Complete Affirmation: Nietzsche, Critique, and Freedom Público

Abstract

This dissertation develops a framework for evaluating the transformative potential of ethical and political concepts. It does so through Nietzsche’s analysis of nihilism and call for affirmation. Nihilism expresses a movement of existential devaluation. It follows, ironically, from exclusively prioritizing the value of truth, which Nietzsche terms the will to truth. To combat this, he turns the will to truth on itself, less to embrace skepticism than to pursue its self-overcoming in an affirmative stance toward partial and limited knowledge, or untruth, in the name of values such as creativity, growth, and power. This process, I argue, exemplifies what Foucault later presents of critique as a practice of freedom. By reading these lines of thought together, I develop a way to assess the transformative character of political initiatives. I pursue this assessment through discussions of destituent power, a concept employed by various left-leaning initiatives such as insurrectionary post-anarchism. I conclude that despite their intentions, these efforts remain trapped in the orbit of nihilism. After presenting affirmation as a project of composing dynamic unities of thought and life, I argue a more genuine, affirmative approach can be found elsewhere, as I demonstrate through considerations of ”counterpower.”

Table of Contents

Introduction i

Opening Thoughts i

Chapter Outline v

Chapter One: Truth, Art, and Value 1

I. The Tenacity of Truth 2

II. The Art of Truth 9

III. Remembering What We’ve Forgotten 22

Chapter Two: The Problem(s) of Willing 24

I. Types of Power 25

II. Agonistic Problems 37

a. Personal Problems 38

b. Differential Problems 43

III. Posing Problems 53

Chapter Three: The Problem(s) of Nihilism 55

I. The Problem of Nihilism 56

II. The Untenability of Morality 58

a. Slavish Willing 59

b. Willing Nothingness 66

c. Philosophical Devaluation 72

III. Nihilistic Types 76

IV. Perfect Nihilism—A Way Out? 78

Chapter Four: Nihilism, Critique, Freedom 82

I. Absolution 83

II. Critique and Freedom 95

a. Critical Virtue 96

b. The Problem of Power 102

c. The Problem of Will 106

III. Risking Nihilism 112

IV. Conclusion 115

Chapter Five: Moral Twilight 117

I. Freedom and Becoming 118

II. Destituent Power 121

a. Agamben’s Agon 128

b. The Insurrectionary Subject 136

c. Invisible Friends 140

III. Counter Considerations 148

IV. Typological Musings 156

Chapter Six: Past Tense, Future Perfect 159

I. Ressentiment, Redemption, and Revenge 160

II. Eternal Return 168

a. The Test 169

b. The Vision 176

c. The Riddle 182

III. Repetition and Learning 187

IV. Loving Fate 196

V. Considerations and Refinements 199

a. Normativity 199

b. Decentering 204

VI. Conclusion 207

Chapter Seven: Complete Counterpower 209

I. Completing Counterpower 216

a. The Multitude 218

b. Social Reproduction 226

c. Transversal Counterpower 230

II. Communist CounterPower 233

III. Last Words 236

Conclusion 238

Cogitanda 239

“Once More!” 241

Bibliography 244

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Philosophy
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Philosophy
Palavra-chave	political philosophy Nietzsche critique agonism affirmation
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	John Lysaker, Emory University
Committee Members	Christa Acampora, University of Virginia Andrew Mitchell, Emory University Ernesto Blanes-Martinez, Emory University John Stuhr, Emory University

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