But Kaufmann easily dismissed Brinton’s categorization of “gentle” and “tough” Nietzsche interpreters, arguing that it failed to capture the subtlety of Nietzsche’s philosophy, or even to account for the taxonomy of the varieties of “Nietzschean” interpretation. First, he insisted that the term Nietzschean made no sense. Nietzsche repeatedly scorned anyone who would follow another master. As he himself put it, “One repays a teacher badly if one always remains a pupil only.” Nietzsche’s philosophy repudiated the very idea of intellectual discipleship: “A ‘Nietzschean’ … whether ‘gentle’ or
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