Nietzsche’s pragmatic genealogy of justice

Cueni

2019

The Monist

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This paper argues that Nietzsche is a critic of just the kind of genealogical debunking he is popularly associated with. We begin by showing that interpretations of Nietzsche which see him as engaging in genealogical debunking turn him into an advocate of nihilism, for on his own premises, any truthful genealogical inquiry into our values is going to uncover what most of his contemporaries deem objectionable origins and thus license global genealogical debunking. To escape nihilism and make room for naturalism without indiscriminate subversion, we then argue, Nietzsche targets the way of thinking about values that permits genealogical debunking: far from trying to subvert values simply by uncovering their origins, Nietzsche is actively criticizing genealogical debunking thus understood. Finally, we draw out the consequences of our reading for Nietzsche’s positive vision.

Section: Nietzsche's Real Target: the Ascetic Conception Of Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nietzsche as a Critic of Genealogical Debunking: Making Room for Naturalism without Subversion

Cueni

2019

The Monist

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“…25. See Queloz (2017Queloz ( , 2018aQueloz ( , 2018b, forthcoming-a, forthcoming-b, forthcoming-c, forthcoming-d). 26.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The points of concepts: their types, tensions, and connections

2019

Can. J. of Philosophy

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In the literature seeking to explain concepts in terms of their point, talk of ‘the point’ of concepts remains under-theorised. I propose a typology of points which distinguishes practical, evaluative, animating, and inferential points. This allows us to resolve tensions such as that between the ambition of explanations in terms of the points of concepts to be informative and the claim that mastering concepts requires grasping their point; and it allows us to exploit connections between types of points to understand why they come apart, and whether they do so for problematic ideological reasons or for benignly functional reasons.

“…Sonst täten die Stärkeren, was sie könnten, und die Schwächeren erlitten, was sie müssten. 6 4 Eine detaillierte Rekonstruktion dieser Genealogie und eine Diskussion einiger hier aus Platzgründen unterschlagenen Nuancen finden sich in Queloz (2017). Zu Nietzsches Gerechtigkeitsbegriff, siehe auch Elgat (2016); Knoll (2009); Patton (2013); Petersen (2015).…”

Section: Beispiel Ist Nietzsches Skizze Einer Genealogie Der Gerechtiunclassified

Nietzsches affirmative Genealogien

Deutsche Zeitschrift Für Philosophie

2019

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This paper argues that besides the critical and historically informed genealogies of his later work, Nietzsche also sketched out genealogies that are not historically situated and that display an under-appreciated affirmative aspect. The paper begins by looking at two early examples of such genealogies where datable historical origins are clearly not at issue, which raises the question of what kind of origins Nietzsche is seeking. It is argued that these genealogies inquire into practical origins – into the original point of certain conceptual practices given certain needs – and that this reflects Nietzsche’s instrumentalist approach to concepts. It is then argued that this focus lends the genealogies an affirmative dimension, because they present their object as naturalistically intelligible and practically indispensable. Finally, it is shown how the nature and limits of this affirmative dimension can be tentatively sharpened by connecting it to Nietzsche’s later notion of an economic justification of morality.