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
3 - “The Free Spirit”: The Philosopher Realigned to Will to Power (Part 2 §§24–44)
- 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
Part 2 is entitled “the free spirit”. Of course, we have just seen Nietzsche attack the conventional philosophical ways of understanding the notion of “freedom”, so we will need to address the question of how he intends we understand “free” now. But we have seen this phrase before, and as early as the Preface: “we free, very free spirits”. The free spirit anticipates and prepares the way for that new type of human being that Nietzsche calls the “philosopher of the future”. That is to say, “we” prepare for the being that realigns itself to thinking of itself and the world in terms of will to power. The term “realign” is mine, not Nietzsche's, but seems appropriate to describe this process of overcoming hinted at just above in §23. It is a project of the knowledge of will to power, but also a project of physiology, of becoming a being that can af?rm its own dominant will to power.
§24
As we have seen Nietzsche claim before, certain errors are a condition of life. We are devoted to these errors in so far as we are devoted to life. Here, Nietzsche is attempting to describe something of the nature of these errors. They simplify, thus making everything “bright and free and light and easy”. We have seen some of these simplifications before. For example, in the analyses of atomism or cause and effect, Nietzsche speaks of them as a convenience, but not basic principles.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Reading NietzscheAn Analysis of Beyond Good and Evil, pp. 45 - 74Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2006