Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Nietzsche's Title and Preface
- 2 “On the Prejudices of the Philosophers”: A Critique of Metaphysical Ground (Part 1 §§1–23)
- 3 “The Free Spirit”: The Philosopher Realigned to Will to Power (Part 2 §§24–44)
- 4 The Nature of Religion: Beyond Nihilism, Towards the Immanent Ideal (Part 3 §§45–62)
- 5 “Epigrams and Entr'actes” (Part 4 §§63–185)
- 6 The Natural History of Morality: The Development of Affects and Reactions (Part 5 §§186–203)
- 7 We Scholars: Science as the “Hammer” of Philosophy (Part 6 §§204–13)
- 8 Our Virtues: Honesty and the “Democratic Mixing” of Peoples, Classes, Genders (Part 7 §§214–39)
- 9 Peoples and Fatherlands: Towards the Political Task of Philosophy in Europe (Part 8 §240–56)
- 10 What is Noble? Past and Future Aristocracies (Part 9 §§257–96)
- 11 From High Mountains: Aftersong
- Glossary
- Selected Further Reading
- Index
5 - “Epigrams and Entr'actes” (Part 4 §§63–185)
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Nietzsche's Title and Preface
- 2 “On the Prejudices of the Philosophers”: A Critique of Metaphysical Ground (Part 1 §§1–23)
- 3 “The Free Spirit”: The Philosopher Realigned to Will to Power (Part 2 §§24–44)
- 4 The Nature of Religion: Beyond Nihilism, Towards the Immanent Ideal (Part 3 §§45–62)
- 5 “Epigrams and Entr'actes” (Part 4 §§63–185)
- 6 The Natural History of Morality: The Development of Affects and Reactions (Part 5 §§186–203)
- 7 We Scholars: Science as the “Hammer” of Philosophy (Part 6 §§204–13)
- 8 Our Virtues: Honesty and the “Democratic Mixing” of Peoples, Classes, Genders (Part 7 §§214–39)
- 9 Peoples and Fatherlands: Towards the Political Task of Philosophy in Europe (Part 8 §240–56)
- 10 What is Noble? Past and Future Aristocracies (Part 9 §§257–96)
- 11 From High Mountains: Aftersong
- Glossary
- Selected Further Reading
- Index
Summary
This whole Part represents a stylistic change from relatively continuous and sustained prose to “epigrams” or “aphorisms”: short, sharp “sayings” [Sprüche]. This is not new; Nietzsche used a similar style in large parts of Daybreak and The Gay Science. Moreover, it is also common in Nietzsche's notebooks, showing that it is not simply an affectation for publication, but a mode of writing that felt natural to him, and perhaps even a technique of thinking. Nietzsche elsewhere writes: “Whoever writes in blood and aphorisms does not want to be read but to be learned by heart [auswendig – by memory, but related to ‘wendig’, nimble or agile]. In the mountains the shortest way is from peak to peak; but for that one must have long legs” (Zarathustra, Part 1, “On Reading and Writing”). The notions of height, peak and agility here suggest a special kind of reader, interpretation and also thinking. Similarly, Nietzsche talks about a style that would have a “minimum in the extent and number of the signs, and the maximum thereby attained in the energy of the signs”, a noble characteristic he has learned from Roman writing (Twilight of the Idols, “What I Owe to the Ancients”, §1). Finally, the aphorism has a long and distinguished history in German (and, more broadly, European) letters – Pascal's Pensées is an obvious example. However, despite this tradition, it may be that Nietzsche is doing something distinctly different with this literary form as he struggles to find new styles suitable to the advancement of his new philosophy.
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- Reading NietzscheAn Analysis of Beyond Good and Evil, pp. 99 - 106Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2006