FATE AND HISTORY: THE THEORY OF ACTION OUTLINED BY NIETZSCHE IN HIS YOUTH

Abstract

At seventeen years old, Nietzsche wrote Fate and history, an essay that explores the theoretical foundations of human action and so far has not been discussed in the social sciences. In this paper, the implicit theory of Fate and history is systematized and then classified within the different schools of thought on the human action. It is argued, from the meta-theoretical framework outlined by Margaret Archer, that the conceptual scheme of Nietzsche could be characterized as "historical elisionism" -differing of individualism, holism, emergentism and elisionism just based on the interaction-. This conceptual framework could be a contribution in contemporary theoretical discussions, because escapes the main criticism of the elisionism perspective: their inability to examine the interplay between structure and agency in long periods of time.