Posted by kathy on December 09, 1999 at 21:41:10:
In Reply to: Beyond Good and Evil posted by Zalexa on December 02, 1999 at 04:40:11:
: . I haven't really tried to write in detail about Nietzsche since I was finishing up my philosophy degree back in the late seventies. Furthermore, when I think back to those papers, my approach was much more analytical than would be appropriate for my current view of N's work. In fact, as I tried to start at the beginning and follow his argument through the book, I began to realize that the more systematic appearance of BGE (when compared for example to Zarathustra) belies an underlying chaos, which permeates all of Nietzsche's writing. This style certainly is not accidental and actually comprises an element of the meaning that I take him to be attempting to convey. Consequently, as a beginning, I thought it might make sense to talk a little about some of the peculiarities of N's style, and how I feel this style to be essential to his message(s).
: As a philologist, it is not surprising that Nietzsche exhibits a strong interest in language. However, it is perhaps unique that he speaks of language (specifically the assignment of names to things) as a kind of legislation. That is, language conveys and reflects the societal valuations that direct the individual's interpretation of and behavior within the world (reality). Clearly, according to N, the human mind (or the adoption of a particular language) does not create reality (BGE 16). Yet it does promote a certain interpretation of the world. Consider when N speaks of a "grammatical habit" predisposing one to assume that every activity must have an agent (BGE 17) or of "the strange resemblance of all Indian, Greek and German philosophizing" which he explains through an affinity of languages (BGE 20).
: This view of language, as shaping the interpretations of a people, becomes critical when one realizes that for Nietzsche interpretation is all one has. That is, unlike the common view, which supposes that language is a kind of interpretation that maps a concrete reality, I think that Nietzsche would claim that we only have interpretations of interpretations. Now this does not mean that he would disregard science or that he would find all interpretations to be equally valid; however, I do think that it means he rejects the "dogmatism" of "unconditional philosophers" (BGE Preface). He recognizes the shortsightedness of the metaphysicians' "faith in opposite values" along with the fact that this like some many other "popular valuations" are nothing but "foreground perspectives."(BGE 2)
: Thus the task which N strives toward is the creation of a "new language" which does not masquerade behind the illusion of Truth, a language which straightforwardly strives toward judgments which are "life-promoting…perhaps even species-cultivating."(BGE 4) Like the "stronger and livelier thinkers" of which he speaks in BGE 10, N would have us relinquish some of our "securest possession(s)" (though not the body) to seek "ideas by which one could live better…more vigorously, and cheerfully, than by 'modern ideas.'" But, to find these ideas, he would have us go back: neither to "'the old God'" nor (as some suggest) to the Greek model. He strives and entreats us to strive toward greater strength, using invention and creativity (BGE 9 & 12), so we might wish to rise above rather than return to the past (BGE 10).
: It is because I see N as a pioneer in the creation of this "new language" that I, on the Nietzsche Discussion Board, borrowed a phrase from Louis Mackey and said of Nietzsche (as Mackey said of Kierkegaard) that he was a kind of poet. Nietzsche tells us things, the saying of which stretches the capacity of language. He speaks to us indirectly. First using a word in one sense and then another: sometimes creating an ironic reversal of meaning, sometimes merely causing a deflection of meaning whereby the word or phrase contains aspects of the popular meaning while revealing something more or other than would usually be the case. This is the "truth" which N compares to a woman at the beginning of the preface to BGE. It is a truth, which will not be handled with rough hands and will not be perfectly reproduced, in logical argument. It is a truth that requires as much and perhaps more art and poetry to convey as science and logic.
: Alas, I guess I have begun talking about BGE. Thoughts, comments, ideas ???
BRAVO!BRAVO! Well done!I am inpressed with the amount of thought you have put into this and the great ideas you have come up with.
You are absolutly correct N is a poet,and is condsidered by some to be one of the best. For sure the best german poet to his time.
I think if you read Walter Kaufmann's "Nietzsche" Princton pub you will really enjoy.
What translation do you use?
Would love to add more but I'm pressed for time. Look forward to chatting sometime.
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