Postmodernism's Use and Abuse of Nietzsche (original) (raw)
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C]onscience,'" Nietzsche suggests early in Essay Two of On the Genealogy of Morals, "has a long history and variety of forms behind it" (II.3). Glossing over the explicit equivocity and irony of such statements, most commentators presume that the primary ambition of GM is to reconstruct the emergence and in so doing denaturalize and denounce the reign of conscience, which is treated as equivalent to both bad conscience and slave morality. Such presumption has obscured the central claims, operations, and stakes of the text, indeed of Nietzsche's late work generally. Although they are intertwined, Nietzsche's genealogy of conscience is textually, substantively, and strategically distinct from his genealogy of bad conscience, which in turn is involved in but distinct from his genealogy of slave morality. Textually, it is not until Essay Two, section four of On the Genealogy of Morals that Nietzsche begins to ask after the emergence and psychosocial ("physiological") consequences of bad conscience, while the genealogy of conscience proceeds from the first essay. Substantively, the three genealogies are concerned with manifestly disparate objects. Strategically, the addressees of the three genealogies are diverse, thus are their modes of address: genealogy cannot be reduced to a uniform method.
"Nietzsche's Critique of the Enlightenment: Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals"
The Enlightenment is exemplified in the thought of one of its most important representatives, namely Immanuel Kant. Nietzsche defined his theoretical position in relation to Kant's critical philosophy. However, Nietzsche's philosophy marked a break with the philosophical tradition of the Enlightenment in general and Kant's project in particular. For Nietzsche, the irony of Kant's critical philosophy lies in the fact that 'critique' took the form of 'legislation' (viz. 'categorical imperative'). Kant's critique confined itself to delimiting the laws governing knowledge and the claims to morality, but, in so doing, failed to challenge the value of knowledge and moral ideals per se. It is Nietzsche's view that Kant's thought is an instance of the Enlightenment appearance/reality and subject/object distinctions (HAH 16), which are challenged by means of a genealogical enquiry in the first and second essays of "On the Genealogy of Morality" respectively. These distinctions are facilitated by the 'mythology' which is concealed in language and grammar. In particular, the modern belief in the separation of 'subject' (or 'transcendental ego') from 'being' is made possible by the distinction between 'doer' and 'deed' that the structure of language imposes on us in the form of the subject-predicate dimension. As, with the passage of time, human beings forgot that it was they who had created liguistic symbols, they came to regard concepts as if they were 'eternal facts' (HAH 11). As a result, "the most diverse philosophers unfailingly fill out again and again a certain basic scheme of possible philosophies" (BGE 20). According to Nietzsche, Kant's critical philosophy turned out to be uncritical, because he took "grammatical functions" for granted. In directing his genealogy against the Enlightenment (and thereby Modernity), it can be argued that Nietzsche was the first post-modern thinker. Therein lies the radicalism of his genealogical project. This paper examines Nietzschean genealogy. For Nietzsche, genealogy is a re-valuative enterprise, its task being to recount the process through which we have become 'moderns' so as to provide us with a context of 'meaning' within which we can recognize and critically reflect on our 'modern condition'. Therefore, the starting-point of genealogy is the 'present', an age when religion has lost its influence on the conscience of human beings* and when moral values themselves are subject to stringent criticisms. Implicit in genealogy is a drive to overcome the present stage of 'nihilism' through understanding it, namely, through philosophy. In other words, a "transvaluation of values" (the Nietzschean term for critique) which will lead to a future age is inherent in the diagnosis of modernity. The paper explores how this diagnosis is accomplished. It also looks at the issue of perspectivism. In addition, it discusses the nature and value of Nietzschean genealogy as critique, and suggests that genealogy is a "performative critique", in so far as it aims to inspire the individual with the possibility of the Übermensch. ABBREVIATIONS HAH Human, Allt Too Human BGE Beyond Good and Evil GS Gay Science Z Thus Spoke Zarathustra * Nietzsche's famous 'death of God' phrase. Vide the scene of the 'madman' at GS 125; cf. Z prologue.
Nietzsche, Rhetoric, Philology (final)
il s'agit du point irréductible extrême où le geste est un corps, un espace, une figure. l'extrême irréductible de tel point est son obscénité: ce point-là n'est ni physique ni géométrique; il est la mémoire de ce qu'est le mouvement dans tout corps. Mais ce dernier est aussi bien affecté de cette mémoire inverse: le corps est une limite dans le mouvement. Cette réversion est infinie.
Anti-Nietzsche : A Critique of Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche’s irrational doctrines have contributed to the emergence of self-destructive extremism on both the right and left ends of the political spectrum. The realization of his Übermensch ideal is not about achieving greatness as an individual but rather about greatness as a collective whole, specifically as a European empire. His philosophy stands in stark contrast to genuine conservatism, which is rooted in Christian principles. Keywords: conservatism, perspectivism, traditionalism, New Right, identitarian, postmodernism, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Heraclitus, extremism, antisemitism, will to power, logos, Christianity.
Rereading Nietzsche: The Crisis and Postmodernism
The Crisis: Future Prospects on Politics, Culture and Governance (Consortium for Research in Political Theory), 2018
Nietzsche, with his well-known phrase “God is dead!”, assesses the end times of the metaphysical tradition by presenting a non-historical reading of the concept of crisis. According to Nietzsche, the crisis of Western philosophy implies an ongoing turmoil of thought, value, and life since Plato. Nietzsche's reading of crisis toward life is not pessimistic. Instead, it means an effort to overcome metaphysics itself. The crucial point, at this point, is the affirmation of the argument which implies that being is composed of pluralities of perspectives and is heading towards an "Overman." According to Nietzsche, no ethics can be universal, and the "free spirit" must strive to create its ethical values. Therefore, it is essential to act according to the values that are not universalized, idealized on both the ethical and political levels. This notion effectuates one of the most common critiques of Western metaphysics raised by postmodernism. The critique of the binary oppositions of Western metaphysical tradition, moralism, and modernity also reflects the effects of Nietzsche's thought among postmodern literature either in its Deleuzian (becoming, difference and Eternal Recurrence) or Derridean (deconstruction) interpretations. Conceptually based on the central discussions in Nietzsche's thought such as perspectivism, nihilism, affirmation of life, becoming, "Eternal Recurrence" and "the Overman”, this study aims to interpret the problematic relation between truth and crisis in contemporary political philosophy.