Moral Psychology with Nietzsche

Moral Psychology with Nietzsche
Author: Brian Leiter
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2019-04-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192571796

Brian Leiter defends a set of radical ideas from Nietzsche: there is no objectively true morality, there is no free will, no one is ever morally responsible, and our conscious thoughts and reasoning play almost no significant role in our actions and how our lives unfold. He presents a new interpretation of main themes of Nietzsche's moral psychology, including his anti-realism about value (including epistemic value), his account of moral judgment and its relationship to the emotions, his conception of the will and agency, his scepticism about free will and moral responsibility, his epiphenomenalism about certain kinds of conscious mental states, and his views about the heritability of psychological traits. In combining exegesis with argument, Leiter engages the views of philosophers like Harry Frankfurt, T. M. Scanlon, and Gary Watson, and psychologists including Daniel Wegner, Benjamin Libet, and Stanley Milgram. Nietzsche emerges not simply as a museum piece from the history of ideas, but as a philosopher and psychologist who exceeds David Hume for insight into human nature and the human mind, repeatedly anticipates later developments in empirical psychology, and continues to offer sophisticated and unsettling challenges to much conventional wisdom in both philosophy and psychology.

Nietzsche's Moral Psychology

Nietzsche's Moral Psychology
Author: Mark Alfano
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2019-08-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107074150

Examines Nietzsche's thinking on the virtues using a combination of close reading and digital analysis.

Nietzsche on Morality

Nietzsche on Morality
Author: Brian Leiter
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2014-10-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 131763585X

Both an introduction to Nietzsche’s moral philosophy, and a sustained commentary on his most famous work, On the Genealogy of Morality, this book has become the most widely used and debated secondary source on these topics over the past dozen years. Many of Nietzsche’s most famous ideas - the "slave revolt" in morals, the attack on free will, perspectivism, "will to power" and the "ascetic ideal" - are clearly analyzed and explained. The first edition established the centrality of naturalism to Nietzsche’s philosophy, generating a substantial scholarly literature to which Leiter responds in an important new Postscript. In addition, Leiter has revised and refreshed the book throughout, taking into account new scholarly literature, and revising or clarifying his treatment of such topics as the objectivity of value, epiphenomenalism and consciousness, and the possibility of "autonomous" agency.

The Nietzschean Self

The Nietzschean Self
Author: Paul Katsafanas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2016-02-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191056901

Nietzsche's works are replete with discussions of moral psychology, but to date there has been no systematic analysis of his account. How does Nietzsche understand human motivation, deliberation, agency, and selfhood? How does his account of the unconscious inform these topics? What is Nietzsche's conception of freedom, and how do we become free? Should freedom be a goal for all of us? How does--and how should--the individual relate to his social context? The Nietzschean Self offers a clear, comprehensive analysis of these central topics in Nietzsche's moral psychology. It analyzes his distinction between conscious and unconscious mental events, explains the nature of a type of motivational state that Nietzsche calls the 'drive', and examines the connection between drives, desires, affects, and values. It explores Nietzsche's account of willing unity of the self, freedom, and the relation of the self to its social and historical context. The Nietzschean Self argues that Nietzsche's account enjoys a number of advantages over the currently dominant models of moral psychology--especially those indebted to the work of Aristotle, Hume, and Kant--and considers the ways in which Nietzsche's arguments can reconfigure and improve upon debates in the contemporary literature on moral psychology and philosophy of action.

Nietzsche, Psychology, and First Philosophy

Nietzsche, Psychology, and First Philosophy
Author: Robert B. Pippin
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2010-06-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0226669750

"Expanded from a series of lectures Pippin delivered at the College de France, Nietzsche, Psychology, and First Philosophy offers a brilliant, novel, and accessible reading of this seminal thinker."--BOOK JACKET.

Nietzsche's Psychology of Ressentiment

Nietzsche's Psychology of Ressentiment
Author: Guy Elgat
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2017-03-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1351754432

Ressentiment—the hateful desire for revenge—plays a pivotal role in Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals. Ressentiment explains the formation of bad conscience, guilt, asceticism, and, most importantly, it motivates the "slave revolt" that gives rise to Western morality’s values. Ressentiment, however, has not enjoyed a thorough treatment in the secondary literature. This book brings it sharply into focus and provides the first detailed examination of Nietzsche’s psychology of ressentiment. Unlike other books on the Genealogy, it uses ressentiment as a key to the Genealogy and focuses on the intriguing relationship between ressentiment and justice. It shows how ressentiment, despite its blindness to justice, gives rise to moral justice—the central target of Nietzsche’s critique. This critique notwithstanding, the Genealogy shows Nietzsche’s enduring commitment to the virtue of non-moral justice: a commitment that grounds his provocative view that moral justice spells the ‘end of justice’. The result provides a novel view of Nietzsche's moral psychology in the Genealogy, his critique of morality, and his views on justice.

Nietzsche's Philosophical Psychology

Nietzsche's Philosophical Psychology
Author: Mattia Riccardi
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2021-08-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0198803281

In Nietzsche's Philosophical Psychology, Mattia Riccardi offers a systematic account of Nietzsche's thought on the human mind. A central theme is the nature of and relation between the unconscious and conscious mind. Whereas Nietzsche takes consciousness to be a mere surface--as he writes in Ecce Homo--that evolved in the course of human socialisation, he sees the bedrock of human psychology as constituted by unconscious drives and affects. But how does he conceive of such basic psychological items and what does he mean exactly when he talks about consciousness and says it is a surface? And how does such a conception of human psychology inform his views about self, self-knowledge and will? Riccardi addresses these and related questions by combining historical accuracy with conceptual analysis: Nietzsche's claims are carefully reconstructed by taking into account the intellectual context in which they emerged; in order to work out their philosophical significance, Riccardi discusses them in the light of contemporary debates such as those about higher-order theories of consciousness and mind-reading.

Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Nietzsche on Morality

Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Nietzsche on Morality
Author: Brian Leiter
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 113474336X

Nietzsche is one of the most important and controversial thinkers in the history of philosophy. His writings on moral philosophy are amongst the most widely read works, both by philosophers and non-philosophers. Many of the ideas raised are both startling and disturbing, and have been the source of great contention. On the Genealogy of Morality is Nietzsche's most sustained and important contribution to moral philosophy, featuring many of the ideas for which he is best known, including the slave revolt in morals; will to power; genealogy; and perspectivism. The Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Nietzsche on Morality introduces the reader to these and other important Nietzschean themes patiently and clearly. It is the first book to examine the work in such a way, and will be a vital point of reference for any Nietzsche scholar, and essential reading for students coming to Nietzsche for the first time.

Nietzsche and Morality

Nietzsche and Morality
Author: Brian Leiter
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2007-02-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199285934

Nietzsche was surprisingly neglected by most English-language moral philosophers until recently. This volume capitalizes on a growth of interest in Nietzsche's work on morality from two sides - from scholars of the history of philosophy and from contributors to current debates on ethical theory. In eleven new essays, leading philosophers aim both to advance philosophical understanding of Nietzsche's ethical views - his normative and meta-ethics, his moral psychology, his views onfree will and the nature of the self - and to make Nietzsche a live participant in contemporary debates in ethics and cognate fields.