In sections 2-6 of Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche introduces four important themes that run
through the rest of the work.
In section 2, the theme is his opposition to metaphysical/Platonic/Christian otherworldliness.
The mark of a metaphysical thinker is his faith in opposed value pairs—it is this
faith, or prejudice, that Nietzsche intends to overcome in his philosophy.
The will to truth that characterizes these philosophers may itself be a manifestation
of deeper, instinctive human drives working through them, Nietzsche suggests.
And the philosophical ‘truths’ they have attained may be provisional perspectives only,
to be replaced by a fuller, deeper worldview later on.
In this spirit, Nietzsche calls for “philosophers of the dangerous maybe,” who will ask and
answer the question of the deeper roots of the will to truth.
Such philosophers are coming, he says.
We may see this as an echo of Socrates’ prophecy of future philosophers at the end
of Plato’s Apology.
The theme of section 3 is the deeper physiological drives that shape philosophers’ works.
Philosophy, and even logic, Nietzsche says, are the result of these unconscious drives.
The conscious thoughts and writings of philosophers are channeled and guided by their root instincts.
Philosophical reasoning is not the ground floor of the human self, so to speak.
It is more like the 3rd or 4th floor, and the hidden drives and instincts lie below them.
Each philosopher’s teachings reflect his inner psychology, rather than his rational
grasp of external realities.
The factor that drives all philosophies is the demand for the preservation of a certain
type of life.
This, we will see shortly, is the will to power.
In section 4, Nietzsche moves beyond the will to truth, beyond true and false, we might say.
He notes that while life (which is will to power) might be served by finding and believing
the truth, it may be that life also demands falsehood, in order to prosper and grow.
But even to ask whether this is the case is to stand beyond good and evil, true and false, already.
Nietzsche aims to resist philosophers’ accustomed tables of value, looking instead for something
deeper than the will to truth.
He is acting here a psychologist as much as a philosopher.
Section 5 serves as a lead-in to the last major theme in section 6.
Here Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of being naïve, but also of failing to be sufficiently
honest, with themselves and with their readers.
Nietzsche’s dose of honesty comes in section 6, where he introduces the theme that philosophy
and morality are ultimately expressions of their author’s personality and deep psychology.
So philosophical doctrines and systems come not from the truth of things, and a will to
grasp that truth, but rather from the personal character of the one philosophizing.
A man’s moral doctrines reflect who he is, rather than his character being shaped by
his moral code.
Philosophy, then, is ultimately a form of personal testimony, and perhaps should be
evaluated on personal rather than impersonal terms.
This suggests a new way of doing philosophy.
We might use it to critique, say, Kant’s philosophy.
And we might bend it around to understand Nietzsche’s project in this book.
How does what he writes here reflect his own inner arrangement of instincts?
Are we to evaluate this book, not on whether its contents are ‘true’ or ‘false,’
but on whether the personality they express is one we approve of?
We will address these and other questions as we work our way through the rest of the book.
That’s a look at sections 2-6, from Part One of Beyond Good and Evil.
Thanks for watching today; goodbye.