Abstract

This dissertation is an attempt at a constructive philosophical response to the phenomenon of nihilism. It seeks to articulate the path toward an overcoming of nihilism through the recovery of beauty in its metaphysical dimension. Toward this end, the dissertation draws upon the fundamental insights of Plato and seeks to bring these insights into fruitful dialogue with contemporary nihilism as that phenomenon is given voice by the philosophical work of Friedrich Nietzsche. Thus, I argue that Plato is not only not guilty of engendering nihilism, as Nietzsche contends, but that, on the contrary, his philosophy stands as a powerful and largely untried means of renewing the intellect's authentic attunement to the intelligibility of being. The dissertation does this by illumining the activity of reason in its essentially erotic nature. This noetic eros is rooted, according to Plato, in the desire for and attraction of intellect to the intrinsically aesthetic splendor of form. Form is beautiful, Plato contends, in that it radiates a goodness which alone makes possible its intelligibility. Meaningfulness, therefore, cannot be severed from its relationship to goodness, and indeed, as I argue with Plato, ultimately finds its source in the Good itself which is beyond being. Now, because of this intrinsic link between intelligibility and goodness, the knowing intellect cannot itself be abstracted from its relation to the Good. Accordingly, if intellect is to perceive form, and hence meaning, in being, then it must be existentially open and erotically receptive to the ordered goodness which is embodied in any metaphysical form. This analysis has an important implication with respect to nihilism. It shows that an unerotic and activistic intellect, which I argue is the dominant understanding of reason within modernity, is incapable of perceiving the intelligible meaning of reality. Thus, the path toward overcoming late modern nihilism can only be trod by renewing the life of the mind as a receptively erotic activity