Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science

Babette E. Babich is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, The College at Lincoln Center.

"The author succeeds in penetrating the cloud of suspicion, incomprehension, and distrust that for contemporary readers surrounds Nietzsche's writing and shows how the most audacious provocateur or nineteenth-century German wissenschaftliche circles, can speak with real insight to our times about our own very contemporary philosophical crises." — New Nietzsche Studies"One could argue that the philosophy of science is one of the most important issues in contemporary culture. Babich, looking at the problem through the lens of Nietzsche, argues persuasively that it will not do to try to theorize science on the basis of its own value system, since the result will always be one form or another of self-validation. With Nietzsche's help, she proposes to frame science from the point of view of aesthetics—"science in the light of art"—in order to provide a different, possibly more enlightening perspective on the claims and aspirations of science. I like Babich's tough, at times even racy, rhetoric. " — Clayton Koelb, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"One of the more important issues raised is the assertion that Nietzsche's perspectivism, far from dooming the scientific enterprise, energizes it. Another important claim is that Nietzsche is a proper philosopher because he, like other philosophers, is driven by the desire for knowledge. But the most important claim, the most contentious, and the one that most deserves a hearing and discussion, is the assertion that Nietzsche is a serious philosopher of science." — Debra Bergoffen, George Mason University"The author makes a genuinely significant contribution to the dialogue between "science" and "philosophy." The nuances of her text make it very rich, and the bite of her wit keeps the reader awake throughout. I really enjoyed and appreciated this effort—one of the finest works on Nietzsche that I have read." — Susan Schoenbohm, University of the South

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction Prologue: The Problem of the Philosophy of Science and Nietzsche's Question of GroundThe Plan of the TextChapter 1Nietzsche's Musical Stylistics: Writing a Philosophy of Science The Hermeneutic Challenge of Nietzsche's Elitism: Style and Interpretive AffinityPhilosophic Concinnity: The Spirit of Music and Nietzschean StyleThe Project of Communication: Self-Deconstruction and Nietzschean SelectivityNietzsche's Style: A Mechanical ModelChapter 2Science as Interpretation: The Light of PhilologyThe Question of a Nietzsche-Styled Philosophy of ScienceTowards a Nietzschean Critique of ScienceNietzsche's Perspectivalism: The Spectre ofRelativism and the Spirit of DifferenceTruth, Pragmatism, and Relativism: Realism a nd theRealThe Meaning of Critique: Nietzschean Possibilitiesfor PhilosophyNietzsche and Science: The Question of ValidityChapter 3On the Ecophysiological Ground of Knowledge: Nietzsche's EpistemologyThe Question of Nietzsche's Epistemology: Critique and GroundThe Knower and the KnownThe Problem of Knowledge in its Ecophysiological GroundThe Empirical Basis of Transcendent KnowledgePerspectivalism as EpistemologyMultiplicity as Interpretational Truth: The Metaphysical Fiction of an AbsoluteA Note on the Typology of Science and Philosophy: The will to PowerBeyond Truth and LieChapter 4Under the Optics of Art and Life: Nietzsche and ScienceResumé: The Ecophysiological Ground of KnowledgeScience and NihilismReality and Truth: The Domination of TruthScience: Reality and IllusionThe Meaning of Nature and Chaos: A Note on Nietzsche's "Chaos sive natura"Reality and Illusion: The Interpretive DynamicChapter 5Nietzsche's Genealogy of Science: Morality and the Values of ModernityThe Genealogy of Morals and the Value of ScienceThe Ascetic Ideal: The Cost of PerpetuationRessentiment : Science and CultureWithout Price: The Will to Truth as the Will toLifeScience and InadequacyDuplicity: Science and the Ascetic IdealThe Ascetic Ideal: The Cost of PerpetuationScience as an Aesthetic Achievement: MéconnaissanceVesuvius: "Gefährdete Menschen, fruchtbarer Menschen"Chapter 6Toward a Perspectival Aesthetics of TruthA Perspectivalist Philosophy of ScienceA Perspectival Aesthetics of TruthTruth as IllusionThe Illusion of Truth and the Question of the Eternal FemininesContra-Morality—AgainThe Aesthetics of Illusion Creation and AffirmationChapter 7A Dionysian Philosophy: Art in the Light of LifeThe Eternal Return of the Same: Interpretation and WillRessentiment and Amor FatiThe Perspectival Dominance of DecadenceDionysian Aesthetic PessimismThe Troping of the Eternal Return: An Aposematic AposiopesisBibliographyName IndexSubject Index