Abstract
Nietzsche promises to “translate man back into nature,” but it remains unclear what he meant by this and to what extent he succeeded at it. To help come to grips with Nietzsche’s conceptions of drive (Trieb), instinct (Instinkt) and virtue (Tugend), I develop novel Digital Humanities methods to systematically track his use of these terms, constructing a catalogue of what he takes these dispositions to be and how he thinks they are related. I then argue that, for Nietzsche, a virtue is a well-calibrated drive. Such calibration relates both to the rest of the agent’s psychic economy (her other drives) and to her social context (what’s considered praiseworthy and blameworthy in her community).
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Notes
- 1.
M. Alfano, “The Tenacity of the Intentional Prior to the Genealogy,” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 40 (2010): 123–140; M. Alfano, “Nietzsche, Naturalism, and the Tenacity of the Intentional,” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 44, no. 3 (2013b): 457–464; P. Katsafanas, “Nietzsche’s Philosophical Psychology,” in Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche, ed. J. Richardson and K. Gemes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013a), 727–755; P. Katsafanas, Agency and the Foundations of Ethics: Nietzschean Constitutivism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013b); P. Katsafanas, “Value, Affect, and Drive,” in Nietzsche on Mind and Nature, ed. P. Kail and M. Dries (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
- 2.
M. Alfano, “The Most Agreeable of All Vices: Nietzsche as Virtue Epistemologist,” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21, no. 4 (2013a): 767–790; M. Alfano, “An Enchanting Abundance of Types: Nietzsche’s Modest Unity of Virtue Thesis,” Journal of Value Inquiry 49, no. 3 (2015a): 417–435; M. Alfano, “How One Becomes What One Is Called: On the Relation Between Traits and Trait-Terms in Nietzsche‚” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 46‚ no. 1 (2015b): 261–269; M. Alfano, “Review of Christine Swanton’s The Virtue Ethics of Hume and Nietzsche,” Ethics 126, no. 4 (2016): 1120–1124; J. Annas, “Which Variety of Virtue Ethics,” in Varieties of Virtue Ethics, ed. D. Carr, J. Arthur, and K. Kristjánsson (London: Palgrave, 2017); C. Daigle, “Nietzsche: Virtue Ethics… Virtue Politics?” The Journal of Nietzsche Studies 32 (2006): 1–21; T. Hurka, “Nietzsche: Perfectionist,” in Nietzsche and Morality, ed. B. Leiter and N. Sinhababu (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 9–31; S. May, Nietzsche’s Ethics and His War on ‘Morality’ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); P. Railton, “Nietzsche’s Normative Theory? The Art and Skill of Living Well,” in Nietzsche, Naturalism, & Normativity, ed. C. Janaway and S. Robertson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 20–51; B. Reginster, The Affirmation of Life (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); S. Robertson, “The Scope Problem—Nietzsche, the Moral, Ethical, and Quasi-Aesthetic,” in Nietzsche, Naturalism, & Normativity, ed. C. Janaway and S. Robertson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 81–110; A. Thomas, “Nietzsche and Moral Fictionalism,” in Nietzsche, Naturalism, & Normativity, ed. C. Janaway and S. Robertson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 133–159; A. White, “The Youngest Virtue,” in Nietzsche’s Post-Moralism, ed. R. Schacht (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 63–78.
- 3.
F. Moretti, Distant Reading (London: Verso, 2013).
- 4.
- 5.
P. Katsafanas, “Nietzsche’s Philosophical Psychology,” in Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche, ed. J. Richardson and K. Gemes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013a), 727–755.
- 6.
M. Alfano, “The Most Agreeable of All Vices: Nietzsche as Virtue Epistemologist,” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21, no. 4 (2013a): 767–790; M. Alfano, “How One Becomes What One Is Called: On the Relation Between Traits and Trait-Terms in Nietzsche‚” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 46, no. 1 (2015b): 261–269.
- 7.
I use the standard abbreviations for the titles of Nietzsche ’s texts (http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/jns/style-guide). All translations are Cambridge University Press critical editions, with a few minor emendations for clarity.
- 8.
For a full introduction, see D’Iorio (2010). To my knowledge, the only papers to use the Nietzsche Source to comprehensively study Nietzsche ’s use of particular words are Alfano (2013a, 2017). The complete data-sets for these study as well as the present study are freely available at http://www.alfanophilosophy.com/dh-nietzsche/.
- 9.
J. Austen, “Pride and Prejudice,” (Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1813/2002).
- 10.
Available at https://public.tableau.com/en-us/s/download. Tableau Public is a highly intuitive interface that automatically employs best practices in visual analytics.
- 11.
All data, methods, and visualizations (including section-by-section visualizations for the other books) are freely available for perusal and download at https://public.tableau.com/profile/mark.alfano#!/vizhome/Virtuedriveinstinct/Story1.
- 12.
M. Alfano, “Virtue in Nietzsche’s Drive Psychology,” in The New Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche, ed. T. Stern (Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming).
- 13.
A. Jensen, An Interpretation of Nietzsche’s On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life (New York: Routledge, 2016).
- 14.
A. Sen, “Well-Being, Agency and Freedom,” The Journal of Philosophy 82, no. 4 (1985): 169–221.
- 15.
M. Alfano, “An Enchanting Abundance of Types: Nietzsche’s Modest Unity of Virtue Thesis,” Journal of Value Inquiry 49, no. 3 (2015a): 417–435.
References
Alfano, M. The Tenacity of the Intentional Prior to the Genealogy. Journal of Nietzsche Studies 40 (2010): 123–140.
Alfano, M. The Most Agreeable of All Vices: Nietzsche as Virtue Epistemologist. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 21 (4) (2013a): 767–790.
Alfano, M. Nietzsche, Naturalism, and the Tenacity of the Intentional. Journal of Nietzsche Studies 44 (3) (2013b): 457–464.
Alfano, M. An Enchanting Abundance of Types: Nietzsche’s Modest Unity of Virtue Thesis. Journal of Value Inquiry 49 (3) (2015a): 417–435.
Alfano, M. How One Becomes What One Is Called: On the Relation Between Traits and Trait-Terms in Nietzsche. Journal of Nietzsche Studies 46 (1) (2015b): 261–269.
Alfano, M. Review of Christine Swanton’s The Virtue Ethics of Hume and Nietzsche. Ethics 126, no. 4 (2016): 1120–1124.
Alfano, M. A Schooling in Contempt: Emotions and the Pathos of Distance. In Routledge Philosophy Minds: Nietzsche, edited by P. Katsfanas. London: Routledge, 2017.
Alfano, M. Virtue in Nietzsche’s Drive Psychology. In The New Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche, edited by T. Stern. Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming.
Annas, J. Which Variety of Virtue Ethics. In Varieties of Virtue Ethics, edited by D. Carr, J. Arthur, and K. Kristjánsson. London: Palgrave, 2017.
Austen, J. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin Classics. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1813/2002.
Clark, M., and D. Dudrick. The Soul of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Daigle, C. Nietzsche: Virtue Ethics… Virtue Politics? The Journal of Nietzsche Studies 32 (2006): 1–21.
D’Iorio, P. The Digital Critical Edition of the Works and Letters of Nietzsche. Journal of Nietzsche Studies 40 (2010): 70–80.
Gemes, K. Postmodernism’s Use and Abuse of Nietzsche. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 62, no. 2 (2001): 337–360.
Gemes, K. Nihilism and the Affirmation of Life: A Review of and Dialogue with Bernard Reginster. European Journal of Philosophy 16, no. 3 (2008): 459–466.
Hurka, T. Nietzsche: Perfectionist. In Nietzsche and Morality, edited by B. Leiter and N. Sinhababu, 9–31. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Jensen, A. An Interpretation of Nietzsche’s On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Katsafanas, P. Nietzsche’s Philosophical Psychology. In Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche, edited by J. Richardson and K. Gemes, 727–755. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013a.
Katsafanas, P. Agency and the Foundations of Ethics: Nietzschean Constitutivism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013b.
Katsafanas, P. Value, Affect, and Drive. In Nietzsche on Mind and Nature, edited by P. Kail and M. Dries. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
May, S. Nietzsche’s Ethics and His War on ‘Morality’. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Moretti, F. Distant Reading. London: Verso, 2013.
Railton, P. Nietzsche’s Normative Theory? The Art and Skill of Living Well. In Nietzsche, Naturalism, & Normativity, edited by C. Janaway and S. Robertson, 20–51. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Reginster, B. The Affirmation of Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Robertson, S. The Scope Problem—Nietzsche, the Moral, Ethical, and Quasi-Aesthetic. In Nietzsche, Naturalism, & Normativity, edited by C. Janaway and S. Robertson, 81–110. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Sen, A. Well-Being, Agency and Freedom. The Journal of Philosophy 82, no. 4 (1985): 169–221.
Swanton, C. The Virtue Ethics of Hume and Nietzsche. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
Thomas, A. Nietzsche and Moral Fictionalism. In Nietzsche, Naturalism, & Normativity, edited by C. Janaway and S. Robertson, 133–159. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
White, A. The Youngest Virtue. In Nietzsche’s Post-Moralism, edited by R. Schacht, 63–78. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
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Alfano, M. (2018). Digital Humanities for History of Philosophy: A Case Study on Nietzsche. In: levenberg, l., Neilson, T., Rheams, D. (eds) Research Methods for the Digital Humanities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96713-4_6
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