Freedom, Resistance, Agency

Abstract

When we encounter a resistance and have to give in, we feel unfree, when we do not give in but compel it to give in to us, free. I.e., it is this feeling of our increase of force, which we name 'freedom of the will': the conscious awareness that our force compels, in relation to a force that is compelled. (NL 1885, KSA 11, 34[250]) 1 I can handle myself in the same way as a gardener his plants: I can distance motives from myself, in distancing myself from a place and company [Gesellschaft], I can place motives in my proximity. I can cultivate the propensity [den Hang], to proceed against myself in this gardener-like way, artificially [künstlich] or let it wither away. (NL 1880, KSA 9, 7[30]) 1 IntroductionThe aim of this article is to show (1) that freedom and agency are among Nietzsche's central concerns, (2) that his much-discussed interest in power in fact originates in a first-person account of freedom, and (3) that this novel understanding of the phenomenon of freedom informs his 'theory' of agency. I will argue that while Nietzsche questions the weight philosophers have given to the first-person perspective and consciousness, these remain essential not only to his initial analysis but also to his later conception of freedom and agency. While his rejection of metaphysical free will and moral desert has had a significant impact on contemporary ethics, the sense in which Nietzsche continues to use the term 'freedom' affirmatively remains largely unnoticed. He develops a sophisticated drive-driven psychological 1 Throughout I use standard abbreviations for Nietzsche's works. Nietzsche's posthumously published writings (NL) are cited by year, KSA (Nietzsche 1988) volume number, followed by notebook and fragment number. For NL 1885, KSA 11, 34[250] I also use division IX of the KGW (Nietzsche 2001-), which offers Nietzsche's late notebooks in diplomatic transcriptions that reveal his revisions, additions, and cancellations. I have relied on, and at times modified, existing translations of Nietzsche's texts. motivational account: reflective judgement and reasons can motivate by means of the affects or affective orientations agents have due to their drives; he claims that due to a strong preference-we could say with Mele, a 'standing desire' for freedom (it will soon become clear what Nietzsche means by 'freedom')-agents can generate the necessary motivational affects to unify their drives in view of (certain) long-term goals. Thus, when in his later philosophy Nietzsche envisages free agents who not only feel free but whose belief in their agency is justified, he has replaced the metaphysical picture (of agents who are mysterious, noumenally free, causa sui agents) with a naturalized, drive-driven psychological view of agency that he thinks has the resources to cope with the problem of affirmation that arises under nihilism conditions.Let me clarify some terminology first. 'Drive' and 'affect' are key concepts for Nietzsche. 2 He uses 'drives' in the sense of relatively fixed and recurring tendencies tha...

Towards a definition of efforts.

“…What about the moral value of efforts under this approach? Nietzsche paid particular attention to two aforementioned paradoxes about effort—that is, that an effort’s pleasantness depends on its difficulty and that the virtue and freedom of the striving agent depends on his encountering resistance (Dries, 2015; Nietzsche, 1968; Reginster, 2007). On a broadly Nietzschean account, the moral worth of effort consists in some agonistic value.…”