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Université de Montréal Nietzsche's Physiological Philosophy ofHistory par Lukas Soderstrom Département de Philosophie Faculté des arts et sciences Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de M.A. en philosophie option recherche décembre, 2007 © Lukas Soderstrom, 2007 RÉSUMÉ: Il existe une philosophie de l'histoire nietzschéenne qui décrit le phénomène historique. Cette philosophie de l'histoire s'articule en suivant le court de ses lectures en physiologie et en sciences évolutionnistes. Dès le début de sa carrière de philosophe, Nietzsche s'est penché sur la question de la nature de l'histoire et il a su adapter ses connaissances rudimentaires du darwinisme transmises par l'entremise de ses lectures. Cette philosophie se révèle initialement comme une réflexion sur la relation entre l'histoire, la vie et la culture. À la fm des années 1870, il se donne le projet d'une critique historique des valeurs métaphysiques et morales. Cependant, au début des années 1880, il s'affaire à des lectures qui eurent comme effet le rejet de ses espoirs précoces en les possibilités du Darwinisme. Malgré cette déception, il découvrit aussi une description originale des phénomènes physiologiques qui eut une conséquence importante pour sa philosophie de l 'histoire. En concevant l'histoire comme un corps, il rejeta l'idée que l'histoire est un être comme les autres en y opposant une conception de l 'histoire mettant l'accent sur les traits partagés avec le corps, ce qui eut comme effet de décrire l 'histoire comme un tout lié synthétiquement et constamment réinterprété. Par l'entremise de l'accumulation d'interprétations, l'histoire se développe comme un pré-texte à toute nouvelle interprétation qui pluralise le chaos du passé et oriente tout travail interprétatif Par contre, toute addition a cette structure occasionne une restructuration de celle-ci et invite à de nouvelles interprétations. Mots Clés: Nietzsche, Philosophie, Histoire, Physiologie, Darwinisme. ABSTRACT: Nietzsche developed an original understanding of history that was strongly influenced by his readings of the nascent evolutionary sciences. During his early period he integrated his rudimentary knowledge of Darwinian evolutionary science into his formaI discussion ofhistory. Initially he assimilated what knowledge he had of Darwinian sciences to his discussion of history's cultural significance. In the late 1870s he embarked on a project of tracing the origins of all moral and metaphysically conditioned values that paralleled his interest in Darwinism. But by the early 1880s, he read several works that had a profound effect of his thinking. These readings compelled him to abandon his earlier interest in the possibilities of Darwinian evolutionary history. However, he also discovered a novel understanding of physiological processes that fuelled his reworking of the ideas he had already developed. Nietzsche's philosophy of history is characterized by the rejection of the idea that history is a being. Accordingly, he asserted that history should be understood in the same way as the body, namely as an unstable synthetic whole constantly reinterpreted. Through the historical accumulation of historica1 interpretations, history develops a pre-text that not only pluralizes the chaos of the past but also beckons future interpretation. However, historical interpretation does more than respond to the cali of history but also acts as a new element within history that restructures it and invites further interpretations. Keywords: Nietzsche, Philosophy, History, Physiology, Darwinism. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER ONE: NIETZSCHE AND HISTORY ............................................... 12 PART 1: PURPOSES ................•.......•...........••..................•...........•........................... 12 1.1.1 Dysteleology ............................................................................................. 12 1.1.2 "Teleology since Kant" ........................................................................... 15 1.1.3 "On Truth and Lies in an Extramoral sense".......................................... 23 PART 2: "ON THE USES AND DISADV ANTAGES OF HISTORY FOR LIFE" .............. 28 1.2.1 The Historical Disease ............................................................................. 28 1.2.2 The Uses ofHistory......................................................................... ......... 33 1.2.3 The Historical and the Unhistorical ........................................................ 35 1.2.4 The Suprahistorical .................................................................................. 38 1.2.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER TWO: NIETZSCHE AND EVOLUTIONARY mSTORY ........... 45 PART 1: "RÉEALISM" ............................................................................................ 45 2.1.1. Historical Philosophy ............................................................................. 45 2.1.2. English Moral History ............................................................................ 47 2.1.3. Nietzsche and "Réealism" ...................................................................... 49 2.1.4. Morality as Constraint ............................................................................ 53 2.1.5. The "Strong" and the "Weak" ............................................................... 57 PART 2: "AGAINST THE ENGLISH" ........................................................................ 60 2.2.1. Herbert Spencer's The Data ofEthics ..................................................... 60 2.2.2. Moral Evolution ...................................................................................... 64 2.2.3. Utility as a Moral Interpretation ............................................................ 68 2.2.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER THREE: PHYSIOLOGY AND mSTORY...................................... 76 PART 1: PHYSIOLOGY ........................................................................................... 76 3.1.1 Inner Processes and the Milieu................................................................ 76 3.1.2 Wilhelm Roux's Der Kampfder Theile im Organismus ........................... 79 3.1.3 Nietzsche and the Importance ofPhysiology ........................................... 82 3.1.4 Nietzsche and the Inner Struggle ............................................................. 85 PART 2: HISTORY .................................................................................................. 93 3.2.1 The Nietzschean Subject........................................................................... 93 3.2.2 The Body as Metaphor ............................................................................. 99 3.2.3 History as Physiology ............................................................................ 103 3.2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 107 CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 110 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 115 Note on Translations and Abbreviations When referring to Nietzsche's posthumous notes (Nachlass), 1 have relied on the original Gennan and the French translation edited by Giogio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. When
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