Hermeneutics vs. Genealogy: Brandom’s Cloak or Nietzsche’s Quilt?

Lightbody, Brian

doi:10.1080/10848770.2020.1756597

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…1, p. 3). Although I have defended Nietzsche from this line of attack in (Lightbody 2020), here I present a very different kind of defense of the genealogical method which defuses Brandom's critique from the get-go.…”

Section: Three Critiques Of Genealogymentioning

confidence: 87%

The Passive Body and States of Nature: An Examination of the Methodological Role State of Nature Theory Plays in Williams and Nietzsche

Lightbody

2021

Genealogy

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In his work Truth and Truthfulness, Bernard Williams offers a very different interpretation of philosophical genealogy than that expounded in the secondary literature. The “Received View” of genealogy holds that it is “documentary grey”: it attempts to provide historically well-supported, coherent, but defeasible explanations for the actual transformation of practices, values, and emotions in history. However, paradoxically, the standard interpretation also holds another principle. Genealogies are nevertheless polemical because they admit that any evidence that would serve to justify a genealogical account is indexical to a perspective. In short, genealogies are not true per se. This view of genealogy leaves it vulnerable to three criticisms. I call these three: (1) the reflexive, (2) the substantive, and (3) the semantic. In contrast, Williams argues that all genealogies provide a functional account for the manifestation of something and further, that a State of Nature story subtends these accounts. The upshot of Williams’ approach is that it makes for strange philosophical bedfellows. For example, Nietzsche’s account for the rise of Christian morality shares methodological features with Hobbes’ functional explanation for the emergence of civilization and yet Nietzsche seems to take issue with genealogists who are hypothesis mongers gazing haphazardly into the blue. In the following article, I flesh out, more fully, how to make sense of Williams’ novel reclassification of genealogy. I show that Nietzsche’s genealogies are State of Nature stories and, just like Hobbes’ State of Nature story in chapter thirteen of Leviathan, are subtended by our collective corporeality. I then demonstrate how Nietzsche’s three stories in the Genealogy, when brought together, serve to undermine what Williams refers to as “… a new system (of reasons)—which very powerfully resists being understood in such terms …” Finally, I explain how my reconstruction of Williams’ interpretation of the genealogy immunizes it against the three criticisms noted above.

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Section: Three Critiques Of Genealogymentioning

confidence: 87%

The Passive Body and States of Nature: An Examination of the Methodological Role State of Nature Theory Plays in Williams and Nietzsche

Lightbody

2021

Genealogy

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“…9 This section discusses themes found in an earlier article I wrote on Brandom's diagnosis of genealogy. See Lightbody (2020). 10 See Lightbody (2020, p. 639) for a more detailed analysis.…”

Section: Conflicts Of Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10 See Lightbody (2020, p. 639) for a more detailed analysis. 11 See Lightbody (2020) and in particular the section De Re, De Dicto, De Intellectu Readings and Nietzsche's Genealogy, For the pragmatic origins of truth see Price (2011).…”

Section: Conflicts Of Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing Philosophical Genealogy from the Ground Up: What Truly Is Philosophical Genealogy and What Purpose Does It Serve?

Lightbody

2023

Genealogy

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What is philosophical genealogy? What is its purpose? How does genealogy achieve this purpose? These are the three essential questions to ask when thinking about philosophical genealogy. Although there has been an upswell of articles in the secondary literature exploring these questions in the last decade or two, the answers provided are unsatisfactory. Why do replies to these questions leave scholars wanting? Why is the question, “What is philosophical genealogy?” still being asked? There are two broad reasons, I think. First, on the substantive side, the problem is that genealogical models will get certain features of the method right but ignore others. The models proffered to answer the first question are too restrictive. The second reason is that the three essential questions to ask regarding the nature of genealogy are run together when they should be treated separately. In the following paper, I address these problems by attempting to reconstruct genealogy from the ground up. I provide what I hope is an ecumenical position on genealogy that will accommodate a wide variety of genealogical thinkers, from Hobbes to Nietzsche, rather than a select few. Therefore, I examine two of the three questions above: What is philosophical genealogy and its purpose? I argue there are seven main features of genealogy and that these features may be used as a yardstick to compare how one genealogist stacks up to another along the seven aspects I outline in the paper.

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What Is Genealogy? A Defense of Implexic Genealogy

Lightbody

2023

A Genealogical Analysis of Nietzschean Drive Theory

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Hermeneutics vs. Genealogy: Brandom’s Cloak or Nietzsche’s Quilt?

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

The Passive Body and States of Nature: An Examination of the Methodological Role State of Nature Theory Plays in Williams and Nietzsche

The Passive Body and States of Nature: An Examination of the Methodological Role State of Nature Theory Plays in Williams and Nietzsche

Reconstructing Philosophical Genealogy from the Ground Up: What Truly Is Philosophical Genealogy and What Purpose Does It Serve?

What Is Genealogy? A Defense of Implexic Genealogy

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