An Originary Analysis of Friedrich Nietzsche in Light of Generative Anthropology
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AN ORIGINARY ANALYSIS OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE IN LIGHT OF GENERATIVE ANTHROPOLOGY by KIERAN PATRICK STEWART, B.A. (Hons) DISSERTATION presented to the faculty of Western Sydney University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY, 2018 For Dad Acknowledgements I wish to thank Associate Professor Chris Fleming for his patience, wisdom, suggestions, intimidating intelligence, understanding, implacable humour, as well as the personal and professional time he has given me over the last six years—he has been an unforgettable mentor, teacher, and human. I thank Associate Professor Diego Bubbio for his kind generosity and unquestionable expertise in matters relating to Nietzsche’s work as well as matters concerning continental philosophy in general. I also wish to thank Dr. John O’Carroll for the many conversations he and I have had about his anthropological insights on the work of Gans, Girard, and Nietzsche, particularly in relation to what we might think the eternal recurrence actually “means” in relation to each of our own very “all-too-human” endeavours. Without the combined professional and personal guidance of Professor Fleming, Professor Bubbio, and Dr. O’Carroll, I know this thesis would have never left the ground. I thank all the members of the Generative Anthropology Society Conference, including Distinguished Professor Eric Gans, and the support many others have given me. Lastly, I wish to thank my family for their patience and unwavering support throughout the long journey that is a PhD, especially my mother, Cheryl, my partner, Courtney, and my two little ones, James and Isla. January 2018 Professional Editorial Assistance I acknowledge the professional editorial assistance provided by Christopher Brennan, STB, AE (Accredited Editor, Institute of Professional Editors [IPEd]), according to Standards D and E of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice, by the Council of Australian Societies of Editors (2001), as revised by IPEd and approved by the Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies (Australia), 12 November 2010. Statement of Authentication The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. …………………………………………………….. (Signature) Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction to Generative Anthropology: ........................................................................................... 1 The “Originary Hypothesis” and “Originary Analysis” ................................................................. 1 What Is the Methodology of Originary Analysis? ......................................................................... 3 1. Twentieth-Century Interpretations of Nietzsche: Beyond Postmodern Thinking ..... 4 2. An Originary Analysis of Nietzsche’s Theory of Language ................................................. 6 3. Nietzsche, Girard, Gans: Master and Slave, Mimesis, and Originary Resentment ... 8 4. An Originary Analysis of the Will to Power and of Eternal Recurrence .................... 10 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1: ......................................................................................................................................................... 13 Twentieth-Century Interpretations of Friedrich Nietzsche ........................................................ 13 Heidegger’s Interpretation of Nietzsche as the Completion of Metaphysics .................. 16 Karl Löwith’s Interpretation of Nietzsche as the Philosopher of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same ......................................................................................................................... 19 The Experiment: A System in Aphorisms ..................................................................................... 20 The Unifying Fundamental Idea in Nietzsche’s Philosophy .................................................. 22 The Critical Yardstick for Nietzsche’s Experiment .................................................................. 25 Jacques Derrida: The Playfulness of Nietzsche’s “Styles” ..................................................... 27 The Metaphysics of Presence and Antithetical Values ............................................................. 29 Woman as the Untruth of Truth ........................................................................................................ 30 “I Forgot My Umbrella” ....................................................................................................................... 32 Foucault: Nietzsche as Genealogist ................................................................................................... 33 Genealogy..................................................................................................................................................... 34 Deleuze’s Interpretation of Nietzsche: The Triumph of Reactive Forces over the Active, and the Overcoming of Nihilism ......................................................................................... 39 Nietzsche as the Inversion of Kant and of the Genetic Conditions of Reality ................ 41 Active, Reactive, and the Will to Power.......................................................................................... 42 Eternal Return of Difference ............................................................................................................... 44 Klossowski’s Nietzsche: Valetudinary States and the Vicious Circle ................................ 45 i Valetudinary States and Semiotics .................................................................................................... 46 Eternal Return as a Vicious Circle ................................................................................................... 48 The Combat against Culture: Conspiracy ..................................................................................... 49 Klossowski’s Nietzsche: “Destined” for Madness....................................................................... 50 Against Origins: Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze ............................................................................... 51 A New Way to Read Nietzsche: the Work of Eric Gans .......................................................... 57 The Scenic Imagination ......................................................................................................................... 59 Gans: Nietzsche’s Scenic Utopia ........................................................................................................ 64 Chapter 2: ......................................................................................................................................................... 69 An Originary Analysis of Nietzsche’s Theory of Language ........................................................ 69 Nietzsche as Nineteenth-Century Thinker ..................................................................................... 73 The Search for the Origin of Language: Johann Herder’s “Instinct” and Gustav Gerber’s Language as Art ..................................................................................................................... 76 Nietzsche’s Notes “On the Origins of Language” (1869) ......................................................... 80 Nietzsche on Music and Language: Notes from a Lecture “On Music and Words” ... 84 The Scene Revisited ................................................................................................................................. 91 Nietzsche, Gans, and the Aesthetic ................................................................................................... 93 From Nietzsche to Gans: On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense, and Signs of Paradox ......................................................................................................................................................... 98 An Originary Analysis: On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense? ............................ 103 The Gay Science ....................................................................................................................................... 108 Signs of Paradox: Eric Gans .............................................................................................................. 114 Nietzsche’s Ideas about the Ethical in relation to Language ............................................... 116 Chapter 3: ....................................................................................................................................................... 119 Nietzsche, Girard, Gans: On the Origin of Resentment ............................................................. 119 What Is Originary Resentment? ...................................................................................................... 124 The Birth of Morals ............................................................................................................................... 128 First Essay: “‘Good and Evil,’ ‘Good and Bad’” ....................................................................