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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

210078

Conclusion

Katrina Mitcheson

pp. 160-164

Abstract

The exploration undertaken in this book of Nietzsche's critique and practice of truth demonstrates both the need and possibility of radical overcoming. In my opening chapter, I showed how Nietzsche's understanding of truth developed, and that this development was motivated by his critique of the existing, metaphysical approach to truth as fundamentally ascetic. Nietzsche offered an alternative understanding of truth as the exploration of the activity different of perspectives, as I outlined in Chapter 2. The will to truth is, itself, a perspective, and I explored in Chapter 3 how, given Nietzsche's praise as well as criticisms of truth, Nietzsche would not have us overcome the will to truth but rather the form of the will to truth which was bound up with the ascetic ideal. This overcoming requires the cultivation of new habits in the way truth is practised. I have argued that Nietzsche's understanding of truth is best understood as a practice which can affect those who practice it. In comparing it to the Platonic practice of truth in Chapter 4, I have highlighted how Nietzsche's practice of truth embraces the body and its drives. The form of the will to truth which served the ascetic ideal and denied the body is overcome in the individuals in whom it exists as a drive, through their active engagement in a new practice of truth.

Publication details

Published in:

Mitcheson Katrina (2013) Nietzsche, truth and transformation. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 160-164

DOI: 10.1057/9781137357069_8

Full citation:

Mitcheson Katrina (2013) Conclusion, In: Nietzsche, truth and transformation, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 160–164.