Abstract

Nietzsche launches powerful critiques of traditional moral values on the basis of “life's perspectives and objectives.” But what does this mean? Several recent commentators have tried to provide an explanation by ascribing to Nietzsche a will-to-power metaphysic, but there are solid reasons for thinking that Nietzsche did not intend to provide any comprehensive metaphysical system. This paper explains “life's perspectives” by showing how to construct a theoretical entity (“Life”) that has a perspective and can do the philosophical work Nietzsche requires. Moreover, it shows why employing such a construct, as a heuristic, does not lead to ascribing a robust metaphysical system to Nietzsche.