Making Knowledge the Most Powerful Affect: Overcoming Affective Nihilism

Abstract

After briefly introducing the problem of affective nihilism in Nietzsche and detailing a variety of its forms, I identify and investigate potential Nietzschean strategies for jump-starting the agency of the affective nihilist and overcoming affective nihilism. By attending to Nietzsche's own practices and recommendations, I locate strategies that might enable the affective nihilist to will and, eventually, to transform herself. The two strategies I investigate include (1) “living experimentally” by placing oneself in a variety of potentially stimulating climates and contexts and (2) undertaking particular practices of self-knowledge, especially the formation and reflection upon a personal narrative. Both of these strategies employ the production of affect in an individual to potentially energize one's will and stimulate one's drives.

Research on Prevention of Affective Nihilism in Existential Depression: an Existential Approach in Educational Settings

“…In this sense, Sartre claim that meaning is always constructed anew by each of us, rather than acquired or discovered. Furthermore, Jaspers (1919) discovers that behind single existence a transcendental architecturally "blank and naked reticulate" where the individual fills with meaning, thereby shaping their existence and perspective of the universe [23]. Preventing existential depression and overcoming affective nihilism requires assisting learners in becoming more conscious of the arbitrary repercussions of the mental functioning and the relativity of their insights.…”

“…As for overcoming affective nihilism, Nietzsche proposed basically two kinds of life practice strategies [23]. The first is living experimentally by placing oneself in a variety of potentially stimulating climates and contexts.…”