Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:26:55.962Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 8 - Nietzsche’s Philosophical Naturalism

from Part III - The Method of Philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2019

Paul S. Loeb
Affiliation:
University of Puget Sound, Washington
Matthew Meyer
Affiliation:
University of Scranton
Get access

Summary

The overarching aim of philosophy, according to Nietzsche, should be to determine values and it is this task that differentiates philosophy from scientific inquiry (BGE 211). It has been argued in the secondary literature that Nietzsche’s emphasis on the creation of values commits him to a nonrevisionary account of the natural – mechanical – sciences and a demarcation of the sphere of values from that of naturalistic causes. This paper argues that to interpret Nietzsche in this way commits him to an intractable dualism that is also evident in some contemporary efforts, outside Nietzsche studies, to reconcile naturalism and normativity. Drawing on the resources of his will-to-power thesis, it is argued that Nietzsche provides an alternative and nondualist account of how values fit into nature. This view broadens what we mean by the natural beyond the narrow perspective of the natural sciences to include within it the human evaluative point of view. It is concluded that the creation of values, for Nietzsche, does not leave the natural sciences alone, but, rather, it inverts the current hierarchy between science and philosophy (BGE 204) by subjecting the Enlightenment view of nature to challenge.

Type
Chapter
Information
Nietzsche's Metaphilosophy
The Nature, Method, and Aims of Philosophy
, pp. 146 - 164
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×