The Problem of Affective Nihilism in Nietzsche: Thinking Differently, Feeling Differently

ISBN-13: 9783030371357 / Angielski / Miękka / 2021 / 188 str.

Kaitlyn Creasy

Spis treści

1        Introduction

 

2        Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Nihilism

a.       Introduction

b.      European nihilism: A genealogy

c.       European nihilism and the structure of life-denial

d.      Conclusion

 

3        Nihilism as Life-Denial

a.       Introduction

b.      Life-denial as a cognitive phenomenon: beliefs, judgments of life, and epistemic practices

                                                              i.      Belief in a “beyond”

                                                            ii.      Belief in a higher purpose

                                                          iii.      Belief in objectivity or “knowledge as such”

                                                          iv.      Life-denying morality: The harm of the “the Good”

                                                            v.      Life-denying epistemic orientations and practices

c.       Life-denial as socio-cultural: institutions and ideologies

d.      Life-denial as psychophysiological: drives, affects, and the will

e.       Conclusion

 

4        Before Affective Nihilism, Understanding Affect

a.       Introduction

b.      Affect in Nietzsche

                                                              i.      Affects as inclinations and disinclinations (with a first-personal, phenomenal character) that produce beliefs, experience, and behavior

                                                            ii.      Affects as drive-induced evaluative orientations

                                                          iii.      Second-order affects and the transpersonal nature of affect

c.       Conclusion

 

5        The Problem of Affective Nihilism

a.       Introduction

b.      Affective nihilism

                                                              i.      On the problem of affective nihilism

                                                            ii.      The psychophysiology of affective nihilism

                                                          iii.      The transpersonal dynamics of affective nihilism

c.       Conclusion

 

6        Affective Nihilists, Weak Agents

a.       Introduction

b.      Affective nihilists, weak agents: nihilism as a (variety of) psychological states

                                                              i.      N1: Affective nihilism involving drive suppression

                                                            ii.      N2: Affective nihilism involving the fragmentation of the will

c.       Conclusion

7        Who is Nietzsche’s Affective Nihilist?: Thinking Cognitive Nihilism, Affective Nihilism, and their Interplay

a.       Introduction

b.      The scope of affective nihilism in Nietzsche

c.       A crucial interplay: The relationship between affective and cognitive nihilism

d.      Conclusion

 

8        Overcoming Affective Nihilism

a.       Introduction

b.      Affective nihilism, redux: Getting the problem in full view

c.       Overcoming affective nihilism: What it isn’t

d.      Overcoming affective nihilism: What it is

                                                              i.      Psychophysiological and affective features

                                                            ii.      Characteristic beliefs, judgments, and epistemic tendencies manifest by the individual with an attitude of radical affirmation

                                                          iii.      An ability to maintain the conditions of one’s flourishing

e.       Nietzschean Strategies for Overcoming Affective Nihilism

                                                              i.      Experimentation and the production of affect

                                                            ii.      Self-knowledge as self-narration

                                                          iii.      Self-genealogy: Learning to master the affects and creating the conditions of one’s flourishing

f.        Conclusion

 

O autorze

Kaitlyn Creasy is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at California State University, San Bernardino. Her work has been published in the Journal of Nietzsche Studies, Environmental Philosophy, and anthologies in Nietzsche studies and environmental philosophy.

Blurb

Nietzsche is perhaps best known for his diagnosis of the problem of nihilism. Though his elaborations on this diagnosis often include descriptions of certain beliefs characteristic of the nihilist (such as beliefs in the meaninglessness or worthlessness of existence), he just as frequently specifies a variety of affective symptoms experienced by the nihilist that weaken their will and diminish their agency. This affective dimension to nihilism, however, remains drastically underexplored. In this book, Kaitlyn Creasy offers a comprehensive account of affective nihilism that draws on Nietzsche’s drive psychology, especially his reflections on affects and their transformative potential. After exploring Nietzsche’s account of affectivity (illuminating especially the transpersonal nature of affect in Nietzsche’s thought) and the phenomenon of affective nihilism, Creasy argues that affective nihilism might be overcome by employing a variety of Nietzschean strategies: experimentation, self-narration, and self-genealogy.