Chaos Sive Natura: Nietzsche ' S Evening Gold and The Dancing Star, Babette E. Babich

Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia
Nietzsche's Chaos Sive Natura: Evening Gold and the Dancing Star Author(s): Babette E. Babich Source: Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, T. 57, Fasc. 2, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): II: Aspectos do seu Pensamento (Apr. - Jun., 2001), pp. 225-245 Published by: Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40337624 . Accessed: 27/03/2013 20:26
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Chaos sivenatura: Nietzsche's

EveningGoldand theDancingStar
Babette E. Babich*
uniaccount andfundamental creative Abstract: Nietzsche's ofchaos in bothitscosmic, Greek recallstheancient versalas wellas itshumane meaning ofchaosrather context, In thisgeneratively decadentsignificance. than its modern, primordial disordered, or modern, not to thewatery myth of Semitic nothingness sense,chaos corresponds And in such an abundant but creative, potency. uncountenancedly entropy scientific creative art. Nietzsche's and nature both chaos is a word Nietzsche's archaicsense, for essence thewilltopower:as the itwith ofthe foundational ofchaosequates conception n Thissame the also is world"to all eternity. for stylistic prerequisite correspondence as a work ofart. oneself creating Culture. Cosmos.Creativity. Chaos. Cosmology. Key Words:Amor fad. Art.Becoming. Pre-socratics. Power. Nature. Male-Female. Nietzsche. Greeks. Dionysus.Eternity. Zarathustra. Science.Spinoza. Time.World.
ate que pontoa maisfundamental O artigocomeqapor demonstrar RESUMO: explicaqdo e univercosmico tanto do caos,emseu contexto a respeito dadaporNietzsche criadora dado sentido do antigo umaevocaqdo constitui sal comomeramente que Ihefoi humano, desordenada do moderna a uma adesdo do mais mesmo, significagdo que pelos Gregos, maisprimoro caos emseu sentido comefeito, Para Nietzsche, e decadente. generativo nemao mito semitico ao inerente nada do a nem ndo ambiguidade dial, corresponde assinalada criadora mas sima umapotencia da entropia, sentido moderno, cientifico, assim,ate que ponto,em conformidade Mostra-se, inesgotdvel por uma abunddncia urn nome constitui o caos emNietzsche arcaicodo termo, como sentido que se da tanto ainda ate que pontoa concepmostra comoa arte.Mais, o presente a natureza artigo ou seja, a vontade emalgo equivalente do caos o transforma depoder, qdonietzschiana Desta correspondencia, do mundo"para toda a eternidade". na essenciafundadora comoverdadeiestilistica a condigdo para que cada umse criea si mesmo alias,resulta ra obrade arte. Cosmologia.Cosmos. Palavras-Chave: Amorfati.Arte.Caos. Ciencia. Criatividade. Cultura. Devir. Dionisio. Espinoza. Eternidade. Gregos. Masculino-Feminino. Zaratustra. Poder.Pre-socrdticos. Mundo.Natureza. Nietzsche. Tempo.
NY - USA). Fordham ofPhilosophy, University (NewYork, Department

Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001), 225-245
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Chaos and theOrderofCreativity as chaos"in all eternity" character" in its"total theworld, \L *1ietzsche regards also identifies Nietzsche to human Yet, categories.1 /^VJ (GS 109), opposed "I tell culture: within ofcreative / ^ chaosas thesource you:onemust potential star" toa dancing havechaosinone,togivebirth 5).2 (Z,Prologue character" In what senseis "chaos"the"total here? is Nietzsche's What meaning for the sakeof in one" "chaos one have must of theworld "to all eternity"? Why idenNietzsche of the character voice in the is meant what byspeaking, creativity, as thepreconto oneself of chaosinternal withthesun,the"goldenstar,"3 tifies of all,whyis suchan internal most dition forcreativity? And,perhaps perplexing Zarathustra Nietzsche's as a rarity, chaos presented "Alas," quickly endangered? to no morestars"(Z, Prowhenmanwill give birth adds:"The timeis coming logue5).
1Friedrich Kritische StudienWerke: Nietzsche Die frohliche Nietzsche, Wissenschaft. de Gruyter. Colli and MazzinoMontinari, eds., (Berlin:Walter 1980). ausgabe.Giorgio NietzLikewise number. citedas GS followed Volume 3, p. 467. Henceforth bythesection andcitaas BGE, followed vonGutundBoseis cited sche'sJenseits number, bythesection and followed are citedin thetext, Also sprachZarathustra tionsfrom title, by Z, section to theKSA works refer Nietzsche's from andso on. Citations section number, unpublished followed volume number the edition, bythepagenumber. numeral), listing (roman 2 It must theconcepdiffers from of chaos Nietzsche's that be emphasized conception and literary critical like Katherine tionof chaos articulated Haylesand other by authors Cf. N. of chaos theory. from reviews of theidea of chaos,as drawn conceptions popular andScience Literature Disorder in Contemporary ChaosBound:Orderly Katherine Hayles, of the disorder Nietzsche Press,1990). Although recognizes (Ithaca:CornellUniversity from his of in thecontemporary chaos, emphasis overarching chaos,as inherent meaning abundant ofchaosas a primordially thefundamental underlines start to finish (as ambiguity Where state. orentropic than a decadent rather a prerequisite for Haylescanbe recreation) - as somemight hoax- for wakeof Sokal's so-called wishto do in thereactionist proved so cannot be Nietzsche "scientific" a less than notion, charged exigent employing perhaps ancient Greek from with itscreative ofchaos,together forhe takes hisconception potency, to the is vulnerable distinction to maketheprior eventheeffort acounts. enough, Naturally and the related hoax Sokal's in review of as I a failure of hermeneutics of argue my charge See myessay,"The Herandcultural fordenouncing enthusiasm scientistic theory. literary KnowCommon Criticism." andCultural ofPhysics ofa Hoax: On theMismatch meneutics 6/2 ledge. (September 1997):23_33. is there Creuzer: ofFriedrich on thepart to a mistaken Thishasbeentraced etymology Paul See Curt own for Nietzsche's however no doubt of itsprofound thinking. significance Friedrich Nietzsche 2, p. 230. See tooDavidB. AlliHanser, Janz, 1978),Volume (Munich: TheBirth in ReadingtheNew Nietzsche: son's discussion } The Gay Science, of Tragedy On theGenealogy ThusSpokeZarathustra, of Morals (Lanham:Rowman& Littlefield, to claims 23 April1883,Nietzsche written In a letter to Heinrich Koselitz, 2000),pp. 130ff. ad Zarathustra See for first time the this have"experienced" commentary I). etymology (post 2001. Kritische inthe Nietzsche locum III-7,forthcoming Gesamtausgabe Briefwechsel
Revjsta Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001), 225-245
Nietzsche 's Chaos sive na tura
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of moment an initial from as beginning characterized How,in a universe today - be it theaccount of Genesis, creative masculine potency prototypically prime, inwhich chaosis orthecosmologist's Plato'sTimaeus, Big Bang-, i.e.,a universe as is chaos how and order lack of as the a nameforincreasing structure, inertia, the stresses himself ForevenNietzsche forcreativity? suchto be theprecondition of order theprimacy of chaos,emphasizing downward tendency (or decadence) the I shalltrace In whatfollows Meditations.4 above chaos in his own Untimely meanall its conflicted in nature a word for as of chaos use Nietzsche's of origin in aspect.5 feminine andprototypically archaic as primordially butespecially ings, ofnature, we area radical that Nietzsche that I shallargue meaning part supposes of anyperspective to thepossibility withreference as he saysprovocatively that, that there is or beingandbecoming: or thewillto power, or theworld, on nature, outside inside and between the For no no outside, externality. Nietzsche, opposition - that Auskein "There is no outside!" declares: fails6 [Es giebt is, as Zarathustra The Convalescent 2).7 senl](Z, III, GreekChaos vs.The WatersofGenesisand Scientific Entropy Zarathustra Nietzsche's that It is worth conscientiously although emphasizing of chaosas precondition thenotion of thegospels, theresonant invokes language waters ofthefirst to theimage doesnotcorrespond for creative presented possibility - nordoesitcorres- reflecting ofuncreative theinert in Genesis receptivity depths as disordered in casual terms, visionsof chaos,whether pondto contemporary of entropy. notion the scientific with correlated as more confusion or, formally, Greek.Hence Nietzarchaic:prototypically chaos is fundamentally Nietzsche's - that whichbrings chaos mustbe read as physis of creative sche's conception the with chaos Andas Nietzsche of andoutofitself. nature, forth (sive) interposes
4 In Section mocks Nietzsche for ofHistory 9 of "On theUses andDisadvantages Life," to is ascribed as greatness to itsopposite, to givebirth that chaosis supposed notion thevery die das Chaosalso aus sichheraus das Grosse, "Da soildieMasseaus sichheraus themasses: with thescopeofambition inthesamelocuscontrasts Nietzsche likewise, Ordnung gebaren." des Wissens du an den Sonnenstrahlen kletterst "Freilich of human theimpotence ability: stress this zumChaos"(I, 315) andhe willalways aberauchabwarts zumHimmel, aufwarts Nietzsche ofEurope: "TheOrigin Manfred tension. Riedel, discussion, See, foran insightful Studies4 1/2(Summer/Fall New Nietzsche and the Greeks," 2000): 141-155;originally undKessler in Nietzsche unddie Griechen" Nietzsche "Der as: Anfang Europas. published SchloB Hefte e.V.,Weimar, pp. 13-33. 1994), 2, Kuratorium Ettersburg (Ettersburger 5 "Notethat as female." Chaosis treated Commentary by neuter, although grammatically M. L. WesttoHesiod, Oxford, Press; 1966),p. 193. Theogony (Clarendon 6Menschliches. Allzumenschliches, 1,15. 7 Also sprach "Es of extended for an See, giebtkeinAussen!"in Nietzsche's reading andas a genuine distinction an exoteric/esoteric with in connection Zarathustra completion K6Erkenntnis dertragischen Gedanke Nietzsches ofnihilism, (Wiirzburg: Schmid, Holger 78ff. & Neumann, 1984), pp. nigshausen
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as nature:natura,translated same chaos can be expressedas specifically generative it in English:"she who will be bornor she who will bear."8 ErwinChargaff renders in thewords of Nietzsche's Zarathustra "To give birth," (whom Nietzschehimthe cosmos itself)"to a stars of the to selfnames in metonymic whirling proximity withinoneselfthesame chaos thatexemdancingstar,"one needs to have retained its first chaos recedes- after Yet thisprototypical plifiestheworld"to all eternity." in Hesiod (Theogony116), Chaos is only mentioned mention again in the context at the of the battlebetweenZeus and the Titans and in its persistent displacement the unlike Titans and of the both world,beyond (77*.814) Olympiangods edge In increase its does not chaos notion of range. tophysical entropy, contemporary mediatized nihilism and of scientific banal culture decadence, leisurely, day's at risk Nietzsche's archaic conceptionof a creativechaos is not only increasingly who tells them"one but the "ultimate"men of todaycan replyto the Zarathustra to a dancingstar"withblinking musthave chaos in one to give birth incomprehension, asking,"What is love? What is creation?What is longing?What is a star?" in whatsimply comesto of Chaoi as first relates theemergence Hesiod's Theogony TH toi \iev TtpuTioxa Xdog yevexa.10 AfterChaos, be without antecedent divinities of aorgic natureon Hesiod's arise theunboundedgods of the beginning, account:includingGala or broad-breasted earth,dim Tartarus,wingedEros. First to thedeitiesof darkness:Erebos and the of themothers of being,chaos gives birth in theOrphictradition theseorigins, same Nightthat, lays thesilveregg recounting fromwhich is born the god of many names, golden in the lap of black darkness, The Theogony hiddento birth or to light.11 Eros or Phanes,who bringseverything includes this Orphic resonance: it is Night's incestuousunion with Erebos that Aetherand the annulsthe character of their yieldingbrightest obscurity, respective process of cosmological day. Thus, chaos and not the masculine world-ordering genesis,is generatively primordial.12 8Erwin Voicesin the Nature, Man,and Science[Series:TheTree Labyrinth: Chargaff, Press, ofLife](NewYork:.TheSeabury 1977),p. 1. an assothat chaosretains anditis significant is uncountenanceable nature Chaoshere as primordial ofnight also suggests theOrphic ciation with a linkthat blackness, accounting See note11 below. being. 116. Hesiod, Theogony, 11C. Thames andHudson, The Ancient Godsofthe Greeks 1951), p. 16-17. Kenenyi. (London: notion of "cosmois the This generatively character primordial unique.Reviewing andtechnomorphic Walter Burkert between models, biomorphic gonicmyth," distinguishes - i.e.,requiring either butboth ofthese arecreative models generation (on the reproductive andbirth" with ofdifferent Burkert sex,insemination draws, [pp. analogy complete "couples theGreek does notdistinguish creation. To be sure,Burkert 94-95]) or demiurgic/divine andthebiblical tradition characterized principally (although largely bytheformer) (although as it does at a "time characterized Yet theemergence of chaos,appearing by thelatter). to arise," else is about which was the'first' from which ofall,theonebeginning everything "Hesiodasks'Which of for such"narrative Burkert, (p. 91) is beyond options" (p. 94). Thus,
(Z, Prologue 5)
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ofchaos(as chasm oryawning that theHesiodic Ithasbeensuggested meaning which names thechasm backto an Orphic account be traced (or gap) can perhaps Forthepattern of areless important than theconsequences. Yet thenames night).13 is immediately evenin sucharchaic creativity quashed (andfeminine) spontaneous in thestory we couldsay,fortheGreeks: thestart. andfrom accounts, Especially, to or malepowerordered, be that tellsof insurgent sure,unhinged or, by desire in this as also the of the sense the oldest eros, always youngods (though, desire, is originally female becomesor is powerof genesisthat gest).Thusthecreative notonly hisfirst mademale,as Zeus swallows wife, Metis, thereby incorporating - lodgedin his belly, was alwayshisown- butalso her hercounsel herwisdom from toAthena thus theZeus that feminine nature: armed, fully sprung givesbirth is the same Zeus who can rescuethe heartof the dismembered his forehead, blasted ashesofhisTitanic from theburnt tormenters, byZeus's thunderZagreus of Selenehis of wine into the womb influence the transferred bolt, by mediating herself to reduce Selene the child there human lover, only Dionysus, engendering the flash of his godlycountenance to asheswiththesamelightening (so keeping to sew the mortal and between of love is the devastation that immortal), promise of birth to Dionysus childintohis own thigh, notyetfully-formed finally giving ash.Sucha andmortal in thewakeofbothtitanic twicereborn thetwogateways, madea prime maleprinciple Zeus was a god of theprime by precisely principle Nowthefather offeminine ofitsviolent means givesbirth creativity. incorporation intheir own form human arealways totheson,nowtheskygodsthat male, beings image. oftheprimortotheold story matters is nottopayhomage what ForNietzsche, tothepowus to attend butinstead for ofbeing, mothers ortheliteral dialgoddess, work of art.To oneself a in in creative wild nature ersof self-genesis, becoming - one itself out of a wheel a star birth to create oneself, rolling dancing giving not holds This of existence" needsthe"chaosand labyrinth imperative (GS 322). butbecausethechaosin creative thespirit) kills(theletter becauseorder question ofwhich that all other is olderthan that which itself: nature is primordial deities, own their as divinities deities areborn, themost capableofbringing darkly aorgic Zarathustra tellsus, stilldisAndwe, so Nietzsche's outof themselves. opposites havechaosinyou"(Z, Prologue "I tellyou:youstill creative power: poseoverthis ofnature, this samepower to in our closest losing age, 5). Yet becausewe arealso, blindness a that is as much a blindness force of creative the chaos,through losing reminder. we Zarathustra's need as about about ourselves nature,
"The Loand thenstarts:'Firstof all..."' (p. 92). See Burkert, these came intobeing first?" gic of Cosmogony" in RichardBuxton,ed., From Mythto Reason: Studies in theDevelopmentofGreek Thought Press, 1999), pp. 87-106. (Oxford:OxfordUniversity Evidence forthis is given by no one less thanAristotle, Metaph. 1071 27, who imname forchaos. See note above and compare Burkert'sdisplies thatnightis an alternative cussion on thesame fora different (but notopposed) emphasis.
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excessor to a generative chaosthuscorresponds As self-engendering physis, or theAnaximandrian as theTheogonic Ur-chaos conceived apeiron.14 plenum, ofunthinkorcreative ofchaosis a feminine Sucha generative, aspect conception is first a feminine and such self-sufficient principle creativity ablyconsummate, of feminine Yet theprimordial one cosmology. common to morethan conception of the of thecultures of chaosto thefantasies thenotion creative (from potencies the moment of we from as have or is seen, inception: eclipsed, goddess matriarchy) elidedby the of chaosarequickly all accounts of thedarkchildren of thegenesis setsin to herown lover, birth and various earth morefertile who,herself giving As the of masculine of thesuccession thedominant account motion progenitors. a story ofgenesis becomes the ofthe birth ofthe (andpaternity). theogony story gods, an of order, thefailure Even more, representing today'schaos is a pell-mell in both articulated schematism thetemporal reduced to disorder order (reflecting of entropy). thereligious tradition of Genesisand thethermodynamic conception retradition theJudeao-Christian masculinist Derived from an aboriginally vision, and featureless in as the recounted Genesis the lifeless impotent, gards depths moment ofthecreadivine to thefirst ofan irreal andfeminine waters abyssprior chaos and scientific In this of tion oftheworld. perspectives, convergence religious is a non-creative, negative concept. expressly to thecosmosas suchand so denying function an archie, Denying originative as a both itsruling anditstelicorguiding i.e.,byunderstanding reality principles, the world as nature of into the Nietzsche's chaos of multiple realities, insight a chaos of of thecreative "chaosto all eternity" and his recollection importance as a quintofGreek recalls theprinciple within, koo\loq, koo|I8G>15 significance ofchaos and the creative Given aesthetic possibility urgency essentially concept.16 thesubsequent in theworldas in thehuman theworld, interpretive beingwithin a refor andnow,thepotential theworld ofappearances andstill, order first yields birth ofculture.
14 to the combininghollow of Plato's One tendsto hear in thisan associative reference Timaean chora but althoughthe Pythagorean tradition may justifythisassociation,the very conceptionof a hollow dependentupon the workinginfluenceof the demiurgealreadytestiin need of order. fiesto a condition thatis underway to thelatter conceptionof a disordered 15 Charles Kahn had pointed out thatHomer's use of "kosmos,teme>v...denote[s] in or dispositionof partswhich is appropriate, well-disposed,effectigeneralany arrangement ve." Kahn,Anaximander and theOriginsofGreekCosmology,p. 220. 16 is The transfer fromthe originalsignificance, Kahn observes,of a 'neat arrangement,' an easy one to the wider decorative sense of kosmos as Nfinery, rich adornment'"Kahn, cast of this "cosmetic" vision is obvious: "all extantexamples of p. 220. The metaphysical kosmosor diakosmosin the earlyphilosophicalfragments illustrate the idea of an all-embrawhole or ordering of parts:thenaturalworld is conceived as a structural cing "arrangement" in whicheverycomponent has itsplace." p. 229.
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In connection withNietzsche's thought, otherphilosophers such as MartinHeito Hesiod.17 But degger, have explored the relevance of x&og with reference does not advertto thearchaiccosmologyof chaos butimmediaHeideggerhimself confusion.18 Other telyinvokesthe contemporary conceptionof chaos as impotent Thus almostall scholars,like WalterGebhard,correct Heidegger's etymologies.19 readerswho reflect thisconception upon Nietzsche's language of chaos understand in its contemporary, its incidental rather than Greek sense. Heni.e., prototypically own of chaos in with and from connection science ce, my reading apart (and JacLacan's Jean Granier reviews the of the "tragic Real),20 only importance ques withregardto what I have here knowledgeof Nietzsche,the new Empedocles,"21 Greeknotionof creativechaos.22 begunto argueas thespecifically Nature as Chaos, Nature as Art natureas chaos, now to be heardnot in its contemporary By regarding expresNietzsche repudiates the sion but in its originalGreek or primordial significance, traditional Western opposition between nature and art. As an absolute will to - thenativechaos of theworld - "und nichtsaufierdem" remainder power,without realmbeyondthe imposition of orand untrammelled is a raw,uncountenanceable der forthesame Nietzschewho teachestherule- and theillusion- of perspective. "chaos sive natuAs it recalls Spinoza's deus sive natura,Nietzsche's declaration, natureof its rara" (IX, 515), de-deifiesnaturewhile, at the same time,stripping 17 ... weistin die Richtung des unabmeBbaren, das Aufgahnende x&og "... anfanglich Martin Nietzsche aufklaffenden stiitzeundgrundlosen, Offenen," Neske, Heidegger, (Pfiillingen: as NI orNil,followed Bd. 1,S. 562.[Subsequently cited bythe pagenumber.] 1961), inder dasDurcheinander That is:as "dasWineinder NI,563. Uberstiiizung." Verwirrung, im undEntsetzen. Zur Tradition derChaos Annahmen "Erkennen Walter Gebhard, in Gebhard, Nietzsche. Strukturen der Denken Friedrich ed.,Friedrich Nietzsches," pp.20ff. amMain:Peter Negativitdt (Frankfurt Lang,1984),pp. 13-47. 201 discuss Nietzsche's Nietzsche's notion ofchaosinmy Philosophy ofScience: Reflecof New YorkPress, StateUniversity Scienceon theGround ofArtand Life(Albany: ting to illuminate theFrench Lacan's elusiand,again, psychoanalyst Jacques 1984)pp. 152-157 oftheReal: Nietzsche andLacan,"inDavidPettive conception oftheReal: "On theOrder Lacan (Albany:StateUniversity of New Raffoul, eds.,Disseminating grewand Francois YorkPress, 1996),pp.48-63. 21Jean le nouvel onp. 130 the de Nietzsche, Granier invokes "Sagesse tragique Empedocle" Revue etdeMorale, 2 (1971): "La pensee nietzscheenne duchaos," deMetaphysique ofhisessay "Nietzsche's ofChaos"in translation, 129-166; English Conception p. 130.See tootheabridged MTT 1985[1977]), DavidB. Allison, The NewNietzsche Press, pp.135-141. (Cambridge: that the"The world of theGreek With reference to Nietzsche's declaration godsis a themost veil,concealing Heidegfrightful things" (VII, 77), Granier appropriates swirling into that at thesametime thecharacter ofbeing is, here insight "becoming, ger'spenetrating return of thesame."Heidegas theworld as thechaosof necessity entirety [as] theeternal "La pensee nietzscheenne duchaos," NI,371. See Granier, ger, p. 132.
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- itsultimate huwith andcommensurability concord tional orfoundation23 ground in science is as liableto critical confidence manreason. ForNietzsche, themodern calthetechnologically belief. Thushe challenges as anyother demythologization scientific: culative,
faithin a world thatis supposed to have its equivalentand its measurein humanthought thatcan be masteredcompletelyand forever and humanvaluations- a "world of truth" existenceto withthe aid of our square littlereason. What? Do we reallywant to permit be degradedforus like this- reducedto a mere exercise fora calculatorand an indoor diversion formathematicians? (GS 373)
as thehistory of thetrue(the"real" thehistory of theillusory, By outlining raisesthekey Nietzsche and Aristotelian worldof Platonic fantasy productivity), orthe scientific real: as of the ideal the rational underpinnings regarding question and of human of thephantasms derperceived in nature as a reflection sensibility a from or nature knowable Thereis no reality human apart power.24 conceptual the criticizes nature." Thus Nietzsche "humanised [vermenschlichte] thoroughly "To therealists'") The Gay Sciencedirected realist conviction (in a passagefrom "sober" realist the it before that "theworld is eyesas inevitaway appears" really were and if unveiled before naive: "As stood youonly, youyourselves reality bly science to the man of it" Nietzsche the best of challenges perhaps part (GS 57). is and this of human from the limits describe theworld or perception beyond apart which or from theeffects ofprecisely artistic also to say,apart invention, creativity orconviction: is concealed as an illicit passion
Your love of "reality,"for example - oh, thatis a primeval"love." Every feelingand some prejudice,some unsensationcontainsa piece of thisold love; and some fantasy, to it and worsome fear,and ever so much else has contributed reason,some ignorance, ked on it. That mountainthere!That cloud there!What is "real" in that?Subtractthe If you can! {Ibid.) and everyhumancontribution from it,mysoberfriends! phantasm
23 in The Gay Science. Reason has been deifiedsince Plato. Cf. Nietzsche's reflections reason (a Thomisticas much as a PlatoBut Nietzscheis so farfromthe dangerof deifying nico-Aristotelian appellations such as liability)thathe always names reason withbelittling use the most unand he liked to "unsrerviereckigen kleinenMenschenvernunft" (GS 373) to humanfoci, to make flattering comparisons- gnatsand frogsas companionperspectives the same point. In a move similarto Augustinianpiety,Nietzsche declares thatdesire (the be divine.This to our convictionthatwe are, or might belly) is thebody, is thebest antidote same move opposes Augustinebecause, of course, for Augustine (as for Descartes), qua to God. will, itis desirethatshows our best resemblance Hence Nietzsche declares thatthe world's manifest congruencewith perceptionevidenced by the overwhelming concord between sensationsfromperson to person proves the as congruenceof the perceptualand conceptualapparatusfromone humanbeing to another a veritablesensus communis.Thus Nietzsche invokes "Der ungeheureConsensus der Menihres Perceptionsapparates." schen uber die Dinge beweist die voile Gleichartigkeit (VII, 468).
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For Nietzsche,the whole of naturalscience is a continuousand effective, successfuland consumateprocess of what he calls a "humanisation in summa."25 Natureis a humaninvention and yet,and at the same time,it is naturethatworksits us and upon us, so thatour inventiveness and our artifices are not artistry through - howevermuch in the case of science we use this inventiveness non-natural for thepurposesof themastery and controlof nature.26 Withthe artistic, exinventive the same essence "means," we expressour own nature, pressionof such scientific the inherent truth of nature as "will to or chaos reflecting power" (to all eternity). we neither nature's chaos nor could we ever do so given our Yet, apprehend perceptualand conceptualapparatus- nor can we recollectany sense of thechaos of impressions withinus - thislast given the coordinatelimitations of our human who This is a favorite theme for declares thatnature Nietzsche, psycho-physiology. of threw the to the welter within our and it bodies27 key away physiologicalactivity of his pre-Freudian a fundamental forms component critiqueof psychologicalidenor the subject.In the more straightforward instanceof a face to face encounter tity withthenatural world,Nietzschewrites: inopencountry, I am always howeverything works on As I walkabout amazedtothink andso theforest thus andso, andthemountain thus us with sucha supreme precision: us nottheslightest to thewholeofsensation, there within conandthat, reigns referring chaotic or And the and fusion, greatest uncertainty misapprehension,stammering. yet . . . (IX, 957) must abound aspect In the same way as we do not (as we cannot) attend to our own rangeof perceptions,neitherdo we attendto the full complexityof the thingsthemselvesas of readinga text(where as Nietzsche experienceableobjects. Using the metaphor in not the text does merelydisappear the reading or beneath the interpresays, and but the readerinstead"picks about fivewords at randomout of twenty tation, to these five words" at that the [BGE meaning probably belongs 192]), 'guesses' we perceivewhatwe of our eyes, rather we tendto see notwhatis actuallyin front thanregistering what is different and new in an already"know" or believe: "rather of a thingas obvious and Nietzschedrawsa parallelto our perception impression." staticas a tree.He argues thateven withregardto such a sizeable object of everywe misapprehend the treeitself, neverseeing it "exactlyand comday perception, 25 Nietzsche "auchdieWissenschaft was derMensch immer thut, writes, gethan: "Genug," zur benutzen vonsich, als wahr allesAnderen etwas das ihmals verstandlich, gilt, Erklarung - Vermenschlichung insumma" (XI, 191). - Umwandlung derNatur in Begriffe zumZweckderBeherrschung der "Wissenschaft - dasgehort indieRubrik 'Mittel'" Natur (XI, 194). 27See Nietzsche's comment in "UberWahrheit undLuge":"Was weissder well-known von sich vermdchte er auch nur sich einmal Mensch selbst! Ja, hingeeigentlich vollstandig, zu percipiren? die Natur ihmnicht Glasskasten, Verschweigt legtwie in einenerleuchteten uberseinen uminn,abseits von denWindungen derGedardas Allermeiste, selbst Korper, Fluss derBlutstrome, denverwickelten in ein stolzes me,demraschen Fasererzitterungen, undeinzuschliessen! denSchliissel Bewusstsein zu barmen Sie warf weg..." gauklerisches (1,875; cf.1,755).
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withreference to leaves, twigs,color, and form;it is so verymuch easier pletely, forus to phantasizesome approximation of a tree." Thus whetherconfronted by routineimpressionsor "in the midstof the strangest experienceswe still do the same: we make up the major partof the experience..." (BGE 192). We overlook, overleap,and so inventour experiencein general(forNietzsche,we are "accustoto the med to lying").And thiscircumstance is not ameliorated by addingreference wild of inof that are too minor to attract our notice the variety complexity things sects and spidersand plasmodiaestreaming on thebarkof thesame treeor crawling in thejungles at our feet. and flying As Ryogi Okochi28has rightly underlinedin his comparisonof Nietzsche's object forhuconceptionof natureand Easternviews, natureis not a correlevant man comprehension.29 And as Erwin Chargaffremindsus (and althoughChardate back to thescientifically antedeluvian age of 1969, thisis the gaff'scomments of recent the new rage forgenetic subtext Richard Lewontin's criticisms of patient the more from the scientific we learn of nature most comprehensive determinism), - thatis, on the orderof the biology thatreveals a farmore complex perspective Hence, regarding image of naturethanphysicscan suggest- the less we know.30 the world as will to power to all eternity, i.e., namingnatureas chaos, Nietzsche naturein itself(this emphasizesbothits distancefromour capacityto comprehend is Nietzsche's routineKantianism)and its inherent creativity (again, recallingthe and on archaic Greek conceptionof chaos). As chaos, natureitselfis interpretive with wills thissame level, nature itselfis invention, replete subjectivities, (thatis to as in Nietzsche this radical a late note: say, "everycenterof expresses very point forceadopts a perspective vatowardthe entireremainder, i.e., its own particular mode of action,and mode of resistance. . ." [XIII, 371]31and, in theorganic luation, ... is the Nietzsche had earlierwritten: "the entirety world,more conservatively, of beings withinvented littleworlds about them:in thattheyimpose interweaving external world" habitsas their desire,their upon outerexperiencetheir power,their and [XI, 590]). Nature as a whole is constantand thoroughgoing interpretation
28 aus ostlicher 17 (1988): Sicht," Nietzsche-Studien, RyogiOkochi,"Nietzsches Naturbegriff 108-124. There is a superficialconcord between this assertionand Parmenideanpresumption, forNietzsche,it is the unthinkability of naturethatcalls forthephibut,contraParmenides, Natureis neither the coordinatenor the correspondent losopher's attention. object of human
knowing writesthateven if "thereis stillplentyof scope forthe year 2069 [theessay Chargaff was written in 1969, so theauthoradds:] and even 2169. But can we reallybelieve thatifwe keep on ploddingforanother200 years or so, suddenlysubmicroscopicangels will be seen a sign, 'Now you know all about nature'?Actually,knowledgeof natureis an excarrying of ignorance,a concept pandinguniverse,continually creatingever greatercircumferences thatcan be expressedin thewords,'the morewe know,theless we know.'" Erwin Chargaff, "The Paradox of Biochemistry" Ch. One, Voices in theLabyrinth, p. 5. 31 Cf. the preceeding: "Als ob eine Welt noch ubrig bliebe, wenn man das Perspektivischeabrechnete! Damit hattemanja die Relativitatabgerechnet, das -" (XIII, 371).
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- and notonly of which center of force "necessary perspectivism by virtue every man construes all therestof theworldfrom itsownviewpoint, i.e., measures, to itsownforce" measure andgiving feels, forms, according (XIII, 373).32 Giving andreacting: nature is art. form, testing, from to end,everything turns on thequestion ofart for NietzIndeed, beginning sche.The difference between theartof thehuman andtheartof nature is thedifference between theartlessartof nature and the (whichlacksall purposiveness) artof human invention that is bothartistically consummate artful (or artful art)or - kitsch, else poorly executed or aesthetically artificial orfar-too-, all-too-artful art.Onlycultured, and especially theartof practical, or technical, purposiveness is able to name itself it art does not do techne, always so). Everything (although or be it nature, lacksartistic as artless or natural art. else,be it God33 awareness, Thissameartlessness is ultimately thekeyto the(active)creative Hence process. Nietzsche with Kant'sclaimthat thehighest artis theartlessness that is (or agrees - hence tobe) an unconscious ornatural art unaware itis ordoes. ofwhat appears Thisonemaynameinnocence. It is Nietzsche's this this innocence, goaltorecover The result forhuman wouldbe a renaruralized naturalness, creativity. humanity on thebasisof a redeemed liberated to itschaosorinnature, onlypossible (itself from the dependence human).34 theorigin ofknowledge in error and From to end,Nietzsche affirms beginning in art.Thusin an early reflection on thisproband hence, or ultimately, illusion, theidealbeauties ofperceived andhe paints nadescribes lem,Nietzsche "nature," in thefollowing words:"It was evening: air streaming withthe turalsublimity ofevergreen, one's gaze opened outupongrey mountain snowshimscent ranges, And blue skies" to on above, becalmed, mering high, (VII, 468). contrary spanning ofthis albeit vistainterms ofthesenses thestraightforward, poetic, descriptiveness in an encounter with thekind themselves ofma(i.e.,thesenseof smellandsight - think continue to identify with "nature" we romantically enough jesticlandscape of theCasparDavid Friedrich FromtheSummit: Traveller Over Looking painting
32 iiberden ganzen "Meine Vorstellungist, daB jeder spezifischeKorper danach strebt, Raum Herrzu werdenund seine Kraftauszudehnen(- sein Wille zur Macht:) und Alles das Aber er stoBtfortwahrend auf gleiche was seinerAusdehnungwiderstrebt. zuriickzustoBen, andererKorperund endet,sich mitdenen zu arrangiren Bestrebungen ('vereinigen'),welche ihm verwandtgenug sind: - so conspiriren sie dann zusammenzur Macht. Und der ProzeB . ." (XIII, 373-4). gehtweiter. Where God today is far more absent fromtoday's sensibilities thancould have been of and forthe Death of God in the requiemsung in imaginedin Nietzsche's announcement The Gay Science or parodied in Also sprach Zarathustra,or mournedin Beyond Good and Evil or TheAntichrist or exactlynihilistically But, Nietzsche makes thishis goal because most perniciously in the humancase, anothergenre of artlessness bad conscience,a thoubetraysa singularly the ghtlessmeconnaissance,lacking all innocence: as the reactivewill thatseeks to arrogate for itselfalone and to impose that scheme upon all others,by the rightof interpretation expedientof callingitsinterpretation (its ideal, itsvision of God) truth.
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edition ofR. J.Hollingdale's transthe notonly thePenguin Sea ofFog that graces lationof Nietzsche'sautobibliography, Ecce Homo but whichmanyviewers Nietzsche chalan actualrendering of Nietzsche himself), automatically imagine Thatrefusal of of nature. of anysuchpureor direct lengesthereality perception as us is thepoint(Kantian unfiltered or direct senseaccess to theworldaround the of "realist" well as psychological) of his teasing assault percepupon sobriety Thatcloud there! tionof the"real"worldin The Gay Science:"Thatmountain " of thiskindwe there! Whatis 'real' in that?" (GS 57) ForNietzsche, - A thing it witha tender never see as it is in itself, butalwaysoverlay spirit-membrane are roused ourown feelings is whatwe see instead. Inherited that sensations, by - to thisextent, thevery of ourselves suchthings of nature. We see something morethana concept world itself is ourrepresentation, indeed, mountains, Forest, a piece of ourselves" butour own experience and ourown history: (VIII, 468). There is no world from whathe explicates againand againas theinsensible apart Andchaosmust alitself. chaosofoursensations andtheveritable chaosofnature it is but for be ordered. For this describes Nietzsche, us, ordinary ways perception, truth ofa world touch thechaotic anditis nottrue becauseitcannot interpretation or excess.This is from our imposed a worldof abundance apart interpretations, that for whatHeidegger witha seemingly formula, asserting captures paradoxical derWahrheit:9]35 istVerfehlung "Truth is thelackoftruth" Nietzsche, ["Wahrheit aletheic character of WhatHeidegger meansto underscore hereis the exactly and of of truth Nietzsche's and his critique perception critique phenomenological Nietzsche withtacitcontradiction Thus Heidegger is notcharging experience. the truth that the there is no truth. Instead very concerning claiming question (as true) ofpossible as prerequisite ofnature an inquiry into theconditions perception requires orourselves). conditions ofthe ofknowledge very possibility (be itofnature Unlike theconventions we lacktheaxiomatic ofnegative theology, prerogative needed as we arenot(although to assert that nature be defined simply everything this is themost common that is: it ofourpresent humanism, biologistic assumption is thestill-standing in thedebate between andculture nature concerning opposition thegenetic of human The ideal thatremains is theideal of component nature). conscious is a creation. Nature as art, qua anthropomorphic qua artifice, projection, and that of drives, forces, projection beginswiththesavage perception powers, in nature forms which continues with the anddreaming fantasy (mythic invention), Christian convention ofnature as thetrace ofGod's handiwork as itmaybe seenin both St.Thomas's fifth andin Galileo'sexpression, as the demonstration theological bookof nature, in divinely written As much as a mathematical symbols. painting, 35 "DieWahrheit Inder ist der Wahrheit. Verfehlung unzweideutigen Wesensbestimmung also derWahrheit als Irrtum wird die Wahrheit zweimal und anders, notwendig jedesmal einmal als Festmachung undzumandern als EinstimdesBestandigen zweideutig gemacht: mit dem Wirklichen. Nur dieses Wesens der Wahrheit alsEinunter migkeit Zugrundelegung kann dieWahrheit einIrrtum sein... alsAngleichung andas als Bestandigkeit stimmigkeit Wirkliche .." NI,p.620-621. und alsEinstimmigkeit mit ihm, als6|ioicoaic bestimmt.
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in words, as muchas Nietzsche's of nature as much as mythic or relidescription scientific areart. giousexpressions, expressions Natureand Illusion:The Interpretive Dynamic worldof everyday and theoretically Nietzsche invokes thesimplified mediated in a of aesthetic even the case ofscienas matter sensible, "refinement," perceptions entities are creatively, ce. Scientific laws and scientific aesthetically (inventively) differences remark: "andthelittle uponthebasisofflattened (Nietzsche's possible underlines that of error," "standard deintoaccount" errors do notenter "margins of "curve technifinesse areexactly andthetheoretical viation," fitting" operative thesesame"little" andtaking or discounting forexcluding mistakes), ques useful intoaccount, thus suchexclusion bracketing potential excep(calculably) precisely andempirical measAs science tions.36 theory pure operates uponthelevelsofboth technician or artisan of exactitude. theoretical the scientist is a ure, variable is andcan be imposed means exactitude uponan empirically By these inthe thePlatonic idealoftruth world. Scienceis thetechnique (art)ofuncovering So far from the andexperimentally). world theoretically praising phenomenal (both critiof chaos/nature, Nietzsche achievements of scienceas suchtechnites/zrtiszn - naming an "error" science ofscience oftheartifice justas questheflatfootedness of 'the smallest of "theprinciple to thepursuit it as dedicated he characterizes takes this effort' andthegreatest stupidity" (BGE 14). Nietzsche possible possible of science's"grofitmoglichen as he does (speaking extreme claimto itshyperbolic scientific faith, byitsunquestioning justbecauseourerais earmarked Dummheif) andreligious between scientific oftheputative as we recallhiscritique opposition faith in the ofOn TheGenealogy sections idealsin theclosing ofMorals?1where of asceticideals,i.e., asceticideal of all, i.e., themostefficacious latest, greatest claimsof scifaith. ForNietzsche, faith in sciencereplaces theveritable religious scientific are natural truth entific knowledge claims) objective, (conventionalized^ "truth." an non-constructed artificial claims non-artistic, asserting exactly artlessly
36 and hence as it were, And yet science hardlydenies what it thus discards thereby, both the absolute ideal and of the scientist, science has it "both ways": fromthe perspective thepurviewof science theempiricalreal belong within 37 See Paul Valadier's - to date, too littlereceived (by the Nietzsche scholarshipthat, on re-inventmore thanotherphilosophicexpositionsof a secondarykind,seems hell-bent in the work of theauthors that of a blithe disinterest the wheel means, including by every ing Nietzsche:U athee de rigueur(Paris: who sharetheirown researchconcerns)earlierstudies, Desclee de Brower, 1975) and Nietzsche et la critiquedu christianisme (Paris: Editions du Cerf,1974). See also his recentessay "Science as New Religion" in B. Babich, ed., in cooand Philosophyof Science, (Dordrecht: perationwith R.S. Cohen, Nietzsche,Epistemology, betweenscience and religion Kluwer, 1999), pp. 241-252. 1 discuss the specificconjunction as instancesof the ascetic ideal as ChapterFive, "Nietzsche's Genealogy of Science" in my book, Nietzsche's Philosophyof Science and in a recentessay, "Nietzsche's CriticalTheory of Science as Art."Divinatio, 10 Autumn/Winter (1999): 51-76.
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notoftheidealworld Nietzsche's derives from hisdedication to thetruth exigence the ofmathematizable butthevery realorchaotic world.38 Forifwe admit science, concordance artandtruth, ofart(interpretation) andnature between ortheidentity to propose stillbroader or perspectival), it becomes (as itself interpretive possible sucha vistasfornatural sciencealthough, to date,onlyHeidegger has explored a would Because such science hermeneutically phenomenological perspective.39 notyield tomodern techno-science's and calculative desire for reduction predictive and manipulation, of nature and artleads himto Nietzsche's search forthetruth "the ofthevalueoftruth" problem (BGE 1). Nietzsche thetendentious distinction between subject challenges grammatical lifeanddeath.41 andobject, activeandpassive,40 and and even organic inorganic, he can answer, Thuswhenhe asks,"if theperspectival is an essential property" "thiswouldbe possibleif all beingwereessentially a perceiving something..." reflection: we can reada subsequent however, light, "Assuming, (XII, 188). In this that we assigncertain we haveforgotten that we werethe valuesto things, after thesesamevaluesin turn workbackwards givers, uponus" (XII, 192). Because
38Nietzsche's knowattention to theduplicity of science addresses thelimits ofreflective We arenotas successful as LewisCarroll's for we areunable topass"through heroine, ledge. thelooking as thereflective ofwhat we know: "Versuchen ourvery selves, glass"into ground wirdenSpiegel an sichzu betrachten, Nichts als die Dingeaufihm. so entdecken wirendlich als aufdenSpiegel. Wollen wirdie Dingefassen, so kommen wirzuletzt wieder aufNichts, Dies istdie allgemeinste derErkenntniss" to the Geschichte (M 243; 3, 202_3).In a preface sametext written halfa decadelater, Nietzsche wouldspeculate on whatit couldmeanfor Kantto reflect on reflection: "Wares nicht etwassonderbar zu verlangen, dass ein critically seineeigene selbst Trefflichkeit undTauglichkeit kritisiren solle?dassderIntellekt Werkzeug seinen seineKraft, seineGrenzen 'erkennen' solle?war es nicht Werthe, sogarein wenig he concludes, "DerIntellekt kann sichnicht notes, widersinnig?" (M:iii;3, 13) In hisNachlafi selbst . . . umdenIntellekt zu kritisiren, wireinhoheres ErkenWesenmit vabsoluter kritisiren, ntniB' sein mufiten" (XII,188). the or"true" scienHeideggerian questioning yields only perhaps possible aletheiological ce - a possibility himself inthis samecontext. "Wereinmal vorZeiten sich Heidegger suggests einfallen lieB zu sagen,die Wissenschaft konneihrWesen nurbehaupten, indemsie es aus einemursprunglichen zuriickgewinne Fragen,der mu6 in einersolcherLage sich ausnehmen wieeinNarr undZerstbrer derWissenschaft; denn dieFragen nachdenGriinden doch[justas Nietzsche werimmer nachdenGriinden dergeht zu Grunde] bringt says, fragt, innere fur welches Vorhaben derwirksame NameNihilismus zu Gebote steht" Zermiirbung, ironic hasmore than a bitincommon with Nietzsche's (Nl, 362).Heidegger's suggestion provocative to theconvictions of scientific theessence andprochallenge philosophy regarding ofthe sciences. gress 40"Die Menschheit hatzu alienZeiten das Activum undPassivum es istihr verwechselt, Schnitzer." M 121. ewiger grammatikalischer 41"Das LebendeistnureineArtdes Todten..." (GS 109). Cf. Nietzsche's chemically observation in "Der Ubergang aus derWeltdes Anorganischen in die des Organiinspired schen istderaus festen derKraftwerthe undMachtverhaltnisse in die der Wahrnehmungen - weileineVielheit unbestimmten vonmiteinander Wesen(=Protounsicheren, kampfenden sichderAusenwelt fuhlt." plasma) gegeniiber (XI, 537).
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center of force a perspective toward theentire remainder ..." (XIII, "every adopts a reciprocity between andperspectives. there is always interpretations 371),42 initssubinteraction oftheworld conceived On thebasisoftherelational both inand as Will to and ultimate dimensions its interactive Power, jective objective viewed the inside be 'willtopower' volvement with itself world from ... itwould ("the canwrite: andnothing else.-" [BGE36]),Nietzsche
it producesand thatwhichit resists. The A quantumof power is designatedby theeffect it is and is is thinkable. It a will to violate state essentially though adiaphorous missing, the whole to defendoneself againstviolation.Not self-preservation: every atom affects of powerwill. (XIII, 258) of being- it is thought away ifone thinks away thisradiation
- "from theastheinside" as Nietzsche To conceive theworld says- notfrom be seenaccording to its butrather as theworld ofourowninterest might sumption in effect, be to construct theobject andvaried collective interests, would, subjectiThisis Nietzsche's vely. perspectivalism.43 is a systematic of insensitive vision object-nature Today's demythologized, in the West and the illusion of science of the cultural enlightenment's expression of thesobriety nature revealed vision of a mechanical reverse through mythological anditsideal theprivilege ofthesubject Herewe note that scientific sophistication.44 areno purposes, that there "Onceyouknow areerrors ofobjectivity you (delusions): In vision ofthe . ." Nietzsche's is no accident. know that there also world, (GS 109).45 to ofnature's Butintheidealorder aredissociated. andpurpose conformity necessity is without there this accident. Without is what ideal, law, purpose, purpose opposes remains. its archaic chance noaccident andonly necessity) (with Chaos sivenatura - "Towards theprofor of a sketch Also sprachZarathustra In thecontext - he Chaos sive natura first invocation of of Nietzsche's of new art life"a jection
42 intoa cosmos suitableforhumanunderof a "chaos" of sensations The transformation but it is nonetheless an effective symbolicconstruction standing may be an arbitrary phantasy ' dieserAktionen" das Gesammtspiel of theworld:"die Welt' istnurein Wortfur (XDI, 371). "Die Mechanik als eine Lehre der Bewegung ist bereitseine Ubersetzungin die Sinposition adopts an interpretive nensprachedes Menschen" (XIII, 258). The perspectivalist and the the objective as well: "jedes Atom extending beyond subjective beyond perspective also entails is interpretation wirktin das ganze Sein hinaus" (ibid.). To say thateverything of theworld. transformation our own interpretive thatour view of theworldeffects aims of may well advance the (seeminglycontrary) Ergo, a deliberateself-diminution exaggeratedegoism. The range of this egoism is expressedby what Nietzsche names "Zu- taken,to be sure in a more Sartreanor modernistically banal sense schauer-Gottlichkeit" thanNietzsche's originalemphasis. "Als ich den Zweck dachte,dachteich auch den Zufall. Es muB moglichsein die Welt nach Zwecken und die Welt durch Zufall zu erklaren:ebenso als Denken, ebenso als Wollen, ebenso als Bewegung, ebenso als Ruhe: ebenso als Gott und ebenso als Teufel. Denn das Alles istdas Ich" (X, 162).
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to us" [XII, 19]). The enlightenment ideal of a liberation fromtutelage(self-or otherwise impothe human contribution from the world of both psychological sed), extracting objective perception, simply cannot be (psycho-social) projectionand putatively who highlighted the inseparable achieved,as Netzsche sees it. Unlike Protagoras, celebrates contribution of the humanto all epistemicendeavors,Nietzsche neither nor, like Xenophanes,does he mockinglyemphasize (or even seek to subvertas avant la lettre)the inevitablehuman contribution thatis a part of postmodernist is morecomplicated.Nietzany and all natural knowingbecause his own ambition sche's goal is nothingless than the goal of stylized,conscious, art: "we want to take whatwe need from[nature], in orderto dreamabove and beyondthe human. more than the storm,and the mountainrange, and the sea Something grandiose shouldarise-andyetbornfrom humanity!" (X, 415). Nietzsche's artistic vision sees a transformed in the lightof artprehumanity both the of and abundant nature its excess: chaos sive supposing unknowability natura.If theform of thislast expressionis a parodyof Spinoza's deus sive natura - accusing (Nietzsche criticizesSpinoza's formulaas a confessionof sensibility and other of a Spinoza literally metaphysicians higher"feeling" [GS 372] on the formula of a mysticreturn to natureand the backgroundof "ChristlicheVertrauensseligkeif [XII, 129]), itselfderived in turnfromDescartes' equation of God and the thingsof the world {MeditationVI), the core of Nietzsche's chaos sive natura is Kantian,echoing Nietzsche's rebuketo the Stoic ideal46- yokingRous- in the contextof the mechanistic seau with Spinoza,47Comte with Christianity music box thatis the eternalrepetition of a world where as he claims, more than concealing a hidden or obscure,god, "even the capacity for eternalnovelty... is missing"(XI, 556). Nietzsche's chaos sive natura (or natura sive chaos) substitutes what Heidega deconstructs as "truer" an aletheic account forthe conof nature ger (in sense)48
has only two - occurs in a passage from1881, parsedwithmusical allusion to Beethoven: "Firstbook in the styleof the first movementof the NinthSymphony." Thus theconceptualsummary: the dehumanisation "Chaos sive natura: 're-garding of nature'" (IX, 519), offers an expressionof the first movement of thisprojected new way of life.Nietzsche's perspective hereis notto be confusedwiththeenlightenment vision of de-anthropomorphisation proposingto undo or else to deny the of the "humanisation of nature" efficacy according [ofnature] (i.e., "- interpretation
46Nietzche "Mitwelcher Wucht derUeberzeugung derantike writes, glaubte dagegen an dasAll undan dieVernunftigkeit Stoiker desAlls!"(1,208). "Riickkehr zurNatur" 1. seineStationen: christliche Hintergrund Vertrauensseligkeit schon (ungefahr Spinoza"deussivenatura"!)" (XII, 129). "Die Wahrheit undderUnterschied undscheinbarer von "wahrer Welt" Heidegger, This is thekindof critique that witha sideline in logiccould (NS1, 616ff). onlya thinker Foras Heidegger readsNietzsche's account of truth he traces itbackto an inherent profer. and essential ambivalence: "Die Wahrheit istVerfehlung In derunzweideuderWahrheit.
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Natureexceeds humancompreof nature.49 falsification ventionalreligio-scientific to thehuman,51 such chaos is intrinsic hension50 yet,forNietzsche,simultaneously, thatis: indeed,he is himin commonwitheverything who himseli has something nature"(XIII, 193). selfa piece of reality, truth, is to be One's own chaos, and thepower of artas thepowerof illusionor lying, is excess, conopposed to whatwe perceive as the cosmos itself.For nature/chaos To live in such a and all the seductionsof appearanceor falsity. tradiction, cruelty and illusion: chaos without seeingit,to enduresuch a worldof conflict . . Andhe is one tobe sure: he must aboveall be an artist. be a liarbynature, manmust - all of them to ofhiswillto art, science onlyproducts morality, religion, metaphysics, he thanks to which Thisability of "truth." to negation from itself, "truth," lie,to flight - he has in of manpar excellence violates ability by meansof lies,thisartistic reality nature: all a pieceof reality, is after that is. He himself with common truth, everything inlying? henotalsobe a pieceofgenius howshould (XIII, 193) - revision of humanity artistic a stylized, Beginningwiththe task of creating Nietzsche which of the achievement a work of as human art, i.e., workingthe "expressesas theexigentability To 'give style' to one's charachter a greatand rareart"(GS 290), Nietzsche's demandpresupposesthe prerequisite projectof gireconceived now nature of to our re-naturalized), (de-deified, perception ving style as the art of science, as the projectof knowingthe world. Because science is art of conceptualopantipodeaccordingto the usual schematism (and not the artistic or artto nature, of invention thecontributions thetaskof acknowledging posites),52 of the task of re-aestheticizing science, worksbackwardupon the presuppositions art. work of as a oneself of thefirst task,namelythechallenge creating primary
wird die Wahrheitnotwendigzweimal der Wahrheitals Irrtum tigen Wesensbestimmung und jedesmal anders, also zweideutig gedacht". See especially Heidegger's discussion of dieses Wesens der Nur unterZugrundelegung in Nietzsche's thought: truth as 6|ioia)aig sein. Dieses im ein Irrtum kann die Wahrheitals Bestandigkeit als Einstimmigkeit Wahrheit im metaphyvon altersher das ist Wahrheit der Wesen jenes, zugrundegelegte Irrtumsbegriff mit ihm, als sischen Denken als Angleichung an das Wirkliche und als Einstimmigkeit wird"(NI, 620-619). 6 |i o 10) o i <; bestimmt both to the Stoics and to the romantic which Nietzsche attributes This falsification, is an imof nature.Cf. VIII, 405. Qua chaos, nature as a "mythologization" vision of nature, Nietzsche live not could the Stoic with which in accord an (as excess, possible abundance, ohne Maass, ohne Maass, gleichgiiltig challenges) because no one could: "verschwenderisch und ode und fruchtbar ohne Erbarmenund Gerechtigkeit, ohne Absichtenund Rucksichten, selbstals Macht.. ." (BGE, 9). ungewisszugleich,denkteuch die Indifferenz das Unnaturliche?" vermochte die Ziele der Naturund wer iiberhaupt "Wer kennt (VII, der der Verneinung der absoluten man bei "unerbittlichen and Forderung Logik langte 199) Naturan." (XII, 541). 51 "ist dennder Stoikernichtein StuckNatur?"(V, 21). "- Diese von uns erfundene von den sogenannten practiDichtungwird fortwahrend in Fleisch und Wirkwie gesagt) eingelernt, schen Menschen(unsernSchauspielern eingeiibt, ubersetzt." lichkeit, (GS, 301) ja Alltaglichkeit
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Natureas Art We haveseen that theimageof thenature calls chaos emphasizes Nietzsche lessitslackoforder than itsexcess:nature, thesublime, theLacanian Real: beyond uncountenanceable.53 The alternative to thisvisionof nature (as chaosto all eterturns outto be nottheenlightenment visionof sciencequa theobjectifying nity) of nature" but rather and exactly thenaturalization of "de-anthropomorphisation theartist.54 Nietzsche's in The "When will we our Science, question Gay complete de-deification ofnature?" theproject ofthe wisdom that renatuinaugurates joyful ralizes in andon theterms of"a pure, redeemed discovered, humanity newly newly nature" (GS 109).55 The chaos or nature heredescribed is thewild,untamed, and uncontrollable force or aorgic, to divine, (Holderlin's apeiron nature) opposed themilder fantasy Nietzsche ascribes totheStoicsoras maybe gleaned from garden variety readings of Rousseau, or today'secological to thesurface of this pharasaicism. Appealing excessin nature, Nietzsche's works themselves thesameextraordinary metadeploy This is theresplendence of autumn in theepigraph phors. perfection epitomized with which Nietzsche hisEcce Homo,a dayofpureclarity andbenediction, begins an abundantly "when: has become when theaccident perfect day everything ripe," of a him allows to see his whole life lit up by a (grace) pellucidatmosphere - thebackwards brilliance andforwards illumination ofgratitude and transfiguring And Nietzsche seemsevento remember theexactday of suchbrilliant blessing. themorning after thethird of September on 1888,in his44th clarity: yearoflife,56 theoccasion of finishing theworkon Twilight oftheIdols,"whenin themorning after this I stepped I found outside me theloveliest writing awaiting daytheOberhad ever shown me - transparent, in itscolours, in -Engadin glowing containing itself mediant of ice and south." "I have,"he concluded, antithesis, every every "never suchan autumn, norhavethought ofthesort experienced anything possible - a ClaudeLorrain on earth on to of thought infinity, every day thesameexcessive -" (EH, Twilight). perfection. Themetaphors for ofautumn and transfigured, resplendent gold, metaphors glory aremetaphors ofexcess, for thewild, abundance, heedless, unimaginable profligacy of nature, like theriches of thesun at evening, thejoyful visionof shining gold
For discussionof Lacan's uncannyregister of the Real and Nietzsche's conceptionof see theauthor's"On theOrderof theReal: Nietzscheand Lacan." Cited above. nature, "mit Menschlichemwollen wir die Naturdurchdringen und sie von gottlicher Mummereierlosen."(X, 415). The transformation of a "chaos" of sensations intoa cosmos suitableforhumanundersbutit is nonetheless an effective of tanding maybe an arbitrary phantasy symbolicconstruction theworld:"die 'Welt' istnurein Wortfur das Gesammtspiel dieserAktionen" (XHI, 371). We mustimagine that,in 1888, Nietzsche,born in 1844, had to thinkof the significance of such redoublednumbers, althoughhe himselfwould not "turn"or finishhis forty-fourth of October,1888. yearuntilthe 15th
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in that to thefuture of human Nietzsche invokes beautifully provocative challenge in TheGayScience, he asksnot what couldbe like(we know where culture blessing butitwouldreally taketobe able toblessin thefaceofevilordisappointment that) to live one's ideal in an age dominated or certain by one's own dying suffering, in wake a and still to to on the of to lose love loss,in love, fight dream, unspeakable inthe no prospect for more success than that sameloss.Thusspeaking a battle with that wouldbe requisite of thediamond hardness forsucha mostextreme fashion describes thecoreofhislifelong futural "humaneness" project (GS 337),Nietzsche than bloodand vioto human nature itself. and idealof giving Here,rather style and manifold or gold as themultifarious or shining lence,he namesresplendence Thefeeling is a newfeeling for art. ofthepossibility for harvest colors life, eternity, andlove,full oftears and ofa godfullofpower "thehappiness happiness: godlike thesamebenediction that he givesto ofbenediction, that is thehappiness laughter," this is a happiness outin affixed toEcce homo: hisownlifein theepigraph poured its inexhaustible in bestows "like the sun the riches, abundance, continually evening, as thesun does,onlywheneventhe them intothesea, feeling richest, pouring with oars!" is still fisherman (GS 337). rowing golden poorest a metaphorical discussion if now we turn from thiscreative To suggest vision, we andplastic arts of thepictorial to theexample as art, of nature (and recallthat anddantheatre art music and therewith includes the of himself Nietzsche always Nietzsche's and of abundant last ideal to this be able we happiness explore may ce), - thus in the thehuman character to thehuman of giving re-creating style project ofart ornature. light of hisBirth visionat theconclusion this Nietzsche The imagethat of givesfor it is the of and one is a atmosphere: bodily, experiential space Tragedy thoroughly oflife reflection themusical on one's being, andarchitecture ofsculpture working for us: now"invents" Nietzsche intheGreece off that wascut a horizon Ionic under colonnades, by looking uptoward lofty Walking marble in the his reflections of noble and lines, shining transfigured shape finding pure human ordelicately him andall around at hisside, beings, moving solemnly striding - (BT 25) ofgestures ina rhythmic voices and with harmonious language speaking - on thedimenhere schematic constellation on this I cannot saymore Although ofthepolisin antiquityitmaybe enough aesthetics is thepolitical that sionality or merely see a plastic one maynotsimply to recallthat gaze upon,contemplate, the as seeing), in seeing seenbyas much oneself work ofart. Instead, (being seeing as a guest on thevisitor thespacearound claims statue's it,thus installing plasticity and hence within its own in to own its terms, response it, caughtinto, space faceontheLaokoon, seeninperson, Thisis thereason byitsownorbit. captured indeedand outof doors- couldexercise seen in theRenaissance: as it was first claimon those who endimensional a literally It exerted effect.57 sucha galvanic 57 that itcould so very influential wasitself andtobe sure, Pliny's description Though, a seefor hasbeen named the institution ofwhat itstood behind that be claimed classicism,
244
Babette E. Babich
countered it forothers in theseecstatic This is thereason terms. it,or described Holderlin couldhavereacted he did)to a primal encounter (as apocrypha suggests withthe sightof classical(however we would say: inaudecadent, derivative, statues thegardens ofa private villain France. The statue, thentic) passing through under like the broken and archaic torso immortalised heaven, especially demanding in Rilke'spoem, an irrestible utters thechange that an entire soimperative, urging couldnotthen and stillcannot master. One is as muchseenby as one sees. ciety One is claimed, intothedimensional round of the itself, transported by thestatue tension. TTius thecontemporary viewer can also be poised, ifonly, for sculpture's ourtechnologized in a dimrecollection of thewayin which theHelsensibilities, lenewouldhavehad no choicebutto be set against, in opposition arched to the measure of thestatue.58 ThusNietzsche's remarks refer notonlyto the"staearly tueas theenchantment ofa soulin stone,"59 butto"concealment oftragedy (likethe world ofthestatue)."60 AndGadamer's bestdiscussion of artis a reflection on the Rilkean that is art's command: must "You life." To follow imperative your change thisimperative is thelegacyandthepromise of a phenomenological hermeneutics ofart suchas may be seen, inHeidegger orMerleau-Ponty. Nietzsche, beyond The Naturalization ofHumanity as Art forhis part, as theoretically modest as a phenoNietzsche, proposes nothing hermeneutics or philosophy of art.Instead Nietzsche's is the menological problem ofthecreation ofthework ofart, andthus hismany remind us problem interpreters that his is an artist's aesthetics. the traditional between nature Beyond opposition and culture, as thetraditional of Biidung, whichtraditionally question represents thehuman as other than nature Nietzsche (and,aboveall as "something higher,") to reconcile andculture, nature andthat a delibeis,to makeofhumanity proposes rate work of artandthis, of course, is whatNietzsche names thegrand This style. at onceaffirms ourplacein nature and ourdisposition as artists ofconcepproject tion, and, sensation/perception. Nietzsche art as a means totheredemption ofboth nature andthepart proposes ofnature that is thehuman thede-anthropomorphisation ofnature "Mytask: being: andthen therenaturalization ofhumanity, after he haswonthepure of'naconcept ture'"(IX, 525). This is morethana matter of describing a parallel between the human andnature creative chaosofabundance and (as homo naturd) (as a dynamic butrather ofundoing theobstacles torecognizing as what ourselves we are chance) who we these are the obstacles to a naturalized hu(as are), very achieving newly ofthis initshistorical encounter context: Simon Richter's Laocoon's and description Body
the Aesthetics Goethe. State ofPain: Winckelmann, Herder, Moritz, Lessing, (Detroit: Wayne Press, University 1992). 58Cf. (1,581) andKSA 11,sgl.25 [1011. 59KSA 22 8, 60KSA sgl. 7 [36]. 7, sigl. [15];cf.KSA 9, sigl.7 [101].
NlE TZSCHE 'S CHAOS SIVENA TURA
245
theprojections ofhumanizing on thebasisofa renaturalized nature, beyond manity themyths of reason:"The human to what including beingis thewitness myth, a smallbeingofmanifold ... content canbe setin motion through gigantic powers in theculminating stars"(XII, 40). Thus Nietzsche writes Beingsthat play with GoodandEvil: sections ofBeyond inman areunited: there is material, Inman creature andcreator excess, clay, fragment, there is alsocreator, butin man hardness, hammer, chaos; dirt, nonsense, form-giver, and seventh day. divinity, (BGE225) spectator theorder The meaning of chaosis an originally creative conception, imposed ininvention andart, andreflection is theworking ofhuman on chaosbysensation ofrenaturalizing artof science. Thustheproject thecalculative, cluding predictive of nature that reNietzsche says,theredeemed conception humanity presupposes, excessor of unfathomable as chaos.Thisrestoration itscreative abundance stores orwhat ofbecoming. Thusamorfati, theinnocence chaosalso restores Heidegger is the of Nietzsche's in another calls Gelassenheit context, deanthropomorpoint reworked ofthehuman ofnature" as thenaturalization as, rebeinghere phisation a work of to become But to oneself a work of art. or become created as, style, give have must "I tell one of chaos: over the raw one must art, you: power yetdispose havechaosinyou." I tellyou:youstill star. to a dancing chaosin one,togivebirth culture of in thedecadent sacrificed chaosis thepowerincreasingly Thiscreative to one's ownbe recalled writes that one must Nietzsche it is thereason nihilism: crebutbecoming, notofmere as thepossibility intrinsic being most, possibilities, is what and hence for is love this must be learnt What andsacrifice. ation, growth, cullife and to the to one's to one's character artandfor needed for style giving on his lifeas an his own reflections subtitles ThusNietzsche ture of thehuman. to oneself, recalled OneIs. Forifone canbe thus How OneBecomesWhat author: - andin thisdivine - thesunat evening we star is a dancing theresult happiness, toknow ourselves. human begin might beings

Chaos Sive Natura: Nietzsche ' S Evening Gold and The Dancing Star, Babette E. Babich

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Chaos Sive Natura: Nietzsche ' S Evening Gold and The Dancing Star, Babette E. Babich

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Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia

Chaos sivenatura: Nietzsche's

NY - USA). Fordham ofPhilosophy, University (NewYork, Department

Nietzsche 's Chaos sive na tura

Nietzsche 's Chaos sive na tura

Nietzsche 's Chaos sive natura

Nietzsche 's Chaos sive na tura

Nietzsche 's Chaos sive natura

Nietzsche 's Chaos sive natura

Nietzsche 's Chaossivenatura

Nietzsche 's Chaos sive na tura

Nietzsche 's Chaossivenatura

NlE TZSCHE 'S CHAOS SIVENA TURA

Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001), 225-245

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