Heidegger once wrote that he felt most affinity with Nietzsche, even if he was furthest removed from him in the question of being. This ambivalence determines the many years of Heidegger's intensive occupation with Nietzsche.

Müller-Lauter, whose own approach to Nietzsche is decisively opposed to Heidegger's metaphysical interpretation, examines Heidegger's work on Nietzsche from a variety of aspects. It is, however, not his sole intention to demonstrate the one-sidedness and forced nature of Heidegger's interpretations of Nietzsche. Rather, he seeks to ascertain Heidegger's basic position as it is articulated in the critical 'Conversation with Nietzsche' and thus to problematise its effective presuppositions.