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Natur und Geschichte. Welches Paradigma für das Studium der griechischen Literatur

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Nietzsches Naturen
This chapter is in the book Nietzsches Naturen

Abstract

Nature and History. Paradigms for the Study of Greek Literature. In the context of Nietzsche’s early reflection on history we will investigate some of the models put in place by the philosopher to account for the development of culturalhistorical phenomena, history, language, and in particular literature. Nietzsche left us several notes for the preparation of a study on the History of Literature in these years. But, they are also the years in which he collected materials for an unfinished dissertation for obtaining the title of Doctor, entitled On the Concept of the Organic since Kant, or On Teleology. The metaphor of the living organism to explain the internal processes of growth and decline that preside over the development of historical and cultural phenomena would indeed seem to have exerted a strong attraction in the young philosopher. Even this experiment, however, would not escape the author’s careful self-criticism. In the very conception of the growth and decline of organisms, it is indeed difficult not to recognize the interference of value judgments, which when applied to the sphere of literary criticism become confused with the aesthetic and historical-critical judgments that assign scores to history.

Abstract

Nature and History. Paradigms for the Study of Greek Literature. In the context of Nietzsche’s early reflection on history we will investigate some of the models put in place by the philosopher to account for the development of culturalhistorical phenomena, history, language, and in particular literature. Nietzsche left us several notes for the preparation of a study on the History of Literature in these years. But, they are also the years in which he collected materials for an unfinished dissertation for obtaining the title of Doctor, entitled On the Concept of the Organic since Kant, or On Teleology. The metaphor of the living organism to explain the internal processes of growth and decline that preside over the development of historical and cultural phenomena would indeed seem to have exerted a strong attraction in the young philosopher. Even this experiment, however, would not escape the author’s careful self-criticism. In the very conception of the growth and decline of organisms, it is indeed difficult not to recognize the interference of value judgments, which when applied to the sphere of literary criticism become confused with the aesthetic and historical-critical judgments that assign scores to history.

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