Nietzsche's Stoicism: The Depths Are Inside

Summary

For as wood is the material of the carpenter, bronze that of the statuary, just so each man's life is the subject-matter of the art of living.

(Epictetus)

In explicitly referring to his philosophy as eine Kunst des Lebens, Nietzsche aligns himself with the great Hellenistic tradition of Stoicism. Of course, there are crucial differences. Nietzsche will offer a view of “nature” that is violently opposed to traditional Stoic doctrine. He will offer a very different estimation of the value of suffering. Finally, Nietzsche will adopt and transform one of the most significant consequences emerging from his genealogy of morality. Nietzsche uncovers an “interiority” that will lead him to rewrite the Stoic formula of “live according to nature” into the new language of the will to power.

Nietzsche and Epictetus

Before inquiring into Nietzsche's transformation of Stoicism, let us note some important affinities between Nietzsche and Stoic thought. In doing so, we will focus our attention on Nietzsche's relationship to Epictetus for three reasons. First, there is evidence that Nietzsche read Epictetus with some care. Second, Epictetus's cosmology and view of human reason provide clear statements of a theory of the human will and its relationship to the world that Nietzsche explicitly criticizes. Finally, Epictetus's view of suffering offers a decisive point of contrast to the internalization of the human will identified in Nietzsche's genealogical account of guilt, suffering, and bad conscience.