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University of Southampton Research Repository University of Southampton Research Repository Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis and, where applicable, any accompanying data are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis and the accompanying data cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content of the thesis and accompanying research data (where applicable) must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder/s. When referring to this thesis and any accompanying data, full bibliographic details must be given, e.g. Thesis: Author (Year of Submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University Faculty or School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Data: Author (Year) Title. URI [dataset] University of Southampton Faculty of Humanities Philosophy The Drives and Affects in Nietzsche’s Accounts of Knowledge, Freedom, and Affirmation by Charles Campbell Boddicker https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4873-6394 Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2019 University of Southampton Abstract Faculty of Humanities Philosophy Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Drives and Affects in Nietzsche’s Accounts of Knowledge, Freedom, and Affirmation by Charles Campbell Boddicker In this thesis I give accounts of the drives and affects in Nietzsche’s work and use them to give further accounts of three main topics in Nietzsche’s positive philosophy: knowledge, freedom, and affirmation. In the first two chapters I give accounts of the drives and affects respectively. I argue that the affects play a prominent role in Nietzsche’s work because of their connection to what he thinks it means to value something. I argue that, for Nietzsche, valuing x involves having a positive affective orientation toward x induced by one’s strongest drives. In chapter 3 I give an account of Nietzsche’s perspectivism. I argue that it consists of two main claims, one descriptive and one prescriptive. The descriptive claim is that knowledge is guided shaped by the affects. The prescriptive claim is that knowledge can be enhanced by using the affects. I chapter 4 I outline Nietzsche’s three-pronged attack on what he deems an absurd conception of freedom. I then give an account of Nietzsche’s positive conception of freedom. I argue that Nietzschean freedom is a kind of self-determination, it involves being determined by values that are suited to the conditions of one’s flourishing. In chapter 5 I argue that affirmation is primarily an unreflective process that involves willing power in a way that enhances life. Nietzsche claims that the essence of life is the will to power. Thus, I argue that affirming life just is willing power in a way that brings about the enhancement, expansion, and increased complexity of the will to power itself. In chapter 6 I look at one particular affect, gaiety, of the kind expressed by what Nietzsche calls “higher laughter” and look at the role it plays in the three main topics of the thesis. I have two goals in the chapter. The first is to illuminate the nature of one particularly important affect in Nietzsche’s i positive thought. The second is to use that affect to draw out some important interrelationships between affirmation, freedom, and knowledge. Finally, in the conclusion, I look at Nietzsche’s style. One important aspect of Nietzsche’s style is that it is affectively engaged and designed to elicit an emotional reaction in its audience. I examine one particular aspect of Nietzsche’s emotive style, namely, his use of humour. I show how Nietzsche uses humour to two main ends. Firstly, it plays a role in Nietzsche’s ad hominem attacks on philosophers, religions, and traditional morality. Secondly, he uses humour to foster the intimacy of a shared sense of community. Humour is one of the ways in which Nietzsche uses his style to find the appropriate readers for his works. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................................... iii Research Thesis: Declaration of Authorship ....................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ vi Abbreviations of Nietzsche’s Works ................................................................................................. vii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE DRIVES .............................................................................................................. 13 1.1 Introduction to the Drives and Two “Homuncular Fallacies” ................................... 13 1.2 The Homuncular Interpretation ................................................................................ 16 1.3 The Dispositional Interpretation ............................................................................... 21 1.4 A Nietzschean Dispositional Account ........................................................................ 26 1.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER TWO: A NIETZSCHEAN ACCOUNT OF VALUING ................................................................ 33 2.1 The Drives.................................................................................................................. 34 2.2 The Affects ................................................................................................................ 35 2.3 Katsafanas’ Account of Nietzschean Valuing ............................................................ 36 2.4 A New Account of Nietzschean Valuing .................................................................... 43 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 49 CHAPTER THREE: KNOWLEDGE (ERKENNTNISS) AND AFFECT .......................................................... 51 3.1 Reading GM III 12: Gemes and Anderson ................................................................. 52 3.2 Nietzsche’s Target in GM III 12: Schopenhauerian Objectivity ................................. 56 3.3 What is a Perspective? .............................................................................................. 57 3.4 What is “Perspectivism”? .......................................................................................... 60 3.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 70 CHAPTER FOUR: FREEDOM AND AFFECT .......................................................................................... 71 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 71 4.2 Part One: The Negative Project................................................................................. 73 4.2.1 First Prong: The Incoherence of Free Will ............................................................. 73 4.2.2 Second Prong: Psychological Diagnoses ............................................................... 76 4.2.3 Third Prong: Why We Feel as If We Have Superlative Metaphysical Freedom .... 77 4.3 Part Two: The Positive Project .................................................................................. 80 4.3.1 Free Persons v. Free Actions ................................................................................. 82 iii 4.3.2 Freedom as Self-Determination ........................................................................... 82 4.3.3 Self-Artistry as Genuine Self-Determination ......................................................... 86 4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 91 CHAPTER FIVE: NIETZSCHE ON THE AFFIRMATION OF LIFE ............................................................. 93 5.1 Theories of Affirmation: Reflective and Unreflective ............................................... 94 5.2 Nietzsche on the Concept of “Life” .......................................................................... 98 5.3 Schopenhauer on the Affirmation and Negation of the Will.................................. 100 5.4 Nietzsche on Affirmation and Negation ................................................................. 104 5.5 Obstacles to Affirmation: Why Affirmation is an Achievement ............................. 111 5.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 116 CHAPTER SIX: LAUGHTER, A CASE STUDY ....................................................................................... 119 6.1 Higher Laughter and Laughter in General .............................................................. 119 6.2 Laughter and Affirmation ....................................................................................... 122 6.3 Laughter and Freedom ........................................................................................... 129 6.4 Laughter and Enquiry
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