Anne Merker

2 October | 4 PM (Lisbon)

5 PM (Rome) | for other locations click here.

Abstract

I will offer a few — non-exhaustive — reflections on Nietzsche’s relationship to Heraclitus, based on the privileged theme of war. In so doing, I want to show that this theme should not be reduced to a metaphysical (i.e. “anti-metaphysical” — by which I mean going beyond what Nietzsche conceives of as Platonic metaphysics) treatment of the problem of becoming and the union of opposites. This aspect of the question, which is properly philosophical, is certainly decisive in Nietzsche’s eyes. But we must also retain an understanding of the theme of war as referring to a trivial and concrete human reality, and therefore an anthropological, cultural and historical one, that of the confrontation between cities in Antiquity. We will take advantage here of some of the texts by Nietzsche the philology professor, which have received less attention from commentators on the Nietzschean Heraclitus.

Anne Merker (Université de Strasbourg)

Nietzsche On Early Greek Philosophy | Online Seminar

Org. Paulo Lima (Lisbon Nietzsche Group/Research Group on Ancient Philosophy/IFILNOVA) and Carlotta Santini (CNRS/ENS, Paris)

The seminar seeks to explore the dialogue between Nietzsche and early Greek philosophy during the period when he was Professor of Philology at the University of Basel. This is a subject that has not been studied in a systematic way, although there are some decisive contributions showing its importance for understanding Nietzsche’s philological and philosophical thinking. Our purpose is to provide a platform on which contributions from specialists in Nietzsche and ancient philosophy can be presented, debated, and complemented to fill this gap in Nietzschean studies. Key topics of the sessions will be Nietzsche’s activity as a scholar of ancient doxography on early Greek philosophy, his general conception of what he called the “pre-Platonic philosophers”, as well as his interpretation of some of these philosophers. The body of texts to be studied during the sessions includes not only the published ones, but also Nietzsche’s lectures, notebooks, and correspondence. The seminar is part of the activities of the Lisbon Nietzsche Group and the Research Group on Ancient Philosophy (CultureLab/IFILNOVA). It is the result of a collaboration between IFILNOVA, the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique, and the École Normale Supérieure (Paris). It will take place monthly starting from October 2023 and will have nine sessions. It will be open to all interested parties, who will be able to register for each session by contacting the organizers (plima@fcsh.unl.pt, carlottasantini@hotmail.it). For more details, please see the programme below.

Event supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e para a Tecnologia) of the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science under the projects UIDB/00183/2020 and UIDP/00183/2020.