Nietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderne

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dc.contributor.advisorNoyes, Johnen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorHorn, Anetteen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-11-11T20:08:42Z
dc.date.available2014-11-11T20:08:42Z
dc.date.issued1998en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractNietzsche himself has placed the problem of décadence into the centre of his thinking. But he mistrusts any definitions which tear concepts out of the context of their becoming and reduce them to a static 'meaning. In his analysis of décadence there a no unambiguous causes and effects. The very historical breadth and ambivalence of the word ' décadence ' does not allow the unambiguous assignation of the word to a 'meaning. Nietzsche's remarks about décadence allow us to postulate two hypotheses as their basis: the first, 'Darwinist' hypothesis would be that occidental culture impedes the development of humanity because it makes 'natural selection' ineffective. The second, 'historico-philosophical' hypothesis would be: everything has existed before, nothing changes, there is neither progress nor degeneration. Nietzsche uses the discoveries of the natural sciences of his time to question radically the separation between biology and culture, natural history and human history, physis and psyche. One of the dominant themes of physiology of the 19th century was the boundary between the pathological and the normal. Nietzsche transfers the medical scheme of diagnosis, aetiology and prognosis to a social and cultural phenomenon such as décadence. In contrast to a conservative critique of culture Nietzsche does not bemoan the disintegration of eternal values, which are supposed to underpin a High Culture, but questions the values of religions and philosophies themselves which pretend to be eternal but subordinate life to false aims. Nietzsche drafts a psycho-pathology of the type of the décadence, the embodiment of which is the Christian. Nietzsche sees the "nihilist religions all as: systematis[ed] stories of illness in a religious-moral terminology". In the centre of the psychopathology of Christianity Nietzsche makes out the negation of the body. Nietzsche terms the movement which opposes all idealisms a nihilism. Nihilism derives from the understanding that the highest philosophical, religious and ethical values have become devalued. The understanding that truth is based on mere appearance and that it is no 'thing as such', as believed by Platonic and Christian tradition, leads to a renunciation of the truth claim.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationHorn, A. (1998). <i>Nietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderne</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,German Language and Literature. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9567en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationHorn, Anette. <i>"Nietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderne."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,German Language and Literature, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9567en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationHorn, A. 1998. Nietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderne. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Horn, Anette AB - Nietzsche himself has placed the problem of décadence into the centre of his thinking. But he mistrusts any definitions which tear concepts out of the context of their becoming and reduce them to a static 'meaning. In his analysis of décadence there a no unambiguous causes and effects. The very historical breadth and ambivalence of the word ' décadence ' does not allow the unambiguous assignation of the word to a 'meaning. Nietzsche's remarks about décadence allow us to postulate two hypotheses as their basis: the first, 'Darwinist' hypothesis would be that occidental culture impedes the development of humanity because it makes 'natural selection' ineffective. The second, 'historico-philosophical' hypothesis would be: everything has existed before, nothing changes, there is neither progress nor degeneration. Nietzsche uses the discoveries of the natural sciences of his time to question radically the separation between biology and culture, natural history and human history, physis and psyche. One of the dominant themes of physiology of the 19th century was the boundary between the pathological and the normal. Nietzsche transfers the medical scheme of diagnosis, aetiology and prognosis to a social and cultural phenomenon such as décadence. In contrast to a conservative critique of culture Nietzsche does not bemoan the disintegration of eternal values, which are supposed to underpin a High Culture, but questions the values of religions and philosophies themselves which pretend to be eternal but subordinate life to false aims. Nietzsche drafts a psycho-pathology of the type of the décadence, the embodiment of which is the Christian. Nietzsche sees the "nihilist religions all as: systematis[ed] stories of illness in a religious-moral terminology". In the centre of the psychopathology of Christianity Nietzsche makes out the negation of the body. Nietzsche terms the movement which opposes all idealisms a nihilism. Nihilism derives from the understanding that the highest philosophical, religious and ethical values have become devalued. The understanding that truth is based on mere appearance and that it is no 'thing as such', as believed by Platonic and Christian tradition, leads to a renunciation of the truth claim. DA - 1998 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1998 T1 - Nietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderne TI - Nietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderne UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9567 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/9567
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationHorn A. Nietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderne. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,German Language and Literature, 1998 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9567en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentGerman Language and Literatureen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherGerman Language and literatureen_ZA
dc.titleNietzsches Begriff der décadence : kritik und analyse der moderneen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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