Aspects of Nihilism in Nietzsche: Naturalism, Perspectivism, and Aesthetic Justification

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7213/1980-5934.34.062.DS06

Abstract

Nietzsche’s perspectivism holds that the world as a whole is “absurd”, has no goal, value, purpose, meaning. But it does not hold that conducting a human life can be anything other than following certain goals, values, purposes, meanings. This distinction is crucial if one wants to understand why Nietzsche accepts the “truth of nihilism” — the world is in itself absurd, the world cannot be rationally justified —, while he also thinks that the, in a certain type of human cultures, the world can be justified “as an aesthetic phenomenon”.  That is why his philosophy can be a “struggle against nihilism”, whose aim is not to reduce all goals, values, purposes, and meanings to subjective illusions, but rather to dare think through a “transvaluation of all values”.

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Author Biography

João Constâncio, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL)

Associate Professor at NOVA FCSH/ UNL ("Nova University of Lisbon"). João Constâncio is Associate Professor of philosophy at Nova University of Lisbon (UNL/ FCSH). He earned his PhD there with a dissertation on Plato. He is also a member, researcher, and sub-director of (IFILNOVA) He is also the Head of the Philosophy Department at FCSH/ UNL, and he directs the MA Course “Estética & Estudos Artísticos”. Since 1996, when he first became Assistant Professor at the Philosophy Department of Nova University of Lisbon (UNL/ FCSH), he has taught on many topics — from Ancient Philosophy to Modern Philosophy to Philosophy of Mind — but his main teaching focus is now the field of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art.

Published

2022-08-22

How to Cite

Constâncio, J. (2022). Aspects of Nihilism in Nietzsche: Naturalism, Perspectivism, and Aesthetic Justification. Revista De Filosofia Aurora, 34(62). https://doi.org/10.7213/1980-5934.34.062.DS06