On the Uses and Abuses of Nietzsche in Self-Help Literature

Abstract

This paper investigates the uses that self-help literature makes of Nietzsche’s philosophy. Some specific concepts of his philosophy, as well as his choices in terms of expression, made Nietzsche a topmost reference for self-help authors in the U.S. and in France. As a philosopher and a nearly legendary figure, Nietzsche, in a strange way, fits more easily than other philosophers in the self-help project of leading people, through practical advices, to peace and happiness. Through examples taken from American and French self-help literature, and with comparisons made with other philosophers, this paper shows how self-help functions when it comes to borrowing from other people’s works.