher's Zone, October 4 2026

Episode 2 | Unsteady State | Who owns Antarctica? - The Philosopher's Zone, October 11 2026

Episode 4 | Unsteady State | Confucianism and crisis - The Philosopher's Zone, October 25 2026

Episode 5 | Unsteady State | Politics for the future and the past - The Philosopher's Zone, November 1 2026