Abstract

At the time of his professorship at the University of Basel Nietesche was intensively concerned with classical rhetoric. In this article it is shown that and how the rhetorical problematic is determinative for the whole of Nietzsche's later thinking. Nietzsche maintains, in fact, that, while on the one hand the philosophical tradition since Plato stands opposed to rhetoric, on the other hand the same tradition from the very beginning has been governed by a very subtle and hidden rhetoric. Rhetoric for Nietzsche is a typically Greek art of convincing by means of the word. In the service of this convincing, use is made of the so-called rhetorical figures, especially the metaphor and metonymy. The rhetor has great power. He was a master of 'truth'. Plato took up a hostile position towards rhetoric and this hostility characterizes all Western philosophy. This negative attitude is even constitutive of metaphysics. In an analysis of philosophers' opposition to rhetoric it appears that this very opposition is supported by a hidden rhetoric or of the Wille zur Macht. Above all, from an analysis of the metaphorical and metonymical structure of language, it seems that philosophical demonstration is the product of and made possible by a number of rhetorical figures. A philosophy is not built up to giwe the truth an expression in words, but is nothing other than a continual attempt to convince oneself and others by means of the word. The philosopher, however, refuses to recognize this. As a result of this refusal philosophy is characterized to a great extent by decadence. The radical recognition of the rhetorical character of every philosophical demonstration could lead to a completely new manner of thinking. This is what Nietzsche himself has in view