Date of Award
8-12-2016
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Jessica Berry
Second Advisor
Dan Weiskopf
Third Advisor
Neil Van Leeuwen
Abstract
Friedrich Nietzsche thought that philosophers were deeply mistaken about the nature and sources of philosophical activity. Where others took themselves to be motivated by a desire to know the truth, Nietzsche charged that his fellow philosophers, motivated by a pathological set of psychological and physiological characteristics, did little more than sublimate and rationalize their own prejudices. In this thesis, I sketch out in further detail and defend the plausibility and significance of this Nietzschean diagnosis of philosophers. I argue that since Nietzsche’s view of philosophers both offers a compelling explanation of some phenomena in contemporary philosophical practice and, were it true, would have significant upshot for how and even whether philosophy should be practiced, we philosophers ought to begin taking it seriously.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/8655031
Recommended Citation
Riggs, Jared, "A Nietzschean Diagnosis of Philosophers." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2016.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/8655031