Conflict and Contest in Nietzsche's Philosophy by Herman Siemens James Pearson

Author:Herman Siemens,James Pearson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

8

Aidōs, the Warrior-Pathos of Nietzsche’s Noble Philosopher

Florian Häubi

Introduction

The notions of war, struggle and contest play a crucial role in Nietzsche’s philosophy, and there is little doubt that Nietzsche considered it a philosopher’s task to be a warrior. While the importance of conflict is widely recognized, the following chapter focuses on the neglected notion of aidōs (shame/reverence) as an essential characteristic of Nietzsche’s warrior–philosopher. I suggest that the Greek understanding of aidōs refers, on the one hand, to the martial pathos of the philosopher and, on the other, to Nietzsche’s notion of the ‘pathos of distance’ as a condition and mark of nobility.

The chapter consists of two parts. In the first part, I examine the Greek notion of aidōs and how it relates to some central elements of Nietzsche’s philosophy. I defend the claim that Nietzsche’s characterization of nobility and the pathos of distance are a reference to aidōs understood as an ‘instinct of reverence’. I highlight the epistemological dimension of this pathos and describe it as the central feature of Nietzsche’s noble philosopher. In the second part, I further elaborate on the warrior–philosopher’s aidōs qua reverence by showing how it represents a crucial element for the constitution of three different relations: first, the relation of the noble philosopher to himself; second, the warrior–philosopher’s relation to others, and to his enemies in particular; and third, his relation to truth and knowledge. In each of the three cases, I demonstrate that Nietzsche’s attacks on Socrates are partly motivated by the fact that he lacks the noble pathos of aidōs. Nietzsche opposes the warrior–philosopher’s pathos of aidōs to the shamelessness and impudence of Socrates.

I Aidōs and the pathos of distance

In Ecce Homo, Nietzsche writes that Beyond Good and Evil inaugurated the no-saying, no-doing part of his task, that is, the ‘revaluation of our values so far, the great war’.1 According to Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil is in its essence a critique of modernity and by the same token an indication of a ‘contrary type’. In the latter sense, Beyond Good and Evil is a ‘school for the gentilhomme’.2 Nietzsche indicates that the notion of the ‘gentilhomme’ has to be understood in the most radical and spirited way. This suggests that he has a nobility of the spirit in mind, that is, an ideal of the philosopher, and not, first and foremost, a specific social group or class. Furthermore, he indicates that distance and distinction are key characteristics of a ‘gentilhomme’. Thus, Nietzsche writes:

The first point on which I ‘try the reins’ is to see whether a man has a feeling for distance in his system, whether he sees rank, degree, order between man and man everywhere, whether he makes distinctions: with that one is a gentilhomme […].

Das Erste, worauf hin ich mir einen Menschen ‘nierenprüfe’, ist, ob er ein Gefühl für Distanz im Leibe hat, ob er überall Rang, Grad, Ordnung zwischen Mensch und Mensch sieht, ob er distinguiert: damit ist man gentilhomme; […]. (EH Bücher WA 4, KSA 6.362)

Here, the ‘feeling for

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