The Soul of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil

296 Pages·2012·2.35 MB·English

by  Maudemarie Clark

TheSoulofNietzsche’sBeyondGoodandEvil
ThisbookpresentsaprovocativenewinterpretationofBeyondGoodandEvil.
Arguably Nietzsche’s most important book, it appears to express merely a
loosely connected set of questionable opinions. Can Nietzsche really be an
importantphilosopherifthisishismostimportantbook?MaudemarieClark
and David Dudrick address this question with a close reading of the book’s
firstpart.Theyarguethatmorecarefulattentiontohowitiswrittenallowsus
toseethatitpresentsdeeplyinterconnectedargumentsforsubtleandwell-
thought-outpositionsontraditionalissues.Nietzsche’sinfamousdoctrineof
thewilltopowerturnsouttobeacompellingaccountofthestructureand
origin of the human soul. And although he rejects aspects of traditional
philosophy,Nietzscheaimstoshowhowphilosophy’straditionalaspirations
towardboththetrueandthegoodcanbefulfilled.BeyondGoodandEvilturns
outtobeamajorworkofphilosophyandNietzsche’smasterpiece.
MaudemarieClarkisProfessorofPhilosophyattheUniversityofCalifornia,
Riverside, and George Carleton Jr. Professor of Philosophy at Colgate
University.SheistheauthorofNietzscheonTruthandPhilosophy(Cambridge,
1990), translator and editor (with Alan Swensen) of On the Genealogy
of Morality (1998), and editor (with Brian Leiter) of Daybreak (Cambridge,
1997).
DavidDudrickisAssociateProfessorofPhilosophyatColgateUniversity.His
workhasappearedintheEuropeanJournalofPhilosophy,AmericanPhilosophical
Quarterly,andInternationalStudiesinPhilosophy.

’
The Soul of Nietzsche s
Beyond Good and Evil
maudemarie clark
UniversityofCalifornia,Riverside,andColgateUniversity
david dudrick
ColgateUniversity
cambridge university press
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,
Singapore,SãoPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
CambridgeUniversityPress
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521793803
©MaudemarieClarkandDavidDudrick2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Clark,Maudemarie.
ThesoulofNietzsche’sBeyondgoodandevil/MaudemarieClark,DavidDudrick.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-79041-3(hardback)–isbn978-0-521-79380-3(pbk.)
1. Nietzsche,FriedrichWilhelm,1844–1900.JenseitsvonGutundBöse. I. Dudrick,
David,1972– II. Title.
b3313.j43c53 2012
193–dc23 2011049736
isbn978-0-521-79041-3Hardback
isbn978-0-521-79380-3Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofurlsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredto
inthispublicationanddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
Websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Dedicatedtoeachother
Andtoourwives
ConnieJonesandJulieDudrick
Itismyambitiontosayintensentenceswhateveryoneelsesaysinabook–
whateveryoneelsedoesnotsayinabook.
“ExpeditionsofanUntimelyMan,”inTwilightoftheIdols
Contents
Note on Texts and Citations pag e xi
Introduction:LearningtoReadBeyondGoodandEvil 1
I.1 TheProblem 2
I.2 TwoStrategies 5
I.3 OurProject 8
part one. the will to truth and the
will to value 11
1 SettingtheStage:Nietzsche’sPreface 13
1.1 FirstTheme:DogmatisminItsLastThroes 13
1.2 KantandSpironDogmatism 16
1.3 SecondTheme:DiagnosisofDogmatism’sFailure 22
1.4 ThirdTheme:HopefortheFutureofPhilosophy 25
2 The“MagnificentTensionoftheSpirit” 30
2.1 BGE1:IntroducingtheWilltoTruth 31
2.2 BGE2:IntroducingtheWilltoValue 37
2.3 TheFunctionofBGE3and4 48
2.4 ThePuzzlesofBGE3and4 50
2.5 “Man”astheMeasure 54
2.6 SolvingthePuzzlesofBGE3and4 56
2.7 Conclusion 63
3 PhilosophyandtheWilltoValue 65
3.1 BGE5:ThePrejudicesandValuesofPhilosophers 66
3.2 BGE10:SkepticalAntirealists,Positivists,andNihilists 68
vii
viii Contents
3.3 BGE11:Kant’sSuccessors 73
3.4 Conclusion 85
4 ScienceandtheWilltoTruth 87
4.1 BGE14:Explanation 88
4.2 BGE14:“BeliefintheSenses” 97
4.3 BGE15:PursuingPhysiologywithaClearConscience 98
4.4 BGE15:SensualismasaRegulativeHypothesis 103
4.5 TheHistoricalBackground:LangeandSpir 106
4.6 Conclusion 112
5 ReconcilingtheWilltoTruthandtheWilltoValue 113
5.1 PrefacetoTheGayScience:TheUnveiledTruth 114
5.2 GS371and372:The“TensionoftheSpirit” 116
5.3 GS373and374:ValuesandIntentionality 119
5.4 GS373and374:Spir’sRelevance 124
5.5 GS374:InLightofSpir 127
5.6 TheUnveiledTruth,Revisited 130
part two. the will to power 137
6 Nietzsche’sSoul 141
6.1 BGE6and9:WilltoPowerandWilltoValue 142
6.2 BGE6:TwoInterpretations 148
6.3 BGE12:Going“StillFurther”ThanBoscovich 155
6.4 BGE12:An“AncientandVenerableHypothesis” 163
6.5 ValuesandHumanMotivation 171
7 TheWill 176
7.1 BGE19:ThePhenomenologyofWilling 178
7.2 BGE19:Willing 185
7.3 TheErrorAttachedtoWilling 191
7.4 TwoKindsofPsychologicalTheory 195
7.5 TheGenealogyofPoliticalOrder 200
7.6 Conclusion 210
8 TheOtherDoctrinesoftheWilltoPower 211
8.1 BGE13:LifeasWilltoPower 213
8.2 BGE22:PhysicalRealityasWilltoPower 223
8.3 BGE36:TheWorldasWilltoPower 229
8.4 Conclusion 243