Manfred Posani Loewenstein & Emmanuel Salanskis

The first session of the International Seminar Nietzsche’s Basel Lectures, dedicated to the theme The Divine Service of the Greeks, will take place online on 3 September 2025 (Wednesday), from 16:00 to 18:00 (UTC+1). The session will be led by Manfred Posani Loewenstein, who will speak on “Nietzsche, Burckhardt and the Greek Cult: Comparing Two Lectures”, and Emmanuel Salanskis, who will in turn give a presentation entitled “Towards a Genealogy of the Greek Cult”.

Nietzsche, Burckhardt and the Greek Cult: Comparing Two Lectures

Abstract: The relationship between Burckhardt and Nietzsche has long captivated scholars. Was it Nietzsche who influenced Burckhardt through his conception of the “Dionysian”, or was it Burckhardt’s image of the agon—placed at the very core of his understanding of Greekness—that inspired Nietzsche’s depiction of the Greek world? This paper challenges the assumptions underlying both questions, focusing instead on the ambivalent and often subterranean dialogue between the two thinkers. Nietzsche’s lectures on the Greek cult and Burckhardt’s on the history of Greek civilization provide the point of departure for reconstructing the profound affinities and underlying tensions that shaped their respective visions of antiquity. It will also be argued that some of the central themes of Nietzsche’s philosophy—most notably the “free spirit” and “nihilism”—took shape, at least in part, through his sustained engagement with Burckhardt’s work.

Bio: Manfred Posani Löwenstein received his PhD from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa in 2015. He has been a fellow of the Istituto di Studi Storici in Naples, the Université de Montréal and the Italian Academy for advanced Studies in New York (Columbia University). He currently works as an editor at Adelphi publishing house in Milan.

Towards a Genealogy of the Greek Cult

Abstract: As part of the new French translation of Nietzsche’s lecture course Der Gottesdienst der Griechen, to be published this autumn by Les Belles Lettres under the title Le Culte grec, I have been led to propose a new establishment of the text based on the manuscripts contained in notebooks P-II-14a and P-II-14b. My presentation will first outline the methodology adopted to identify certain transcription errors in the Kröner and KGW editions, which had long posed difficulties for previous translators. I will then discuss a philosophical lesson to be drawn from working on the manuscripts, namely, that Nietzsche developed certain paragraphs of his published work directly from his course on The Greek Cult: Philosophia facta est quæ philologia fuit. Finally, I will argue that a central aim of the course is to sketch a non-Christian genealogy of Greek paganism, and that, in this respect, it served as a laboratory for Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality.

Bio: Emmanuel Salanskis is associate professor of modern and contemporary philosophy and Dean of the Faculty of philosophy at the University of Strasbourg. He is the author of a book on Nietzsche (Les Belles Lettres, 2015) and of a monograph entitled Why a Genealogy of Morality? (Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2023; English translation forthcoming with Brill in 2026). He also co-edited Les métamorphoses de la « généalogie » après Nietzsche in 2022 (Presses de l’Université Saint-Louis), among other volumes. His recent research now focuses on the Foucauldian reading of Nietzsche.

About the seminar

It is now widely accepted among experts on Nietzsche’s work that his Basel lectures are essential to a proper understanding of the development of his thinking. Now that the lectures have been published in the critical edition of the complete works, it is necessary to study their sources and the methods used in them, as well as their philological and philosophical content. Despite this, they remain largely unexplored. While some relevant research has emerged, it has focused mainly on specific lectures. There is therefore still a need for research that covers all the lectures, studies them systematically and in their interrelationships, looking for differences and similarities and seeking to determine to what extent decisive aspects of what distinguishes Nietzsche’s thought are already present in them or not. This seminar aims to be a first contribution to filling this gap. It will consist of ten monthly sessions. Each session will focus on one of the series of lectures and its key topic. And it will feature two speakers. The seminar format, with its discussion among all participants after each presentation, is a fruitful model for a project of this kind. Attendance to each seminar session must be preceded by registration through one of the organisers, who will provide the respective link (carlottasantini@hotmail.it, enasser@uol.com.br, plima@fcsh.unl.pt). For more information, see the full seminar programme below.

Org. Carlotta Santini (CNRS/ENS, Paris), Eduardo Nasser (UFPE/UFABC), Paulo Lima (IFILNOVA/NOVA FCSH)

Next sessions

Session 2: Greek Rhythmics

1 October 2025 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC+1)

Christophe Corbier, “Difference and Repetition in the Fragments on Greek Rhythm”

Alice Giordano, “The Force of Rhythm: Philology, Physiology, and Philosophy”

Session 3: Encyclopedia of Classical Philology

5 November 2025 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC)

Christian Benne, “Drives: Romantic Reflections in Encyclopädie der klassischen Philologie”

James Porter, “Thinking Backwards: Theocrasy and Syncretism in The Encyclopedia of Philology”

Session 4: Latin Grammar

16 December 2025 (exceptionally on Tuesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC)

Christian Wolleck, “A Philosopher Talks About Grammar: On the Philosophical Implications of a Philological Stint”

Marina Silenzi, “Instinct, Shout and Mimicry: Toward a Genealogy of Language”

Session 5: The Pre-Platonic Philosophers

14 January 2026 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC)

André Laks, TBD

Helmut Heit, “The Pre-Platonic Philosophers”

Session 6: Plato

18 February 2026 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC)

João Constâncio, “Nietzsche on Plato’s Phaedrus and the Question of Writing”

Pieter De Corte, “Nietzsche on Plato’s Political Thought in the Basel Lectures”

Session 7: Cicero’s Academica

18 March 2026 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC)

Luca Lupo, “Saying Yes: The Doctrine of Assent”

Stefano Busellato, TBD

Session 8: Rhetoric

15 April 2026 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC+1)

Rogerio Lopes, “Much Ado About (Almost) Nothing: How to Avoid Philosophical Inflation of Genealogical Claims”

Aritz Pardina Herrero, “F. Nietzsche’s Rhetoric Lectures: Dating and Interrelationship (and Why These Are Important)”

Session 9: Tragedy

13 May 2026 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC+1)

Sotera Fornaro, TBD

Enrico Mueller, TBD

Session 10: Greek Literature

17 June 2026 (Wednesday), 16:00–18:00 (UTC+1)

Gemma Adesso, “The Art of Reading and Writing”

Rafael Carrión Arias, “History of Greek Literature from 1874-76: The Origins of Genealogical Method in F. Nietzsche”