DOCSLIB.ORG

The Gay Science

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Gay Science The illustrations on the preceding three pages show (1) the title page of the original edition of 1882 (the Emerson quotation is THE discussed in the Translator's Introduction), (2) the back cover of the same edition (a translation follows below), and (3) the title page of the second edition of 1887 (translated on the next page). GAY SCIENCE Here is what Nietzsche said on the back of the original edition: (Hla gaya scienza") This book marks the conclusion of a series of writ- . ings by FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE whose common goal it is to erect a new image and ideal of the free spirit. To this series belong: BY Human, all too human. With Appendix: Mixed Opin- ions and Aphorisms. Friedrich Nietzsche The Wanderer and his Shadow. Dawn: Thoughts about the prejudices of morality. The Gay Science. I live in my own place, have never copied nobody even half, Earlier writings by the same author: and at any master who lacks the grace The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music. to laugh at himself-l laugh. Untimely Meditations. 1. David Strauss, the Confessor OVER THE DOOR TO MY HOUSE and Writer. 2. Of,the Use and Disadvantage of History for Life. 3. Schopenhauer as Educator. 4. Richard Wag­ ner in Bayreuth. NEW EDITION WITH AN APPENDIX: Songs of Prince Vogelfrei LEIPZIG E. W. Fritzsch 1887 7b THE GAY SCIENCE BOOK ONE 77 the means and necessities of the preservation of the species." to be contemptible, and this is the feeling for which I look first Consequently-. Consequently. Consequently. 0, do you in everybody. Some folly keeps persuading me that every human understand me, my brothers? Do you understand this new law being has this feeling, simply because he is human. This is my of ebb and flood? There is a time for us, too! type of injustice. S 2 3 The intellectual conscience.- I keep having the same experi­ Noble and com mon.- Common natures consider all noble, ence and keep resisting it every time. I do not want to believe magnanimous feelings inexpedient and therefore first of. all ~t although it is palpable: the great majority of people lacks an incredible. They blink when they hear of such things and seem \ mtellectual conscience. Indeed, it has often seemed to me as if to feel like saying: HSurely, there must be some advantage anyone calling for an intellectual conscience were as lonely in involved; one cannot see through everything." They are sus­ the most densely populated cities as if he were in a desert. picious of the noble person, as if he surreptitiously sought his Everybody looks at you with strange eyes and· goes right on advantage. When they are irresistibly persuaded of the absence handling his scales, calling this good and that evil. Nobody' of selfish intentions and gains, they see the noble person as a even blushes when you intimate that their weights are under­ kind of fool; they despise him in his joy and laugh at his shin­ weight; nor do people feel outraged; they merely laugh at your ing eyes. "How can one enjoy being at a disadvantage? How doubts. I mean: the great majority oj people does not consider could one desire with one's eyes open to be disadvantaged? it contemptible to believe this or that and to live accordingly, Some disease of reason must be associated with the noble ,affec­ without first having given themselves an account of the final tion." Thus they think and sneer, as they sneer at the pleasure and most certain reasons pro and con, and without even trou­ that a madman derives from his fixed idea. What distinguishes bling themselves about such reasons afterward: the most gifted the common type is that it never loses sight of its advantage, men and the noblest women still belong to this "great majority." and that this thought of purpose and advantage is even stronger But what is goodheartedness, refinement, or genius to me, when than the strongest instincts; not to allow these instincts to lead the person who has these virtues tolerates slack feelings in his one astray to perform inexpedient acts-that is their wisdom faith and judgments and when' he does not account the desire and pride. jor certainty as his inmost craving and deepest distress-as that Compared to them, the higher type is more unreasonable, for which separates the higher human beingsl from the lower. those who are noble, magnanimous, and self-sacrificial do suc­ Among some pious people I found a hatred of reason and cumb to their instincts, and when they are at their best, their was well disposed to them for that; for this at least betrayed reason pauses. An animal that protects its young at the risk of their bad intellectual conscience. But to stand in the midst of its life, or that during the mating period follows the female 2 this rerum concordia discors and of this whole marvelous even into death, does not think of danger and death; its reason uncertainty and rich ambiguity of existence without questioning, also pauses, because the pleasure in its young or in the female without trembling with the craving and the rapture of such and the fear of .being deprived of this pleasure dominate it questioning, without at least hating the person who questions, totally: the animal becomes more stupid than usual-just like perhaps even finding him faintly amusing-that is what I feel those who are noble and magnanimous. They have some feel- 1 die hoheren Menschen. Cf. section 301. Regarding "the desire for cer­ tainty," cf. section 347, especially note 25. 8 Many interpretations of Nietzsche's thought are invalidated by t~is very important and characteristic section. Nietzsche never renounced It. 2 Discordant concord of things: Horace, Epistles, 1.12.19., Cf. sections 319, 335, 344, and The Antichrist, sections 50-55. 78 THE GAY SCIENCE BOOK ONE 79 ings of ple~sure and ~ispleasure that are so strong that they 4 reduce ~he Intellect to sIlence or to servitude: at that poInt their heart dIsplaces the head. and one speaks of "passion." (Now What preserves the species.- The strongest and most evil and then we also encounter the opposite and as it were the' spirits have so far done the most to advance humanity: again "reversa If'0 passIOn; " for example, somebody" once laid his and again they relumed the passions that were going to sleep-­ hand on Fo.nt~nelle'sheart, saying to him, "What you have all ordered society puts the passions to sleep-and they re­ there, dear SIr, IS another brain."4) awakened again and again the sense of comparison, of contra­ The unreason or counterreason of passion is what the com­ diction, of the pleasure in what is new, daring, untried; they n:on type despises in the noble, especially when this passion is compelled men to pit opinion against opinion. model against dlr:cted towar~ objects whose value seems quite fantastic and model. Usually by force of arms, by toppling buundary markers, a.rbltrary. One IS annoyed with those who succumb to the pas­ by violating pieties-but also by means of new religions and SIon of the belly, but at least one comprehends the attraction moralities. In every teacher and preacher of what is new we that plays the tyrant in such cases. But one cannot comprehend encounter the same "wickedness" that makes conquerors notori­ how. anyone could risk his health and honor for the sake of a ous, even if its expression is subtler and it does not immediately ~asslOn for ~nowledge. The taste of the higher type is for excep­ set the muscles in motion, and therefore also does not make one tIons, for thmgs. that leave most people cold and seem to lack that notorious. WhaHs new. however, is always evil, being that sweet~ess; the hlg~er type has a singular value standard. More­ which wants to .conquer and overthrow the old boundary ov~r, It usually beheves that the idiosyncrasy of its taste is not markers and the old pieties; and only what is old is good. The a smgular value standard; rather. it posits its values and dis­ good men are in all ages those who dig the old thoughts, digging valu~s as ge.nerally valid and thus becomes incomprehensible deep and getting them to bear fruit-the farmers of the spirit. a?d ImpractIcal. Very rarely does a higher nature retain suffi­ But eventually all land is exploited, and the ploughshare of CIent reason for understanding and treating everyday people as evil must come again and again. ~uch; for the most part, this type assumes that its own passion Nowadays there is a profoundly erroneous moral doctrine IS present but kept concealed in all men, and this belief even that is celebrated especially in England: this holds that judg­ ~ecomes' an ardent and eloquent faith. But when such excep­ ments of "good" and "evil" sum up experiences of what is tIonal people do not see themselves as the exception, how can "expedient" and "inexpedient." One holds that what is called they e~er understand the common type and arrive at a fair good preserves the species, while what is called evil harms the eva~uatlOn of the rule? Thus they, too, speak of the folly, inex­ species. In truth, however, the evil instincts are expedient, pedIency, and fantasies of humanity, stunned that the course of species-preserving, and indispensable to as high a degree as the the world should be so insane, and puzzled that it won't own .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Nietzsche's Revaluation of All Values Joseph Anthony Kranak Marquette University
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Nietzsche's Revaluation of All Values Joseph Anthony Kranak Marquette University Recommended Citation Kranak, Joseph Anthony, "Nietzsche's Revaluation of All Values" (2014). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 415. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/415 NIETZSCHE’S REVALUATION OF ALL VALUES by Joseph Kranak A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin December 2014 ABSTRACT NIETZSCHE’S REVALUTION OF ALL VALUES Joseph Kranak Marquette University, 2014 This dissertation looks at the details of Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the revaluation of all values. The dissertation will look at the idea in several ways to elucidate the depth and complexity of the idea. First, it will be looked at through its evolution, as it began as an idea early in Nietzsche’s career and reached its full complexity at the end of his career with the planned publication of his Revaluation of All Values, just before the onset of his madness. Several questions will be explored: What is the nature of the revaluator who is supposed to be instrumental in the process of revaluation? What will the values after the revaluation be like (a rebirth of ancient values or creation of entirely new values)? What will be the scope of the revaluation? And what is the relation of other major ideas of Nietzsche’s (will to power, eternal return, overman, and amor fati) to the revaluation? Different answers to these questions will be explored.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gay Science
    THE GAY SCIENCE ....... with a prelude in rhymes and an appendix of songs Friedrich Nietzsche Translated, with Commentary, by WALTER KAUFMANN v1NTAGE BOOKS A Division of Random House NEW YORK VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, March 1974 Copyright© 1974 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canda Limited, Toronto. Originally published by Random House, Inc., in 1974. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900. The gay science. 'This translation is based on the second edition of Die jrohliche Wissenschajt, published in 1887." 1. Philosophy. 2. Man. 3. Religion-Philosophy. 4. Power (Philosophy) 5. Ethics. l. Kaufmann, Walter Arnold, tr. II. Title. [B331.3.F72E5 1974b] 193 ISBN 0-394-71985-9 Manufactured in the United States of America 9C8 BOOK THREE 181 homesick for the land a~ if it had offered more freedom-and there is no longer any "land.,. 125 The madman.- Have you not heard of that madman who Iit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!" -As many of those who did not believe in . God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated?-Thus they yelled and laughed. The madman jo;nped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes.
    [Show full text]
  • 03. Nietzsche's Works.Pdf
    Nietzsche & Asian Philosophy Nietzsche’s Works Main Published Works in Chronological Order with Bibliography of English Translations Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik (The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music) (1872) The Birth of Tragedy. Translated by Walter Kaufmann. Published with The Case of Wagner. New York: Vintage, 1966. The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings. Translated by Ronald Speirs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen (Untimely Meditations, Untimely Reflections, Thoughts Out of Season) I. David Strauss, der Bekenner und der Schriftsteller (David Strauss, The Confessor and the Writer) (1873) II. Vom Nützen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben (On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life) (1874) III. Schopenhauer als Erzieher (Schopenhauer as Educator) (1874) IV. Richard Wagner in Bayreuth (1876) Untimely Meditations. Translated by R.J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Menschliches, Allzumenschliches: ein Buch für freie Geister (Human, All Too Human, a Book for Free Spirits) (1878) Human, All Too Human. Translated by R.J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Two Sequels to Human, All Too Human: Vermischte Meinungen und Sprüche (Assorted Opinions and Sayings) (1879) Der Wanderer und sein Schatten (The Wanderer and his Shadow) (1880) Human, All Too Human II. Translated by R.J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Die Morgenröte: Gedanken über die moralischen Vorurteile (The Dawn, Daybreak, Sunrise: Thoughts on Moral Prejudices) (1881) Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality. Translated by R.J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science, The Joyful Wisdom, The Joyful Science) (Books I- IV 1882) (Book V 1887) The Gay Science.
    [Show full text]
  • The Feminine Value in Nietzsche Echo, Baubo and Ariadne
    The Feminine Value In Nietzsche Echo, Baubo and Ariadne By Sarah Nichole Patterson A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Political Science Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario Canada © Sarah Nichole Patterson, 2005 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 0-494-13419-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 0-494-13419-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce,Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve,sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet,distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform,et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzsche's “Gay” Science
    Fordham University Masthead Logo DigitalResearch@Fordham Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Philosophy Collections 2006 Nietzsche’s “Gay” Science Babette Babich Fordham University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://fordham.bepress.com/phil_babich Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, Esthetics Commons, German Language and Literature Commons, Medieval History Commons, Musicology Commons, Other French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons, Philosophy of Science Commons, and the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Babich, Babette, "Nietzsche’s “Gay” Science" (2006). Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections. 18. https://fordham.bepress.com/phil_babich/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at DigitalResearch@Fordham. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections by an authorized administrator of DigitalResearch@Fordham. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Companion to Nietzsche Edited by Keith Ansell Pearson Copyright © 2006nietzsche by Blackwell’s “gay Publishing” science Ltd 6 Nietzsche’s “Gay” Science BABETTE E. BABICH Nietzsche’s conception of a gay science is alluringly seductive, comic, and light – and accordingly many readers have celebrated it as the art of laughter. And, to be sure, the first edition of The Gay Science began with a teasing series of light, joking rhymes.1 Taking this teasing further, the 1887 title page replaces the 1882 epigraph from Emerson with a gently unserious rhyme, adding a fifth book and finishing it off with an additional cycle of songs – Songs of Prince Vogelfrei2 – invoking at once the knightly as well as the chastely3 erotic character of the troubadour (and recurring in the arch allusions of Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo).
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzscheâ•Žs Death of God and the Slave-Revolt in Morality
    Winthrop University Digital Commons @ Winthrop University Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE) SOURCE 2020 Apr 24th, 12:00 AM Nietzsche’s Death of God and the Slave-Revolt in Morality Ryan Haarer Winthrop University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/source Part of the Philosophy Commons Haarer, Ryan, "Nietzsche’s Death of God and the Slave-Revolt in Morality" (2020). Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE). 104. https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/source/SOURCE_2020/allpresentationsandperformances/104 This Oral Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences and Events at Digital Commons @ Winthrop University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE) by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Winthrop University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ryan Haarer God’s Death and The Slave-Revolt in Morality PHIL-495 November 16th, 2019 2 ABSTRACT: None of Nietzsche’s theses stand out quite as much as his death of God thesis. An argument can be made that the death of God is the result of changes that the slave-revolt within morality bring about. Drawing on the observations that Nietzsche and scholars of Nietzsche have made regarding the equations made between the slaves and Christians, it is plausible that certain activities engaged in by the slaves and the Christians eventually lead to the disbelief, or death, in God. Primary focus of this essay will be given to the truth-seeking and the desire for progress that the slaves, or Christians, have.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is the Weight of the Greatest Weight
    Future Past: The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Eternity Babette Babich Abstract: The first version of The Gay Science was published in 1882 and the aphorism that concludes this book also serves for Nietzsche as incipit for his next book: Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None. This essay looks at the notion of eternal recurrence, which Nietzsche also happens to introduce at the end of Book Four of The Gay Science, and this notion connects The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, two books, both of which were designedly, so I shall argue, initially published in unfinished versions. Indeed and because Thus Spoke Zarathustra was published in several unfinished versions the scholars’ habit of citing the books of Zarathustra corresponds not to individual ‘parts’ but separate books, published seriatim. Thus the first Zarathustra book is published as Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ein Buch für Alle und Keinen with E. Schmeitzner in Chemnitz in 1883. How his shadow stands even now behind everyone, as his dark fellow traveler. (GS IV: §281) If you believed more in life, you would devote yourselves to the moment. (Z I: Of the Preachers of Death) The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Endings and Beginnings The first version of The Gay Science was published in 1882 and the aphorism that concludes this book also serves for Nietzsche as incipit for his next book: Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None. This essay looks at the notion of eternal recurrence, which Nietzsche also happens to introduce at the end of Book Four of The Gay Science, and this notion connects The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, two books, both of which were designedly, so I shall argue, initially published in unfinished versions.
    [Show full text]
  • Nietzsche on Freedom L
    NIETZSCHE ON FREEDOM L. Nathan Oaklander The University 0/Michigan-Flint In attempting to understand the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche one is immediately faced with the task of resolving the prima /acie inconsistencies in his views on freedom. On the one hand, Nietzsche claims that we do not have freedom of will and that, consequently, we are not accountable for our actions. The following passage is representative of many: The history of the moral sensations is the history ofan error, the error of accountability, which rests on the error offreedom ofwill. ( ) No one is accountable for his deed, no one for his nature; tojudge is the same thing as to be unjust. This applies when the individual judges hirnself. The proposition is as clear as daylight, and yet here everyone prefers to retreat back into the shadows and untruth: from fear of the consequences.! On the other hand, Nietzsche emphasizes that the significance of the death of God is that it frees us into an open sea in which an infinite number of choices lie before uso He says, We philosophers and 'free spirits' in fact feel at the news that the 'old God is dead' as if illuminated by a new dawn; our heart overflows with gratitude, astonishment, presentiment, expectation-at last the horizon seems to us again free, ....2 Furthermore, his characterization of freedom in The Twilight 0/ the Idols suggests that the will is free; that freedom is a realizable possibility. He asks: For what is freedom? That one has the will to self-responsibility. Freedom means that the manly instincts ..
    [Show full text]
  • Curry-Become Who You
    Become Who You Are: Vonnegut and Nietzsche on Becoming, Affirmation, and the Importance of Art Nick Curry Introduction Friedrich Nietzsche and Kurt Vonnegut are confrontational. Through their writing, they speak to me. They speak to me in a way that I’m not accustomed to being spoken to through the written word. As I read, I hear their laughter, see their mischievous smiles, and sense their pleasure at getting a rise out of me through their fables and hyperbole and one-liners. They are pleased with their outrageousness, glad to have achieved their goal of provoking me. And just as my image of them is more full than the image of most writers I’ve read, their image of me is likewise complex. They address a me that is often hidden, even from myself: the me that inhabits a realm spinning with chaos, the me that wonders where all this crap came from, the me that questions how I should live my life. To that end, I’d like to explore two issues that are central to both writers’ work—in shorthand, becoming and affirmation—specifically as they relate to both Nietzsche’s and Vonnegut’s views on the role of art in our lives. By becoming, I mean something like development or flourishing, the activity of making something of ourselves in the face of the inevitable difficulties that will arise. Our lives are a series of moments, some flowing smoothly together, some utterly random and confounding. Our day-to-day experience, in other words, is often the experience of chaos.
    [Show full text]
  • On Woman and Nihilism in Nietzsche
    Engendering the Overman: On Woman and Nihilism in Nietzsche Jacqueline Boulding Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A. degree in Philosophy with a specialization in Women’s Studies Department of Philosophy Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa Unceded Algonquin Territory 2017 © Jacqueline Boulding, Ottawa, Canada, 2018 ii Abstract This thesis examines the role of woman within Nietzsche’s late-middle period, through The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, as well as interrogating the more social or political elements of nihilism, in order to conceptualize a novel reading of Nietzsche’s figure of the Overman. The motivation for this project is to create an understanding of the Overman that stands in stark contrast to those interpretations of Nietzsche advanced and deployed by those on the far-right of the political spectrum, who historically have used Nietzsche’s ideas to justify acts of cruelty and violence through an appeal to preservation of the self and of the same. I begin with the idea that woman is representative of truth for Nietzsche through her embodiment of difference, both internal to herself and within her relationship to man. This view of woman within the thesis is led by the work of Luce Irigaray in her work Marine Lover of Friedrich Nietzsche, and a reading of her work alongside Nietzsche’s Gay Science comprise the first chapter. In the second chapter, I chart different typologies of nihilism as advanced by Gilles Deleuze and Alenka Zupančič in order to probe their status as “universal”.
    [Show full text]
  • European Nihilism’
    European Review http://journals.cambridge.org/ERW Additional services for European Review: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here On Nietzsche’s Concept of ‘European Nihilism’ Ruth Burch European Review / Volume 22 / Issue 02 / May 2014, pp 196 - 208 DOI: 10.1017/S1062798714000040, Published online: 13 May 2014 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S1062798714000040 How to cite this article: Ruth Burch (2014). On Nietzsche’s Concept of ‘European Nihilism’ . European Review, 22, pp 196-208 doi:10.1017/S1062798714000040 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/ERW, IP address: 92.104.113.28 on 28 May 2014 European Review, Vol. 22, No. 2, 196–208 © 2014 Academia Europæa doi:10.1017/S1062798714000040 On Nietzsche’s Concept of ‘European Nihilism’ RUTH BURCH Via Boggia 8, CH–6900 Lugano-Paradiso, Switzerland. E-mail: burchru@hotmail. com In Nietzsche, ‘European nihilism’ has at its core valuelessness, meaninglessness and senselessness. This article argues that Nietzsche is not replacing God with the nothing, but rather that he regards ‘European nihilism’ as an ‘in-between state’ that is necessary for getting beyond Christian morality. An important characteristic of a Nietzschean philosopher is his ‘will to responsibility’. One of his responsibilities consists of the creation of the values and the concepts that are needed in order to overcome the intermediate state of nihilism. For prevailing over nihilism in science, Nietzsche suggests drawing on philosophy for the creation of values and drawing on art in order to create beautiful surfaces that are based on these values.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Cheerfulness in Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by LEKYTHOS THE 13th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ISSEI International Society for the Study of European Ideas in cooperation with the University of Cyprus On Nietzsche’s Concept of ‘European Nihilism’ Ruth Burch (PhD in Philosophy, Warwick University) Via Boggia 10 CH-6900 Lugano-Paradiso, Ticino Switzerland Email: [email protected] In Nietzsche’s view, the traditional scientists and philosophical moralists are ultimately unstoppably attracted to nihilism. That is why, in The Gay Science, Nietzsche associates himself with the affirmative, self-loving, joyous, fearless, and sharp-eyed eagle which embraces the future courageously and creatively and which he opposes to the ‘hootootoot’ of the owl which sadly and powerlessly laments the lost past: the ‘it was’.1 Consequently, his new post-nihilistic self, the free spirit, wants to become as uninfluenced as possible by the sterile ‘virtuous monsters and scarecrows’ whose bodies are sick and whose spirit has become weak by the unchecked pursuit of their ‘will to truth’.2 In section 125 of The Gay Science, Nietzsche tells us for the first time his famous parable of the madman who announces man’s murder of god with the words ‘god is 3 dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him’. The madman/‘der tolle Mensch’ (whom Nietzsche identifies in a note with Zarathustra) evaluates god’s death as the greatest deed ever because it is the precondition for ‘a higher history than all history hitherto’.4 However, according to Nietzsche, to get out of the ‘shadow’ of god and to develop a faith and an ethics which is not connected with or justified by god requires a long and troublesome process.5 Yet due to the inherent self-destructiveness of Christian beliefs, the Christians themselves ironically contribute to this process.
    [Show full text]