Pain as a “Matrix” for Interior Life in Nietzsche
Journal Title: Meta: Research in Hermeneutics, Phenomenology, and Practical Philosophy - Year 2011, Vol 3, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper attempts to put some order among the different notions of pain that are to be found in the Nietzschean philosophical corpus. It tries to show that there is a mutation of the Nietzschean concept of pain, from the notion of pain as evaluation to that of pain as localization of a commotion. Therefore pain is not in itself the source of a reaction, but is actually a consequence of a commotion that a reaction has already addressed by the time of the appearance of pain. A deeper notion of pain is therefore sketched here, one that depicts it as an illusory reaction, destined at separating the global commotion of the organism from its alleged localized cause, thus separating the action from the agent and postponing the facing of the global effect of the commotion. It is for this reason that pain becomes a kind of “matrix” for the understanding of our interior life for Nietzsche, as well as a philosophical indicator of his theoretical adversaries. Finally, the end of this article attempts to show that certain positive indications for a different status of pain might serve as guiding lines for the uncovering of a Nietzschean theory of action.
Authors and Affiliations
Ciprian Jeler
Pourquoi revient-on toujours à Darwin?
Mircea Flonta, Darwin şi după Darwin. Studii de filozofie a biologiei [Darwin et après Darwin. Études de philosophie de la biologie], Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2010
Descartes and the “metaphysical dualism”: Excesses in interpreting a classic
The article focuses on one of the most serious accusations brought against Descartes and modern philosophy, namely “the dualism of substance”. The accusers claim that the human body and soul were viewed as completely sep...
Derrida, Foucault and “Madness, the Absence of an Œuvre”
This article argues that Foucault's 1964 paper “La folie, l'absence d'œuvre” ought to be understood as a response to Derrida's 1963 paper “Cogito et histoire de la folie”. I clarify the chronology of the exchange between...
Tradition et distance temporelle : « de la justesse de la compréhension » chez Hans-Georg Gadamer
In this paper, I will discuss Gadamer’s attempt to reach to a deeper dimension of truth, situated beneath the scientific objectivity and independent from methodological criteria. If the truth finds its core in tradition,...
Value and the phenomenology of situation in the works of Heidegger
Value and the phenomenology of situation in the works of Heidegger