Friends and Heroes - Nietzsche's Agonistic Ethics

This thesis examines Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy and how he incorporates the idea of contest into ethics based on his reading of Homeric philosophical themes. I propose that Nietzsche's idea of higher friendship provides an alternative framing for ethics to traditional themes such as love and compassion. He incorporates adversarial behaviours into higher friendship as a way to enhance personal flourishing, emphasising the abundance of the individuals and the importance of maintaining and enhancing individual difference.