UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The collapse of transcendence in Nietzsche's Middle Period / Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/98r9n1c0 Author Sachs, Carl Beck Publication Date 2005 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The Collapse of Transcendence in Nietzsche’s Middle Period A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy by Carl Beck Sachs Committee in char ge: Professor Donald Rutherford, Chair Professor Michael Hardimon Professor Wayne Martin Professor Wm Ar ctander O’Brien Professor Tracy B. Strong 2005 The dissertation of Carl Beck Sachs is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publi cation on microfilm: Chair University of California, San Diego 2005 ii DEDICATION To the memory of Charles F. Beck, my Dionysian grandfather and Benjamin Sachs, my Apollonian grandfather iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page………………………………………………………………….……...ii Dedication…………………………………………………………………….…...…..iii Table of Co ntents………………………………..……………………………….…....iv List of Abbreviatio ns……………………………………………………….……….....v Acknowledgements……………………………………………………….…………..vii Curriculum Vitae……………………………………………………..…………….....ix Abstract of the Diss ertation…………………………………………………….……..xi Chapter 1: The Free Spirit: Contexts and Texts…………………………………......... 1 1.1: Situating Nie tzsche……………………………………………...…………… 2 1.2: The Collapse of Tra nscendence……………………………………………...11 1.3: “The Imag e and Ideal of the Free Spirit”…………………………………….18 Chapter 2: From Naturalism to Nihilism in Human, All -too-Human ………………...26 2.1: Versions of Posi tivism, Varieties of Naturalism…………………………….29 2.2: HAH : The Critique of Theoretical Philosophy………………………………41 2.3: HAH : The Critique of Practical Philosophy…………………………………55 2.4: The Birth of Nihilism Out of the Spirit of Naturalism?...................................71 Chapter 3: Rethinking Subjec tivity and Autonomy in Daybreak……………………85 3.1: The Structu re of Moralkritik in Daybrea k…………………………………...87 3.2: The Mate rial Conditions of Subje ctivity…………………………………...102 3.3: Morality versus Autonomy ………………………..………………………110 3.4: Morality and Maturity from Kant to Nietzsche…………………………….125 3.5: Freedom wit hout Transcendence…………………………………………...132 Chapter 4: “La gaya scienza ”: Struggle against the Shadows of God……..… …….141 4.1: Warum unsere Wissenschaft fröhlich werden mussen …………………...…143 4.2: The Death of God and the Death of Man………………………………...…160 4.3: The Material Conditions of Freedom: Nature, Science and History…… ....174 Chapter 5: What is the Free Spirit?............................................................................193 5.1: Nietzsche’s Line of Flight………………………………………………......194 5.2: What is the Free Spirit? …………………………………………….……...199 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………204 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS For Nietzsche in German I have used Sämtliche Werke. Kritische Studienausgabe in 15 Bänden (E d. Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Mo ntinari. Be rlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980) and Sämtliche briefe : kritische Studienausgabe in 8 Bänden (Ed. Giorgio Colli und Mazzino Montinari . München : Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag; Berlin ; New York: W. de Gruyter, 1986). For Nietzsche in English, I have relied on the following translations and used the following abbreviations. I have modified the translations where noted. BGE Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future Trans. Judith Norman; ed. Rolf -Peter Horstman and Judith Norman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. D Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality. Trans. R. J. Hollingdale; ed. Maudemarie Clark and Brian Leiter. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997 EH Ecce Homo . Trans. Walter Kauf mann, in Basic Writings of Nietzsche, pp. 665-791. New York: The Modern Library. HAH Human, All -too-Human: A Book for Free Spirits . Trans. R. J. Hollingdale; introduction by Richard Schacht. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996 GM On the Genealogy of Morality . Trans. and introduction by Maudemarie Clark and Alan Swensen. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1998 PTG Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks . Trans. and introduction by Marianne Cowan. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Gateway, 1962. BT The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. Ronald Speirs; edited Raymond Geuss and Ronald Speirs. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. GS The Gay Science. With a Preface in German Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs. Trans. Jose fine Nauckhoff; ed. Bernard Williams. Poems translated by Adrian del Caro. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. WP The Will to Power . Trans. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale; ed. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage Books, 1967. v TSZ Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Viking Penguin, 1966. TL “Truth and Lie in an Extra -Moral Sense” in Philosophy and Truth: Selections from Nietzsche’s Notebooks of the Early 1870’s . Ed. and tra ns. Daniel Breazeale. Amhearst: Humanity Books, 1999. TI Twilight of the Idols . Trans. Richard Polt; introduction by Tracy Strong. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997 For Kant I have cited according to the volume and page number of Kants gesammelte Schiften (Preussiche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin), as given in the margins of the English editions I used. The Critique of Pure Reason is cited according to convention by providing the page numbers from the “A” and “B” editions. CPrR Critique of Practical Reason. trans. Mary Gregor. New Yorlk: Cambridge University Press, 1997. CPR Critique of Pure Reason. trans. Paul Guyer and Allen Wood. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. CJ Critique of the Power of Judgment. Trans. Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. GMM Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals . trans. Mary Gregor. New York: Cambridge University Press , 1997 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In sculpture, it has been sa id, all one need do is remove everything from the marble that does not resemble the intended object. In writing, the process is complicated by the fact that one is responsible for producing, in addition to the finished product, the raw material from whic h the finished product is hewn. In both phases of the process —which were not nearly as separate as the above metaphor implies —I owe significant debts. Firstly, thanks are due to my committee chair, Donald Rutherford, for his extensive advice and guidance in both phases, ranging from our discussions of Nietzsche’s intellectual develo pment to his patient correction of my split infinitives. Also, thanks to other members of my doctoral committee —Michael Hardimon, Wayne Martin, Wm. Arctander O’Brien, and Tra cy Strong —for their frequent ad vice and assistance along the way. I chose UCSD over other departments because I believed that at UCSD I would acquire a solid background in traditional “analytic” philosophy, yet that I would also be encouraged to cultivat e my interests in “Continental” philosophy. My experiences of the past eight years have justified that belief. I am especially grateful to Professor Strong for his extensive comments on an earlier draft of the dissertation, and to Professor O’Brien for our many conversations as to whether or not one can be a Nietzschean liberal democrat. Thanks of a different sort are owed to graduate students of the Department of Philosophy at UCSD, past and present. Of them, I would particularly like to thank vii Professor Iain Thompson (University of New Mexico), Professor P.D. Magnus (SUNY -Albany), Professor Ryan Hickerson (University of Western Oregon), Professor Evan Tiffany (Simon Fraser), Aaron Schiller, and Greg Charak, for our many conversations over the years. Thanks to Dr. David S. Lel and, who helped influence my decision to attend UCSD, for invaluable assistance in preparing the finished dissertation for submission to GSR. The difficulties I have faced in sustaining and completing a project of this magnitu de would have been greatly multiplied if not for the support and encouragement of family and friends. I would therefore like to thank my parents, Donald H. Sachs and Kathie Beck Sachs; my friends David Groppe and J. R. Osborn; and my partner , Natasha Vayn er , who has helped me to stand when I have stumbled. viii CURRICULUM VITAE Areas of Specialization Nineteenth -Century Philosophy, Continental Philosophy Areas of Competence History of Modern Philosophy, Ethics, Epistemology, Humanities Education University of California, San Diego Department of Philosophy 2005 Ph.D. 2000 M.A. Oberlin College Department of Biology 1996 B.A. Dissertation “The Collapse of Transcendence in Nietzsche’s Middle Period” Committee: Donald Ruthe rford (chair), Wayne Martin, Michael Hardimon, Tracy Strong (political science), Wm. Arctander O’Brien (literature) Papers and Symposia “Sub specie Spinozae: The Spinoza -Nietzsche Connection” 2002 Berkeley -Stanford Graduate Conference “The Genes is of Genealogy in Nietzsche’s Early Works” 2001 Berkeley -Stanford Graduate Conference Honors and Awards Dissertation Fellowship, Department of Philosophy, UC San Diego, 2002 Predoctoral Humanities Fellowship, UC San Diego, 1997-2003 Employment 2005 (spring) Lecturer, Philosophy, UCSD 2004 (fall) Lecturer, Philosophy, University of San Diego ix 2003-2004 Section Instructor, Revelle Humanities Program, UCSD 2003 (fall) Teaching Assistant, Dept. Philosophy, UCSD 2002 (spring) Teaching As sis