Abstract

The paper aims to present Nietzsche’s project of a new Enlightenment on the basis of his use of the metaphor which the Enlightenment employs for its selfpresentation, namely the metaphor of light. Firstly it is shown, above all in consideration of Nietzsche’s early account of language, that it is methodologicallynecessary to examine Nietzsche›s critique of the Enlightenment from a metaphorological point of view. Examining his differentiated use of the metaphor of light we can then more precisely understand, in which sense Nietzsche can recognize a strong bond between the notion of Enlightenment and the practice of transfiguration. Finally, we clarify the connection suggested by Nietzsche between the ideals of a new Enlightenment and thethought of eternal recurrence of thesame.