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Essays on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclitus DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 6-2012 Nietzsche and classical greek philosophy: Essays on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclitus Daw-Nay N.R. Evans Jr. DePaul University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd Recommended Citation Evans, Daw-Nay N.R. Jr., "Nietzsche and classical greek philosophy: Essays on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclitus" (2012). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 118. https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/118 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NIETZSCHE AND CLASSICAL GREEK PHILOSOPHY: ESSAYS ON SOCRATES, PLATO, ARISTOTLE, AND HERACLITUS A THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY JUNE 2012 BY DAW-NAY N. R. EVANS JR. DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES DEPAUL UNIVERSITY CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Nietzsche and Classical Greek Philosophy: Essays on Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclitus By Daw-Nay N. R. Evans Jr. Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..4 Introduction: Nietzsche and Classical Greek Philosophy…………………………….…………...5 Chapter I: A Solution to “The Problem of Socrates” in Nietzsche’s Thought Section 1: Five Views on Nietzsche’s Treatment of Socrates……………………………….…..19 Section 2: Nietzsche’s Treatment of Socrates in The Birth of Tragedy……………………….…32 Section 3: Nietzsche’s Treatment of Socrates in Earlier Works (1872-80)……………………...40 Section 4: Nietzsche’s Treatment of Socrates in Twilight of the Idols (1888)…………………..45 Section 5: Nietzsche’s Treatment of Socrates in Later Works (1882-86)……………………….55 Section 6: Nietzsche on the Use and Misuse of Reason for Life………………………………...59 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….64 Chapter II: Nietzsche and Plato: An Interpretation and Defense Section 1: Making Distinctions: Nietzsche, Plato, and Platonism.................................................65 Section 2: Nietzsche and Plato’s Kallipolis...................................................................................76 Section 3: Nietzsche’s Assessment of Plato’s Metaphysics and Epistemology............................89 Section 4: Dialectic and Dialogue in Nietzsche...........................................................................101 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................107 Chapter III: Thick as Thieves: Nietzsche’s Debts to Aristotle Section 1: The Scope of Nietzsche’s Debts to Aristotle..............................................................108 Section 2: Methodological Debts.................................................................................................111 Section 3: Ethical Debts...............................................................................................................117 Section 4: Compatibilist Debts....................................................................................................128 Section 5: Nietzsche’s Critique of Aristotle’s Interpretation of Tragedy....................................134 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................137 Chapter IV: Myth and Reality: The Case of Heraclitus Section 1: The Nietzsche-Heraclitus Train..................................................................................138 Section 2: Nietzsche’s Affection for Heraclitus..........................................................................143 2 Section 3: Nietzsche on Heraclitus in Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks....................152 Section 4: Nietzsche on Heraclitus in the Lectures on the Pre-Platonic Philosophers...............157 Section 5: Comparative Analysis.................................................................................................163 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...…175 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………177 3 I want to thank Dr. Will McNeill for agreeing to become the director of this project. Without his unyielding support, I would never have received my Ph.D. Additionally, I want to thank Kim Moe for her encouragement and hospitality. I would also like to thank Drs. Michael Naas and Sean Kirkland for reading my work, providing feedback on it, and pointing me in new intellectual directions I would have not discovered on my own. The friendships I cultivated throughout my time in graduate school have been exceptionally helpful in navigating the Cretan Labyrinth that is doctoral education and supplying me with memories to last a lifetime. Specifically, I want to thank Surti Singh, Bob Valgenti, Cavin Robinson, and Morgan Horowitz (CUNY). I want to thank my mother Kathy Carter and my brother Chris Carter for believing in me even when I encountered a bit of turbulence. My greatest thanks goes to Anne Prendergast for being my “Alpha and Omega, the first and the last” in everything I am. This dissertation is dedicated to the loving memory of my grandparents Elma Jean Evans and Sandy Lee Evans. 4 INTRODUCTION: NIETZSCHE AND CLASSICAL GREEK PHILOSOPHY Nietzsche’s high esteem for the Greeks is a commonplace; but it has been assumed that he wanted to return to the pre-Socratics, while his debt to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle … has been overlooked. —Walter Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) was born in the small town of Röcken, in the Prussian province of Saxony-Anhalt, which is located in what was, until the fall of the Berlin Wall, known as East Germany. His knowledge of the ancient world, derived from his rigorous education in classical studies, would prove to be an important reference point for several of his future philosophical projects.1 Nietzsche originally began his study of Latin and Greek in 1851, while his more involved and disciplined study of the classics began in 1858 at the famous Pforta boarding school in Naumburg. Upon leaving the Pforta school in 1864 Nietzsche wrote his first philological study, in Latin, entitled “De Theognide Megarensi” (On Theognis of Megara). From 1864 until 1868 Nietzsche studied classics with Otto Jahn and Friedrich Ritschl, who were considered to be among the leading classical philologists of the second half of the 19th century. Nietzsche's formal study of the classics ended in 1869 when, based upon the recommendation of his mentor, Professor Ritschl, he was offered a position as Professor of Classical Philology at Basel University at the unprecedented age of 24.2 As a result, the University of Leipzig awarded him the doctoral degree, without his ever having to take comprehensive examinations or write a doctoral dissertation. As a scholar, Nietzsche wrote several essays and lectures on Greek rhetoric, Latin grammar, Greek culture, and Greek philosophy, such as “Homer and Classical Philology” (1869), 1 For a rigorous defense of this view, see James Porter, Nietzsche and the Philology of the Future (California: Stanford University Press, 2000). 2 For a translation of Professor Ritschl’s recommendation, see Walter Kaufmann, The Portable Nietzsche (New York: Viking, 1954), 7. 5 “Socrates and Tragedy” (1870), “The Greek State” (1871), “The Greek Woman” (1871), “Introduction to the Study of the Platonic Dialogue” (1871-74), “Homer’s Contest” (1872), “The Pre-Platonic Philosophers” (1872), “Philosophy in The Tragic Age of the Greeks” (1873), and “Plato’s Life and Teaching” (1876). The extent to which Nietzsche was immersed in the classics helps us to appreciate the significance of his relationship to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and also provides important background information for understanding the nature of that relationship. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand Nietzsche’s view of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. There are few, if any, studies that deal exclusively with—and provide an explanation of his relationship to—these philosophers. Furthermore, there are no studies on the implications of Nietzsche’s view of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle and with regard to the origin and development of his later philosophical thinking. Nietzsche’s relationship to classical Greek philosophy is arguably the most underappreciated area of Nietzsche studies. In a section entitled “What is Needed” in the first edition of his Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist Kaufmann—arguably the most important Nietzsche scholar of the 20th century— admits that we still “need scholarly and perceptive studies of some aspects of Nietzsche’s thought and influence that have never been explored adequately. For example, Nietzsche’s … early philologica.” This call to scholarly and philosophical arms was made in 1950, and with only a few exceptions we have yet to heed that call. The framework for interpreting Nietzsche’s attack on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle can be located in Nietzsche’s unique style of argumentum ad hominem, which he launches against all three philosophers. The very last manuscript Nietzsche sent to his publisher C.G. Naumann was Ecce
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