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Ethics and Aesthetics of Non-Duality: Responses to Nihilism from Nietzsche to Camus Adrian Edward Moore

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Ethics and Aesthetics of Non-Duality: Responses to Nihilism from Nietzsche to Camus Adrian Edward Moore ! Ethics and Aesthetics of Non-duality: Responses to Nihilism from Nietzsche to Camus Adrian Edward Moore A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2019 School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry !i Abstract The early 21st Century has represented a significant break in the norms of traditional notions of value and security in highly industrially developed societies: A rapid move has occurred from the likes of Frances Fukuyama’s 1992 manifesto of the triumphs of liberal democracy to the sudden resurgence of political, religious and cultural conflicts within and across nation states. This thesis will focus on two key philosophers who wrote on the role of nihilism in political and cultural decline, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and Albert Camus (1913-1960). The discussion will frame the position of these thinkers as seeking to engage with an aesthetic response to this ethico-political crisis, drawn from the ‘theatrical’ metaphysics of Hellenic, and to a lesser extent, Indian and Chinese philosophies from the Classical world. The core of this aesthetic response is the metaphysical position of non- duality, a conscious perspective which regards the substantive components of experience (for example, mind/matter, self/other, reason/emotion, nature/culture and so on) to be syncretic relationships rather than exclusive dichotomies. Reflecting the emphasis that both Nietzsche and Camus placed on the theatre as a model for exploring their own philosophical visions, the thesis has been divided into three acts. The first act will cover Nietzsche’s ‘diagnostic’ approach to nihilism and tragedy, with the second and third acts focussing on Camus’ approach first to philosophical meaning, and then to living within nihilism. Initially, the study engages primarily with Kaufmann’s interpretation of Nietzsche’s works (1974), and further engages with modern scholarship, including Melanie Shepherd’s study of the Eternal Recurrence (2011), André Van Der Braak on the relation between Nietzsche and Japanese ‘physiological Buddhism’ (2009), and Thomas Brobjer’s meta-analysis of Nietzsche’s lifelong engagement with Eastern thought (2004). Drawing on these influences, as well as the impact of Schopenhauer’s Buddhism, the first section considers the aspect of non-duality in the physiological and cosmological structures of Nietzsche's thought, particularly in terms of tragedy, affirmation !ii and the Eternal Recurrence. The first section briefly considers the artistic movements that immediately followed Nietzsche’s death, the modernist avant-garde, as having employed aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophy, but in reverting to dualistic and absolutist ideals, came to further the advent of nihilism in Europe rather than avert it. Camus’ work has enjoyed something of a renaissance in contemporary scholarship ,with the recent flourishing of works including Mathew Sharpe’s book Camus, Philosophe? (2015), Ashley Woodward’s Camus and Nihilism (2011), Elizabeth Ann Bartlett’s Rebellious Feminism (2009), Richard Kamber’s On Camus (2002), and Stephen Bronner's Camus, Portrait of a Moralist (1999), among others. This thesis draws on those studies and others to engage with Camus’ development of a non-dual perspective of the value of nihilism. My interpretation begins with Camus’ early studies, including his baccalaureate, on the transition from Hellenism to a Christian Europe and will draw further on Camus’ Taoist and Hindu inspired mentor, Jean Grenier. The study will then explore the environmental foundations of being in Camus’ description of ‘Mediterraneanism’, concretising the role of the lifeworld in philosophy. The final chapter of Act Two will close with a discussion of Camus’ exploration of performativity in embodied being, the meeting of his understanding of spirituality and the setting of existence. Act three will move to the area of Camus’ work that is most mired in controversy, his role in the political landscape of wartime Europe and the brutal Algerian war of independence. Drawing on the history of his engagement with Communist and Anarchist organisations, the thesis will present Camus’ stance of neutrality in the Algerian war not as an implicit promotion of colonial power, but rather as an expression of solidarity with all who were subjected to the violence of poverty and silence under colonial rule. His advocacy of allowing the French to remain in Algeria will be seen in terms of the necessary importance of cosmopolitan difference in the political landscape, and an acknowledgement of the inherent violence of expelling populations on the grounds of ethnicity in any !iii circumstances. The final chapter will view the ethic of mesure and perpetual rebellion as an expression of a non-dual anarchism, divorced from the Hegelian politics of linear progress. The thesis as a whole aims to demonstrate the centralisation of the body and a related aesthetic attitude of engagement with traditional ‘negations’ across a generational shift in philosophy to model a non-dual ‘good’ or ‘democratic’ nihilism with which to counter the contradictions of modern political life. !iv Declaration by author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, financial support and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my higher degree by research candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis and have sought permission from co-authors for any jointly authored works included in the thesis. !v Publications included in this thesis No publications included. Submitted manuscripts included in this thesis No manuscripts submitted for publication. Other publications during candidature Moore, A. ‘Dissolving the Consciousness in Satori: Merleau-Ponty and the Phenomenology of Suzuki’s Embodied Buddhism’ in Parrhesia 30 (2019): 103-119. Contributions by others to the thesis No contributions by others. Statement of parts of the thesis submitted to qualify for the award of another degree No works submitted towards another degree have been included in this thesis. Research Involving Human or Animal Subjects No animal or human subjects were involved in this research. !vi Acknowledgements My primary supervisor, Associate Professor Marguerite La Caze, who has been a mentor throughout my post-graduate study. My associate supervisor, Dr Gil Burgh, who provoked my move into political philosophy. My unofficial shadow supervisor, Dr Michelle Boulous Walker, for her insightful interventions. My colleagues in teaching and research, Dr Renee England, Dr Liam Miller, Elese Dowden, Simone Thornton, Sameema Zahra, Grace Therese, Emma Black, Nathan Pickles, Riccardo Carli and Toby Tan de Souza. My anarchist comrade and anthropological liaison, Stuart Russell. My mother, for all the obvious reasons. And finally, my dear companion, Sarah Rasmussen, who has pretended to be interested in a great deal more than she should have had to, and whose love has sustained me to the last word. !vii Financial support This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship Keywords nihilism, embodiment, non-dualism, anarchism, value theory, ethics, tragedy Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC) ANZSRC code: 220319, Social Philosophy, 60% ANZSRC code: 220305, Ethical Theory, 20% ANZSRC code: 220316, Philosophy of Specific Cultures (inc. Comparative Philosophy), 20% Fields of Research (FoR) Classification FoR code: 2203, Philosophy, 80% FoR code: 2201, Applied Ethics, 20% !viii Prologue: Hegemony and the ‘End of History’ 1 Act 1: The Rise of European Nihilism 10 Chapter 1: The Transcendental Ego and the Diagnosis of Nihilism Meaning and Value in the Modern Subject 11 The Inherent Limitations of Perspective and Knowledge 17 The Coming Age of Nihilism 20 Conclusion: Nietzsche as Cultural Psychologist 25 Chapter 2: The non-dual in Nietzsche’s Pharmakon. Living Symbol in Olympian Aesthetics 28 Tragedy and Pessimism 32 Eastern thought and Nietzsche’s Eternal Return 36 Ascesis and nihilism: will denial, or bodily discipline of the will? 38 Eternal Recurrence: Non-duality in Time and Self 42 Conclusion: Nietzsche’s Legacy 45 Chapter 3: False Prophets
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