Johnston, Joshua Travis2012-08-222012-08-2220122012-08-22http://hdl.handle.net/1828/4149Since the 1960’s it has been common for many historians to treat Friedrich Nietzsche as a proto-postmodernist. Nietzsche’s scepticism and apparent embrace of aestheticism have fueled the belief among historians that Nietzsche’s philosophy anticipated a postmodern understanding of history. This project seeks to challenge the proto-postmodernist reading of Nietzsche’s philosophy of history by arguing that Nietzsche’s thought underwent a significant change after the termination of his friendship with the German composer Richard Wagner. Utilizing Nietzsche’s personal correspondence, material from his many notebooks, records of the books he read and owned, as well as the works he published, this thesis attempts to unravel the protopostmodern reading of Nietzsche’s philosophy in favour of a naturalist interpretation of his thought. It will then attempt to outline what the consequences of Nietzsche’s naturalism are for his philosophy of history.enNietzschePhilosophy of HistoryHistoriographyThesisAvailable to the World Wide Web