Knowledge (Erkenntniss) and Affect in Nietzsche

Journal of Modern Philosophy 3 (1):2 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Nietzsche’s “perspectivism” has often invited the charge of relativism. I give a reading of GM III 12 in order to show, on the contrary, that perspectivism is in part a claim about how best to seek knowledge. I argue that perspectivism consists of two claims, one descriptive and one prescriptive. The first claim describes the nature of enquiry; it is that enquiry is guided and shaped by the affects. The second is a prescriptive claim about how we ought to enquire given that the descriptive claim is true. It is that we can enquire better if we approach a subject-matter in a way that is affectively-engaged, rather than affectively-detached. I argue that affective-engagement can benefit enquiry in two ways. First, Nietzsche thinks that affective states cause us to adopt moral and philosophical views. By attending to our affects, we can gain knowledge of the states that give rise to those views. Second, we can gain knowledge of why we hold a given moral/philosophical view when, instead of ignoring our affects, or letting them guide us unconsciously, we attend to them directly. Thus, perspectivism involves an injunction to probe our intuitions about a given subject-matter for the sake of knowledge.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Life’s Perspectives.Ken Gemes - 2013 - In Ken Gemes & John Richardson (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche. Oxford University Press.
Sloughing One’s Skin.Brian Bowles - 1999 - Southwest Philosophy Review 15 (2):25-38.
Nietzsche’s Epistemic Perspectivism.Steven Hales - 2019 - In Michela Massimi (ed.), Knowledge From a Human Point of View. Springer Verlag. pp. 19-34.
O perspectivismo moral nietzschiano.Pietro Gori & Paolo Stellino - 2014 - Cadernos Nietzsche 34:101-129.
Nietzsche on the possibility of truth and knowledge.Tsarina Doyle - 2005 - Minerva - An Internet Journal of Philosophy 9 (1).
Nietzsche’s Perspectivism and Problems of Self-Refutation.Nick Trakakis - 2006 - International Philosophical Quarterly 46 (1):91-110.
Nietzsche's Thinking in Relationship with the Aesthetical.Stefan Maftei - 2003 - Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies 2 (4):26-41.
Sloughing One’s Skin.Brian Bowles - 1999 - Southwest Philosophy Review 15 (2):25-38.
Nietzsche's Perspectivism.Steven D. Hales & Rex Welshon - 2000 - University of Illinois Press.
Perspectivism as a Way of Knowing in the Zhuangzi.Tim Connolly - 2011 - Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 10 (4):487-505.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-07-31

Downloads
14 (#846,545)

6 months
8 (#157,827)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Charles Boddicker
University of Southampton

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Janaway on Perspectivism.Ken Gemes - 2009 - European Journal of Philosophy 17 (1):101-112.
Janaway on perspectivism.Ken Gemes - 2009 - European Journal of Philosophy 17 (1):101-112.

Add more references