A Modern Polytheism? Nietzsche and James
Journal of Speculative Philosophy April 11, 2020 DOI: 10.5325/jspecphil.34.1.0069 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Nietzsche and James are polytheists in a deeper sense than Rorty's deflationary pluralism: both advocate receptivity to multiple, potentially incommensurable sources of inspiration beyond conscious control, and both treat the passive, given moment of experience as central—James in his account of religious experience, Nietzsche in his account of composing Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The author concludes this similarity places Nietzsche closer to Jamesian religion than to Rortyan secularism. |
Abstract
abstract:Richard Rorty has argued that Friedrich Nietzsche and William James are both polytheists in the deflationary sense that they are both pluralists about human value. I argue that there is a more philosophically significant sense in which Nietzsche and James might be called polytheists: both advocate a life of openness and receptivity to multiple and potentially incommensurable sources of inspiration outside of our conscious control. The value of these sources is accessed in experiences in which one feels that one is given something in an experience that one could not have obtained through conscious effort. I argue that this moment of passivity plays a crucial role in both James’s treatment of religious experience in The Varieties of Religious Experience and Nietzsche’s account of the state of inspiration he experienced while composing Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and that their deep similarity on this point suggests that Nietzsche is closer to Jamesian religion than he is to Rortyan secularism.