chaos sive natura: nietzsche ' s evening gold and the dancing star, babette e. babich

7/28/2019 Chaos sive natura: Nietzsche ' s Evening Gold and the Dancing Star, Babette E. Babich

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Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia

Nietzsche's Chaos Sive Natura: Evening Gold and the Dancing StarAuthor(s): Babette E. BabichSource: Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, T. 57, Fasc. 2, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): II:Aspectos do seu Pensamento (Apr. - Jun., 2001), pp. 225-245Published by: Revista Portuguesa de FilosofiaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40337624 .

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Nietzsche's haossivenatura:EveningGoldandtheDancingStar

Babette E. Babich*Abstract: Nietzsche'sreativendfundamentalccount fchaos n bothtscosmic, ni-versal s well s itshumaneontext,ecalls he ncient reekmeaning f haosratherthan tsmodern, isordered,ecadent ignificance.n thisgenerativelyrimordialsense, haos correspondsotto thewatery othingnessfSemiticmythr modern,scientificntropyutcreative,ncountenancedlybundantotency. ndin suchanarchaic ense,Nietzsche'shaos s a word orboth aturendart.Nietzsche'sreativeconceptionfchaosequatestwith hewill opower: s the oundationalssence f heworld to all eternity.This amecorrespondences also the tylisticrerequisiteorcreatingneselfs a workf rt.KeyWords:Amor ad.Art.Becoming. haos.Cosmology.osmos.Creativity.ulture.

Dionysus. ternity. reeks.Male-Female.Nature.Nietzsche. ower.Pre-socratics.Science.Spinoza.Time.World. arathustra.RESUMO:O artigo omeqa ordemonstrartequeponto maisfundamentalxplicaqdocriadora adaporNietzsche respeitoocaos,em eucontextoantoosmico univer-sal comomeramenteumano,onstituima vocaqdo oantigoentidoue hefoi adopelosGregos,maisdoqueuma desdo significagdoodernaomesmo,esordenadae decadente.araNietzsche,om feito, caosem eusentidoenerativo ais rimor-dial,ndocorrespondeem ambiguidadeo nada inerenteo mito emitico em osentidomoderno,ientifico,a entropia, assim umapotencia riadora ssinaladapor umaabunddncianesgotdvel ostra-se,ssim, te queponto, mconformidadecom sentidorcaicodotermo,caosemNietzscheonstituirn ome uese da tantoa naturezaomo arte.Mais,o presentertigomostraindaatequeponto concep-qdonietzschianaocaos o transformam lgoequivalentevontadeepoder, useja,na essencia undadorao mundo paratodaa eternidade".esta correspondencia,alias,resulta condigdostilisticaara quecada um e crie simesmoomo erdadei-ra obrade arte.

Palavras-Chave: Amorfati.Arte.Caos. Ciencia.Criatividade.osmologia.Cosmos.Cultura.Devir. Dionisio. Espinoza. Eternidade.Gregos.Masculino-Feminino.Mundo.Natureza.Nietzsche.oder.Pre-socrdticos.empo. aratustra.

*DepartmentfPhilosophy,ordham niversityNewYork,NY- USA).RevistaPortuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245

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226 Babette E. Babich

Chaos andtheOrderofCreativity\L *1 etzscheegardsheworld,n ts total haracter"s chaos in alleternity"/^VJ (GS 109),opposed o human ategories.1et,Nietzschelso identifies/ ^ chaos sthe ourcefcreativeotentialithinulture:I tellyou: nemusthave haosnone, ogive irtho dancingtar"Z,Prologue ).2Whats Nietzsche's eaningere?n what ense s "chaos" he totalharacter"of theworld toall eternity"?hymust ne have"chaos n one"for he akeofcreativity,hats meant y speaking,n the oiceof the haracterietzscheden-tifies ith he un, he golden tar,"3f chaos nternalooneself s theprecon-dition or reativity?nd,perhapsmost erplexingfall,why s such n internalchaospresenteds a rarity,ndangered?Alas,"Nietzsche's arathustrauicklyadds:"The time s comingwhenmanwillgivebirth ono more tars"Z, Pro-logue5).

1Friedrichietzsche,ie frohlicheWissenschaft.ietzscheWerke: ritischetudien-ausgabe.Giorgio olli andMazzinoMontinari,ds., Berlin:Walter e Gruyter.980).Volume ,p.467.Henceforthited s GS followedythe ection umber.ikewiseNietz-sche'sJenseitsonGutundBose s cited sBGE,followedythe ection umber,nd ita-tions rom lsosprach arathustrare cited nthe ext, ollowed yZ, section itle,ndsection umber,nd so on. Citationsrom ietzsche'snpublishedorks efero theKSAedition,istinghe olume umberroman umeral),ollowedy he agenumber.2It must e emphasizedhatNietzsche'sonceptionf chaosdiffersromhe oncep-tionof chaosarticulatedy authorsikeKatherineaylesand other riticalndliteraryreviews fthe deaofchaos, s drawn rom opular onceptionsf chaostheory.f.N.Katherineayles, haosBound:Orderlyisorder nContemporaryiteraturend Science(Ithaca:CornellUniversityress,1990).Although ietzsche ecognizeshe disorderfchaos, s inherentn the ontemporaryeaningfchaos,hisoverarchingmphasisromstart ofinish nderlineshe undamentalmbiguityfchaos s a primordiallybundantasa prerequisiteor reation)atherhan decadentrentropictate.WhereHayles anbe re-proved as somemight ish o do in thereactionistakeofSokal's so-called oax forperhapsmployingless than xigentscientific"otion, ietzscheannot e so chargedforhe takes isconceptionfchaos, ogetherith ts reativeotency,romncient reekacounts. aturallynough,ven he fforto make heprior istinctionsvulnerableothechargefa failure f hermeneuticss I arguenmyreview fSokal'shoax nd the elatedscientisticnthusiasmor enouncingiteraryndculturalheory.ee my ssay, TheHer-meneuticsfa Hoax:On theMismatchfPhysicsndCulturalriticism."ommonnow-ledge. /2September997):23_33.Thishasbeen raced oa mistakentymologynthe art fFriedrichreuzer:hereshowever o doubt f tsprofoundignificanceorNietzsche'swnthinking.ee Curt aulJanz,riedrich ietzscheMunich: anser, 978),Volume ,p.230.See tooDavid B. Alli-son'sdiscussionnReading heNew Nietzsche: heBirth fTragedyTheGayScience,ThusSpokeZarathustra,n theGenealogyfMorals Lanham:Rowman& Littlefield,2000),pp.130ff.n a letteroHeinrichoselitz, ritten3April 883,Nietzschelaims ohave experienced"his tymologyor he irstimepostZarathustra). See commentarydlocumntheNietzscheriefwechselritischeesamtausgabeII-7, orthcoming001.Revjsta Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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Nietzsche s Chaos sivenatura 227

How, n a universeoday haracterizeds beginningromn nitialmomentfprime, rototypicallyasculinereative otency be it the ccount fGenesis,Plato'sTimaeus,rthe osmologist'sigBang , i.e., universenwhich haos sa namefor ncreasingnertia,s the ack oforderndstructure,ow s chaosassuch o be thepreconditionor reativity?or evenNietzsche imselftresseshedownwardendencyordecadence) fchaos, mphasizingheprimacyf orderabovechaos n hisownUntimelyeditations.4n whatfollows shalltrace heoriginfNietzsche's seof chaosas a word ornaturenall itsconflicted ean-ings, ut speciallys primordiallyrchaicndprototypicallyemininenaspect.5I shall rgue hatNietzscheupposes hatwe are a radical art fnature, eaningthat,s he saysprovocativelyith eferenceothepossibilityfanyperspectiveonnature,rtheworld, rthewilltopower, rbeing ndbecoming:hat heresnooutside,oexternality.orNietzsche,he ppositionetweennside ndoutsidefails6 thats,as Zarathustraeclares:There s no outside!"Es giebt einAus-senl] Z, III,TheConvalescent).7

GreekChaosvs.The Waters fGenesis nd ScientificntropyIt is worthmphasizinghat lthough ietzsche's arathustraonscientiouslyinvokesheresonantanguage fthegospels, henotion f chaosas precondition

for reativeossibilityoesnot orrespondo themage fthe irst atersresentedin Genesis reflectinghe nertepthsfuncreativeeceptivitynor oes tcorres-pondto contemporaryisions f chaos,whethern casualterms,s disorderedconfusionr,moreformally,s correlated ith he cientificotion fentropy.Nietzsche's haosis fundamentallyrchaic: rototypicallyreek.HenceNietz-sche'sconceptionfcreativehaosmust e read as physis thatwhich ringsforthf andoutof tself. ndas Nietzschenterposeshaoswithsive)nature,he4InSection of"OntheUsesandDisadvantagesfHistoryor ife,"Nietzsche ocksthe ery otionhat haos s supposedogivebirtho ts pposite,s greatnesss ascribedothemasses:Da soildieMasseaus sichheraus asGrosse, as Chaos lso aussichheraus ieOrdnungebaren." ietzscheikewise,n the ame ocus ontrastshe cope f mbitioniththe mpotencef humanbility:Freilich letterstu an den SonnenstrahlenesWissensaufwartsumHimmel,ber uch bwartsumChaos" I, 315)andhe will lways tress histension.ee,for ninsightfuliscussion, anfrediedel,TheOriginfEurope:Nietzscheand theGreeks," ewNietzsche tudies 1/2 Summer/Fall000): 141-155; riginallypublisheds: "DerAnfang uropas.Nietzschenddie Griechen"n NietzschendKessler(Ettersburgerefte ,KuratoriumchloB ttersburg.V.,Weimar,994), p.13-33.5"Note hat lthoughrammaticallyeuter,haos s treateds female." ommentaryyM. L. West oHesiod, heogonyClarendonress;Oxford,966), . 193.6Menschliches.llzumenschliches,,15.7See, for n extendedeadingf"Es giebtkeinAussen!" n Nietzsche's lsosprachZarathustran connectionith nexoteric/esotericistinctionndas a genuineompletionofnihilism,olger chmid, ietzsches edanke ertragischenrkenntnisWiirzburg:6-nigshausen Neumann,984), p.78ff.

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same chaos can be expressed s specifically enerative ature:natura, ranslatedsErwinChargaffenderst nEnglish: shewhowill be bornorshe whowill bear."8"To givebirth,"n thewords ofNietzsche'sZarathustrawhomNietzschehim-self names nmetonymic roximityothewhirlingtars fthe cosmos itself) to adancing tar," ne needsto have retainedwithin neself hesame chaos that xem-plifies heworld"to all eternity."et thisprototypicalhaos recedes afterts firstmentionn Hesiod (Theogony116), Chaos is onlymentionedgain in the contextof the battlebetween Zeus and the Titans and in itspersistent isplacement t theedge of theworld,beyondbothOlympiangods and Titans 77*.814) - unlikethecontemporaryhysicalnotionof entropy,haos does not ncrease tsrange. n to-day's banal cultureof scientificnihilism and leisurely,mediatizeddecadence,Nietzsche'sarchaicconception f a creative haos is notonly ncreasinglyt riskbutthe "ultimate"menof todaycan reply o theZarathustra ho tells them onemusthave chaos inone togivebirth o a dancing tar"withblinking ncomprehen-sion,asking, What is love? What is creation?What is longing?What is a star?"(Z,Prologue )Hesiod'sTheogonyelates he mergencefChaoi as firstnwhat implyomestobe without ntecedent H toi \iev TtpuTioxa Xdog yevexa.10 AfterChaos,arise the unboundedgods of thebeginning, ivinities f aorgicnature n Hesiod'saccount: ncludingGala or broad-breastedarth, imTartarus,wingedEros. Firstofthemothers fbeing,chaosgivesbirth o thedeitiesofdarkness: rebos and thesameNight hat,ntheOrphic raditionecountingheseorigins, aysthe ilver ggin the ap ofblack darkness, romwhich s bornthegod ofmanynames,goldenEros orPhanes,whobrings verythingidden obirth r to light.11he Theogonyincludes thisOrphic resonance:it is Night's incestuousunionwith Erebos thatannulsthecharacter f their espective bscurity, ielding rightest ether nd theday. Thus, chaos and not the masculineworld-ordering rocess of cosmologicalgenesis, s generatively rimordial.12

8Erwin hargaff,oices n the abyrinth:ature,Man,and Science Series:The Treeof ife] NewYork: The eaburyress, 977), . 1.Chaoshere s uncountenanceableaturend t s significanthat haosretainsn asso-ciation ith lackness,link hatlsosuggestsheOrphicccountingfnights primordialbeing. ee note 1below.Hesiod, heogony,16.11C.Kenenyi.heGods f he ncientreeksLondon:hamesndHudson,951), .16-17.Thisgenerativelyrimordialharacters unique.Reviewinghenotion f "cosmo-gonicmyth," alter urkertistinguishesetween iomorphicndtechnomorphicodels,butboth f these recreativemodels i.e.,requiringithereproductiveenerationontheanalogy urkertraws,omplete ithcouples fdifferentex, nseminationndbirth"pp.94-95])ordemiurgic/divinereation. o be sure,Burkert oesnotdistinguishheGreek(althoughargelyharacterizedythe ormer)nd he iblical raditionalthoughrincipallycharacterizedythe atter). et theemergencefchaos, ppearings it does ata "timewhichwas the first' fall,the nebeginningrom hich verythinglse s about oarise,"(p. 91) isbeyonduch narrativeptions"p.94).Thus, or urkert,Hesiod sks Which fRevista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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Nietzsche 's Chaos sive na tura 229

It hasbeen uggestedhat heHesiodicmeaningfchaos as chasm ryawninggap)canperhaps e traced ackto anOrphic ccountwhich ames he hasmornight).13et thenames re ess mportanthan he onsequences.or he atternfspontaneousandfeminine)reativitys immediatelyuashed ven n such rchaicaccounts,ndfrom he tart.specially, e could ay,for heGreeks:n the torythat ells f nsurgent alepower rdered,r,tobe sure, nhinged ydesire reros, he ldest f thegods n this ense though,s desire,lways lso theyoun-gest).Thus thecreative ower fgenesis hat s originallyemale ecomes rismademale, s Zeus swallows is first ife,Metis, herebyncorporatingot nlyherwisdom lodged n hisbelly, er ounselwas alwayshisown but lso herfeminineature:hus heZeusthat ivesbirthoAthena ullyrmed,prungromhis forehead,s the sameZeus who can rescue he heart f the dismemberedZagreus rom heburntshesof hisTitanic ormenters,lasted yZeus's thunder-bolt, ransferredythemediatingnfluencef wine nto hewomb f Selenehishumanover, herengenderinghe hildDionysus,nly o reduce eleneherselfto asheswith he ame ighteninglash f hisgodly ountenanceso keepinghepromisehats thedevastationf ovebetweenmortal nd mmortal),o sew thenotyetfully-formedhild ntohis ownthigh,inally iving irth oDionysus fthe wogateways,wice ebornnthewakeof both itanicndmortalsh.SuchaZeuswas a godof theprimemaleprinciple adea prime rinciplereciselyymeans f tsviolentncorporationffemininereativity.ow the atherives irthto the on,now he kygods hatre lwaysmale, ormuman eingsn their wnimage.ForNietzsche, hatmatterssnot opayhomageothe ldstoryfthe rimor-dialgoddess,r the iteralmothersfbeing, ut nstead or s to attendothe ow-ersofwild naturen creativeelf-genesis,nbecomingneself work f art.Tocreate neself, iving irth oa dancingtar a wheelrollingutof tself oneneeds he chaos nd abyrinthf existence"GS 322).This mperativeoldsnotbecause rder ills the etterhe pirit) utbecause he haos ncreativeuestionis primordialaturetself:hatwhichs older han ll other eities,hat f whichthemost arklyorgic eities reborn,s divinitiesapable fbringingheirwnoppositesutof themselves.ndwe,so Nietzsche's arathustraellsus,still is-poseover his reativeower: I tellyou:you till ave haos nyou" Z,Prologue5). Yet becausewe are lso, n our ge, losest o osing his amepower fnature,losing he reativeorce fchaos, hroughblindnesshat s as much blindnessabout urselvess about ature, eneedZarathustra'seminder.

thesecame intobeingfirst?" nd then tarts:Firstofall..."' (p. 92). See Burkert,The Lo-gic ofCosmogony" n RichardBuxton,ed., FromMythto Reason: Studiesin theDevelop-ment fGreekThoughtOxford:OxfordUniversityress,1999), pp. 87-106.Evidence for this s givenby no one less thanAristotle,Metaph. 1071 27, who im-plies thatnight s an alternative ameforchaos. See noteabove and compareBurkert's is-cussionon the ame for differentbutnotopposed) emphasis.




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As self-engenderinghysis, haos thus orrespondso a generativexcessorplenum,onceived s theTheogonicUr-chaos r theAnaximandrianpeiron.14Such generative,rcreativeonceptionfchaos s a femininespect funthink-ablyconsummate,elf-sufficientreativitynd sucha feminineirst rinciplescommon o more han necosmology.et theprimordialonceptionf femininecreativeotenciesfromhenotionf chaosto thefantasiesfthe ulturesf thegoddess rmatriarchy)s eclipsed,swehave een, romhemomentf nception:all accounts fthegenesis f thedark hildrenfchaosarequicklylided ythemore ertilend various arthwho,herselfiving irtho herown over, ets nmotionhedominantccount f the uccessionf masculine rogenitors.s thestoryf he irthf he ods,he heogonyecomes storyfgenesisandpaternity).Evenmore, oday's haos s a pell-mell epresentinghefailure forder,norder educed o disorderreflectinghe emporalchematismrticulatednboththereligiousraditionf Genesis ndthe hermodynamiconceptionfentropy).Derived rom naboriginallyasculinistision, heJudeao-Christianraditione-gards he ifeless epths ecountedn Genesis s the mpotent,nd featurelesswatersf an rreal ndfemininebyss riorothe irst ivinemomentfthe rea-tion ftheworld.nthis onvergencefreligiousnd cientificerspectives,haosis a non-creative,xpresslyegativeoncept.Denyingnarchie,riginativeunctiono the osmos s such ndso denyingboth tsrulingnd ts elic rguiding rinciples,.e.,byunderstandingealitys achaos ofmultipleealities, ietzsche'snsightntothenature f the world s"chaostoall eternity"ndhisrecollectionfthe reativemportancefa chaoswithin,ecalls he rincipleignificancefGreek oo\loq, koo|I8G>15s a quint-essentiallyestheticoncept.16iven he reativergencyndpossibilityf chaosintheworld s in thehuman eingwithin heworld, he ubsequentnterpretiveorder ields irstheworld fappearancesnd till,ndnow, he otentialor re-birthf ulture.

14One tendsto hear n this an associative reference o thecombininghollowof Plato'sTimaean chora butalthough hePythagoreanraditionmay ustify hisassociation, heveryconception f a hollowdependent pontheworkingnfluence f thedemiurge lready esti-fiesto a condition hat s underway o the atter onception fa disorderednneedof order.15Charles Kahn had pointedout thatHomer's use of "kosmos,teme>v...denote[s] ingeneral any arrangementr disposition fpartswhich s appropriate, ell-disposed, ffecti-ve." Kahn,Anaximander nd theOriginsofGreekCosmology, . 220.16The transferrom heoriginal ignificance, ahn observes,of a 'neat arrangement,'san easy one to the wider decorative sense of kosmos as Nfinery,ich adornment'"Kahn,p. 220. The metaphysical ast of this "cosmetic"vision is obvious: "all extant xamplesofkosmosordiakosmos ntheearlyphilosophicalfragmentsllustrate he dea of an all-embra-cing "arrangement"rordering fparts: he naturalworld s conceived as a structural holeinwhichevery omponent as itsplace." p. 229.Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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In connectionwithNietzsche'sthought,ther hilosophersuch as MartinHei-degger,have explored the relevance of x&og with reference o Hesiod.17 ButHeideggerhimself oes not advert othearchaiccosmologyofchaosbut mmedia-tely nvokes thecontemporaryonception f chaos as impotentonfusion.18 therscholars, ike WalterGebhard, orrectHeidegger's etymologies.19hus almostallreaderswho reflect ponNietzsche's anguageof chaos understand his onceptionin itscontemporary,.e., its ncidental ather hanprototypicallyreeksense.Hen-ce, and apartfrommyown readingof chaos in connectionwithscience (and Jac-ques Lacan's Real),20only Jean Granierreviews the importance f the "tragicknowledgeofNietzsche, he new Empedocles,"21withregard o what have herebeguntoargue s the pecificallyGreeknotion f creative haos.22

Nature as Chaos, Nature as ArtBy regarding ature s chaos,now to be heard not n itscontemporaryxpres-sion butin itsoriginalGreekor primordial ignificance,Nietzscherepudiates hetraditionalWesternoppositionbetween natureand art.As an absolutewill topower,without emainder "undnichts ufierdem" the native haos oftheworldis a raw,uncountenanceablend untrammelledealmbeyondthe mposition f or-der for he same Nietzschewho teaches therule and the llusion ofperspective.

As it recallsSpinoza's deus sivenatura,Nietzsche'sdeclaration,chaos sive natu-ra" (IX, 515), de-deifiesnaturewhile,at the same time, tripping ature f its ra-

17x&og "... anfanglichasAufgahnende.. weist n dieRichtungesunabmeBbaren,stiitze-ndgrundlosen,ufklaffendenffenen,"artineidegger,ietzschePfiillingen:eske,1961), d.1,S. 562. Subsequentlyited s NI orNil,followedy he agenumber.]That s: s "dasWinenderVerwirrung,asDurcheinandernderUberstiiizung."I, 63.WalterGebhard,Erkennennd Entsetzen. ur Tradition erChaosAnnahmenmDenken riedrichietzsches,"p.20ff.nGebhard,d.,Friedrich ietzsche.trukturenerNegativitdtFrankfurtmMain:Peter ang, 984), p.13-47.201discussNietzsche's otion fchaos nmyNietzsche'shilosophyf cience:Reflec-ting cience n theGroundfArt ndLife Albany: tateUniversityf New YorkPress,1984)pp.152-157 nd, gain, o lluminatehe renchsychoanalystacques acan'selusi-veconceptionftheReal: "On theOrder ftheReal: NietzschendLacan," n DavidPetti-grew ndFrancois affoul,ds.,Disseminatingacan (Albany: tateUniversityfNewYork ress, 996),pp.48-63.21Jean raniernvokeshe Sagesse ragiqueeNietzsche,e nouvelmpedocle"np.130ofhis ssay Lapensee ietzscheenneuchaos," evue eMetaphysiquetdeMorale, (1971):129-166; .130.See too he bridgednglishranslation,Nietzsche'sonceptionfChaos"nDavidB.Allison,heNewNietzscheCambridge:TT ress,985 1977]), p.135-141.With eferenceo Nietzsche's eclarationhat he The world f theGreek ods s aswirlingeil, oncealinghemost rightfulhings"VII, 77),Granierppropriateseideg-ger'spenetratingnsightnto becoming,hats,here t the ame ime he haracterfbeingas theworld ntiretys the haosofnecessityas] the ternal eturnf the ame."Heideg-ger,NI,371. SeeGranier,La pensee ietzscheenneuchaos," . 132.

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tional roundrfoundation23itsultimateoncordndcommensurabilityith u-man eason. orNietzsche,hemodernonfidencenscience s as liable ocriticaldemythologizations anyother elief. hushechallengeshe echnologicallyal-culative,cientific:faithn a world that s supposedto have itsequivalent nd itsmeasure nhuman houghtand humanvaluations a "world of truth"hat an be mastered ompletely nd foreverwiththeaid of oursquarelittle eason.What?Do we reallywant topermit xistence obe degradedforus like this reducedto a mere exercise fora calculator nd an indoordiversion ormathematicians?GS 373)By outlininghehistoryf the llusory,s thehistoryf thetruethe real"

world f Platonic antasynd Aristotelianroductivity),ietzsche aises hekeyquestionegardinghe ationalnderpinningsf the dealreal: s the cientificr-derperceivedn nature s a reflectionf thephantasmsf humanensibilityndhuman onceptualower.24here s no realityr nature nowablepart romthoroughlyhumanisedvermenschlichte]ature." husNietzsche riticizesherealist onvictionina passagefrom heGaySciencedirectedTo therealists'")that theworld eallys theway tappears" eforesober" ealistyes s inevita-blynaive: As ifrealitytood nveiled efore ouonly, ndyouyourselves ereperhapshebestpart f t" GS 57). Nietzschehallengeshemanofscience odescribe heworld part romrbeyondhe imitsfhuman erceptionndthissalso tosay, part rom he ffectsfpreciselyrtisticreativityr nvention,hichis concealed s an llicit assion rconviction:

Your love of "reality," orexample- oh, that s a primeval love." Every feeling ndsensation ontains piece of this old love; and some fantasy,ome prejudice, ome un-reason, ome ignorance, omefear, nd ever so muchelse has contributedo it andwor-ked on it.That mountain here!That cloud there! What is "real" in that?Subtract hephantasmndeveryhuman ontributionromt,mysober friends!fyoucan! {Ibid.)

23Cf. Nietzsche's reflectionsn The Gay Science. Reason has been deified since Plato.But Nietzsche s so farfrom hedangerofdeifying eason a Thomistic s muchas a Plato-nico-Aristotelianiability) hathe alwaysnamesreasonwithbelittlingppellations such as"unsrer iereckigen leinenMenschenvernunft"GS 373) and he liked touse the mostun-flatteringomparisons gnatsand frogs s companionperspectives o humanfoci,tomakethe same point. n a move similar o Augustinian iety,Nietzschedeclares thatdesire thebelly) is thebody, s thebest antidote o our conviction hatwe are,ormight e divine.Thissame move opposes Augustinebecause, of course,forAugustine as forDescartes), quawill, t s desire hat howsour bestresemblance o God.Hence Nietzsche declaresthat he world's manifest ongruencewithperception vi-dencedby theoverwhelmingoncord between sensationsfrompersonto personprovesthecongruence f theperceptual nd conceptual pparatusfrom ne humanbeingto another sa veritable ensus communis. hus Nietzsche nvokes"Der ungeheureConsensusder Men-schen uber die Dinge beweist die voile GleichartigkeithresPerceptionsapparates."VII,468).Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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ForNietzsche, hewhole of natural cience is a continuous nd effective,uc-cessfuland consumateprocessofwhat he calls a "humanisationnsumma."25 a-ture s a human nvention ndyet, nd at the sametime, tis nature hatworks tsartistryhrough s and uponus, so that ur inventiveness nd our artifices re notnon-natural however much n thecase of science we use this nventiveness orthepurposesof themasterynd control f nature.26Withtheartistic,nventive x-pressionof such scientificmeans,"we expressour own nature, hesame essencereflectinghe nherent ruth f nature s "will topower"or chaos (toall eternity).Yet,we apprehendneither ature's haos - nor could we everdo so givenourperceptual nd conceptual pparatus nor can we recollect nysense of the chaosof impressionswithinus - this astgiventhe coordinate imitationsf ourhumanpsycho-physiology.his is a favorite heme orNietzsche,whodeclaresthatnaturethrewwaythekeyto thewelter fphysiological ctivity ithin urbodies27 nd itforms fundamentalomponent f hispre-Freudian ritique fpsychologicalden-tity r thesubject. n the morestraightforwardnstance f a face to face encounterwith henaturalworld,Nietzschewrites:As I walk boutnopen ountry,amalways mazed o think ow verythingorks nus with uch supremerecision:heforesthus ndso,and themountainhus ndsoandthat,eferringo thewhole fsensation,hereeigns ithinsnot he lighteston-fusion,misapprehension,rstammering.ndyet hegreatest ncertaintyndchaotic

aspectmust bound (IX,957)In the sameway as we do not as we cannot)attend o ourownrangeofperce-ptions,neitherdo we attend o the full complexity f the things hemselves sexperienceable bjects. Using themetaphor f reading text whereas Nietzschesays, the text does notmerelydisappearin the readingor beneath the interpre-tation, ut the reader nstead picksabout five words at random ut oftwentynd'guesses' at themeaningthatprobablybelongsto these five words" [BGE 192]),we tend o see notwhat s actually nfront foureyes,rather e perceivewhatwealready know"orbelieve: "ratherhanregisteringhat s differentnd newin animpression."Nietzsche draws a parallelto ourperceptionf a thing s obvious andstatic s a tree.He arguesthat venwithregard osucha sizeable objectofevery-dayperception,we misapprehendhe tree tself, ever eeing t"exactly nd com-

25"Genug," ietzsche rites,auchdieWissenschafthut, as derMenschmmerethan:etwas on ich, as hm lsverstandlich,ls wahr ilt,urErklarungenutzenllesAnderen- Vermenschlichungn umma"XI, 191)."WissenschaftUmwandlungerNaturnBegriffeumZweckderBeherrschungerNatur dasgehortn die RubrikMittel'"XI, 194).27See Nietzsche's ell-knownommentn"UberWahrheitndLuge": Was weissderMensch igentlichon ich elbst! a, ermdchter auchnur ich inmal ollstandig,inge-legtwieineinen rleuchtetenlasskasten,u percipiren?erschweigtie Natur hmnichtdasAllermeiste,elbst ber einenKorper,m nn, bseits on denWindungenerGedar-me,demraschen luss derBlutstrome,en verwickeltenasererzitterungen,n ein stolzesgauklerischesewusstseinu barmenndeinzuschliessen!ie warf enSchliissel eg..."(1,875;cf. , 55).Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 2001),225-245

3



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234 BabetteE. Babich

pletely,withreferenceo leaves, twigs, olor,and form; t is so verymucheasierfor us to phantasize ome approximationf a tree."Thus whether onfrontedyroutinempressions r "in the midstof the strangestxperienceswe stilldo thesame: we makeup themajor partoftheexperience..." (BGE 192). We overlook,overleap, nd so invent urexperience n general forNietzsche,we are "accusto-med to lying").And this ircumstances not ameliorated y addingreferenceo thecomplexityfthings hat re too minor o attract ur notice thewildvariety f n-sects andspiders ndplasmodiae treamingn thebark of the ame tree rcrawlingandflyingntheunglesat ourfeet.As Ryogi Okochi28has rightly nderlinedn his comparisonof Nietzsche'sconception fnature nd Easternviews,nature s not a correlevantbjectforhu-man comprehension.29nd as ErwinChargaff emindsus (and althoughChar-gaff's omments ateback to the cientificallyntedeluviange of1969,this s thepatient ubtext fRichardLewontin'srecent riticisms fthe newrageforgeneticdeterminism),he morewe learn of nature rom hemostcomprehensivecientificperspective that s, on the orderof thebiologythatreveals a far morecompleximageofnature hanphysicscan suggest the ess we know.30Hence, regardingthe world as will to powerto all eternity,.e., namingnature s chaos, Nietzscheemphasizesboth ts distancefrom urcapacity o comprehend aturen itselfthisis Nietzsche's routineKantianism) nd its inherentreativityagain, recalling hearchaicGreekconception f chaos). As chaos, nature tself s interpretivend onthis amelevel,nature tself s invention,epletewith ubjectivities, ills that s tosay,as Nietzscheexpressesthisveryradicalpoint n a late note:"everycenter fforce doptsa perspective oward he entire emainder,.e., itsown particular a-luation,mode ofaction, nd mode of resistance. " [XIII, 371]31 nd, ntheorganicworld,moreconservatively, ietzsche had earlierwritten: theentirety.. is theinterweavingfbeingswith nvented ittleworlds about them: n that hey mposeuponouter xperience heir ower, heir esire, heir abits s their xternalworld"[XI, 590]). Nature as a whole is constant nd thoroughgoingnterpretationnd

28RyogiOkochi, NietzschesNaturbegriffus ostlichericht,"Nietzsche-Studien,7 (1988):108-124.There is a superficial oncord betweenthis assertion nd Parmenideanpresumption,but, ontraParmenides, orNietzsche, t s theunthinkabilityf nature hat alls for hephi-losopher'sattention. ature s neither he coordinatenorthecorrespondent bjectof humanknowingChargaffwrites hat ven if"there s stillplenty f scope for heyear2069 [theessaywas writtenn 1969, so theauthor dds:] and even 2169. Butcan we reallybelieve that f wekeep on ploddingfor nother 00 yearsor so, suddenly ubmicroscopic ngelswill be seencarrying sign, Now you know all about nature'?Actually,knowledgeof nature s an ex-pandinguniverse, ontinually reating vergreater ircumferencesf ignorance, conceptthat an be expressed nthewords, themorewe know,the ess we know.'" ErwinChargaff,"The Paradox ofBiochemistry" h. One, Voices intheLabyrinth, . 5.31Cf. the preceeding:"Als ob eine Welt noch ubrigbliebe, wenn man das Perspek-tivische brechnete! amithatteman a die Relativitatabgerechnet,as -" (XIII, 371).Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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"necessaryerspectivismyvirtue f which very enter fforce and not nlyman construesll therest f theworld romts ownviewpoint,.e., measures,feels, orms,ccordingo tsownforce"XIII, 373).32Givingmeasure ndgivingform,esting,ndreacting:atures art.Indeed, romeginningoend, verythingurnsnthe uestionfart orNietz-sche.The differenceetween he rt fthehuman nd the rt f natures thedif-ference etween he rtless rt fnaturewhichacksall purposiveness)nd theartfulrt f humannventionhat s both rtisticallyonsummateorartfulrt)orelsepoorly xecuted r aestheticallyrtificial kitsch,rfar-too-,ll-too-artfulart.Only ultured,ndespeciallyhe rt fpractical,echnical,urposivenessrtechne,s able to name tselfrt althoughtdoes not lwaysdo so). Everythingelse,be it God33 r be itnature,acks rtisticwareness,s artless r natural rt.Thissame rtlessnesss ultimatelyhekey o the active) reativerocess. enceNietzschegreeswithKant's laim hat hehighestrt s the rtlessnesshat s (orappears obe) anunconsciousrnatural rt hence nawarefwhat t s or does.Thisonemayname nnocence.t s Nietzsche's oaltorecoverhisnnocence,hisnaturalness,orhuman reativity.he resultwouldbe a renaruralizedumanity(itselfnly ossible n thebasisof a redeemedature,iberatedo ts haosor n-dependenceromhehuman).34From eginningoend,Nietzsche ffirmshe riginfknowledgenerrorndillusion,ndhence, rultimately,nart.Thus nanearly eflectionnthis rob-lem,Nietzsche escribeshe dealbeautiesfperceivednature,"ndhepaints a-tural ublimityn thefollowing ords: It was evening: irstreamingith hescent fevergreen,ne'sgaze opened utupongreymountainanges,now him-meringnhigh,panningbove, ecalmed,lue kies"VII,468).And ontraryothe traightforward,lbeit oetic, escriptivenessfthis istanterms f he ensesthemselvesi.e.,the enseofsmell ndsightnanencounterith hekind fma-jestic andscapeweromanticallynoughontinueo dentifyith nature" thinkof theCasparDavid Friedrichaintingrom he ummit: ravellerooking ver

32"Meine Vorstellungst,daB jeder spezifischeKorperdanach strebt,iber den ganzenRaum Herr u werdenundseineKraft uszudehnen - sein Wille zurMacht:)undAlles daszuriickzustoBen, as seinerAusdehnungwiderstrebt. ber er stoBt ortwahrendufgleicheBestrebungenndererKorperundendet, ich mitdenen zu arrangiren'vereinigen'),welcheihm verwandt enugsind:- so conspirirenie dannzusammenzurMacht. Und der ProzeBgehtweiter. " (XIII, 373-4).Where God today s far more absent from oday's sensibilities hancould have beenimagined n Nietzsche's announcementf and fortheDeath of God in therequiem unginTheGay Science orparodied n Also sprachZarathustra, r mourned nBeyondGood andEvil or TheAntichristBut,Nietzsche makes this his goal because mostperniciously r exactlynihilisticallyin thehumancase, another enreof artlessness etrays singularly ad conscience, thou-ghtlessmeconnaissance, ackingall innocence:as thereactivewill that eeks to arrogate heright f interpretationor itself alone and to impose that scheme upon all others,by theexpedient fcalling ts nterpretationits deal, ts vision ofGod) truth.




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the ea ofFog that ot nly races he enguindition fR.J.Hollingdale'srans-lationof Nietzsche's utobibliography,cce Homo but whichmanyviewersautomaticallymaginen actual enderingfNietzsche imself), ietzsche hal-lenges herealityfany uchpure r direct erceptionf nature. hatrefusal funfilteredr direct ense access to theworld round s is thepointKantian swell as psychological)f histeasingssault pon he obrietyf "realist" ercep-tionof the real"world n TheGayScience: Thatmountainhere! hatcloudthere!What s real' n that?"GS 57) ForNietzsche, - A thingfthiskindwenever ee as it s initself,ut lways verlayt with tenderpirit-membranethats whatwe see instead.nheritedensations,ur ownfeelingsre roused ysuchthingsf nature.We see somethingf ourselves to this xtent,heveryworld tselfs ourrepresentation,orest,mountains,ore han conceptndeed,butour ownexperiencend our ownhistory: pieceof ourselves"VIII, 468).There s no world part rom hatheexplicatesgain ndagain s the nsensiblechaosofour ensationsndthe eritablehaosofnaturetself. ndchaosmust l-waysbe ordered. orus,this escribesrdinaryerception,ut orNietzsche,t sinterpretationnd t s not rue ecause t cannotouch he haotic ruthf a worldapart rom ur mposednterpretations,world f abundance r excess.This swhatHeideggeraptures ith seeminglyaradoxicalormula,ssertinghat orNietzsche,Truths the ackof truth""WahrheitstVerfehlungerWahrheit:9]35WhatHeideggermeansto underscore ere s theexactly letheic haracterfNietzsche'sritiquef truthnd hisphenomenologicalritiquefperceptionndexperience.husHeideggers notcharging ietzschewith acit ontradictionclaimingas true)hatheres no truth.nsteadhe eryuestiononcerninghe ruthofnatureequiresn nquirynto he onditionsfpossible erceptionsprerequisiteconditionsf he ery ossibilityfknowledgebe t fnaturerourselves).Unlike he onventionsfnegativeheology,e lackthe xiomaticrerogativeneeded o assertimplyhat ature e defineds everythinge are not althoughthis s themost ommonssumptionfourpresentiologisticumanism,hat s: tis the till-standingppositionetween aturendculturenthedebate oncerningthegenetic omponentf human ature). he ideal that emainss the deal ofconsciousreation. ature sart, ua artifice,ua anthropomorphicrojection,s aprojectionhat eginswith he avageperceptionfdrives, orces, owers,ndformsnnaturemythicantasynddreamingnvention),hich ontinues ith heChristianonventionfnatures the race fGod's handiworks itmay e seen nboth t.Thomas's ifthheologicalemonstrationnd nGalileo's xpression,s thebookofnature, rittenndivinelymathematicalymbols. s much s a painting,

35"DieWahrheitstVerfehlungerWahrheit.nder nzweideutigenesensbestimmungderWahrheitls Irrtumird ie Wahrheitotwendigweimal ndedesmalnders,lsozweideutigemacht:inmallsFestmachungesBestandigennd um ndernls Einstim-migkeitit emWirklichen.ur nterugrundelegungiesesWesens erWahrheitlsEin-stimmigkeitann ieWahrheitlsBestandigkeitin rrtumein .. alsAngleichungn dasWirklichend lsEinstimmigkeitithm,ls6|ioicoaic bestimmt."NI, .620-621.RevistaPortuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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Nietzsche 's Chaos sive natura 237

as much s Nietzsche's escriptionf naturenwords, s much s mythicrreli-gious xpressions,cientificxpressionsre rt.Nature nd llusion:The nterpretiveynamic

Nietzschenvokes he implifiedorld feverydayndtheoreticallyediatedperceptionss a matterfsensible,estheticrefinement,"ven nthe ase of cien-ce. Scientificaws and scientificntitiesrecreatively,estheticallyinventively)possible pon hebasisof flattenedifferencesNietzsche'semark:and he ittleerrors o not nternto ccount" nderlineshatmarginsferror,"standarde-viation,"ndthe heoreticalinessef"curve itting"reexactly perativeechni-quesuseful or xcludingrdiscountinghese ame"little"mistakes),ndtakingsuch xclusionreciselycalculably)nto ccount,hus racketingotentialxcep-tions.36s science perates pon he evels fboth ure heorynd mpirical eas-ure, he cientists a theoreticalechnicianr rtisanf xactitude.Bythesemeans xactitudes andcanbe imposed pon nempiricallyariableworld. cience s the echniqueart) funcoveringhe latonicdealoftruthn thephenomenalorldboth heoreticallynd xperimentally).o far romraisingheachievementsfscience s suchtechnites/zrtisznfchaos/nature,ietzscheriti-questhe latfootednessfthe rtificef cience namingcience n"error"ust she characterizest as dedicatedo thepursuitf "theprinciplef the smallestpossible ffort'ndthegreatestossible tupidity"BGE 14).Nietzscheakes hisclaim o tshyperbolicxtremes he does speakingf science's grofitmoglichenDummheif)ustbecause ur ra s earmarkedy tsunquestioningcientificaith,as we recallhiscritiquef theputativeppositionetween cientificndreligiousideals n the losing ectionsf OnTheGenealogyfMorals?1where aithn thelatest, reatestscetic deal ofall, .e.,themost fficaciousf ascetic deals, .e.,theveritableaithn science eplaces eligiousaith. orNietzsche,laims f sci-entificruthconventionalized bjective,aturalcientificnowledgelaims) reartlesslyrtificiallaims ssertingnexactly on-artistic,on-constructedtruth."

36And yet science hardlydenies what it thus discardsthereby,nd hence as it were,science has it "bothways": from heperspective f thescientist, oth the absolute deal andthe mpirical ealbelongwithin hepurview f science37See Paul Valadier's - to date,too littlereceived by the Nietzschescholarship hat,more thanotherphilosophic xpositions f a secondarykind, eems hell-bent n re-invent-ingthewheelby everymeans, ncluding hat f a blithedisinterestn thework of the authorswho share their wn research oncerns)earlier tudies,Nietzsche:U athee de rigueur Paris:Desclee de Brower,1975) andNietzscheet la critiquedu christianismeParis: EditionsduCerf,1974). See also his recent ssay "Science as New Religion"in B. Babich, ed., in coo-perationwith R.S. Cohen,Nietzsche, pistemology,nd PhilosophyofScience, (Dordrecht:Kluwer,1999), pp. 241-252. 1 discussthespecific onjunction etween cience and religionas instances f the ascetic ideal as ChapterFive, "Nietzsche'sGenealogyof Science" inmybook,Nietzsche'sPhilosophyofScience and in a recent ssay,"Nietzsche's CriticalTheoryof Science as Art."Divinatio,10Autumn/Winter1999): 51-76.




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Nietzsche'sxigence erives rom isdedicationothe ruthot fthe dealworldofmathematizablecience, ut he ery ealorchaoticworld.38or fwe admit heconcordanceetweenrt ndtruth,r the dentityf art interpretation)ndnature(as itselfnterpretiverperspectival),t becomes ossible opropose till roadervistas ornatural cience lthough,odate, nlyHeidegger as exploreduchahermeneuticallyhenomenologicalerspective.39ecause sucha sciencewouldnotyield o modernechno-science'sredictivendcalculative esire or eductionandmanipulation,ietzsche's earch or he ruthf nature nd art eadshim o"the roblemf he alue f ruth"BGE 1).Nietzschehallengeshetendentiousrammaticalistinctionetweenubjectandobject, ctive ndpassive,40rganicnd norganic,nd even ife nd death.41Thuswhenhe asks, iftheperspectivals an essential roperty"e cananswer,"thiswouldbe possible fall beingwereessentially perceivingomething..."(XII, 188). nthisight, e can read subsequenteflection:Assuming,owever,thatwe assign ertain aluestothings,fter e haveforgottenhatwe were hegivers,hese amevalues nturnworkbackwardsponus" (XII, 192).Because

38Nietzsche'sttentiono theduplicityfscienceddresseshe imits f reflectivenow-ledge.We arenot s successfuls LewisCarroll's eroine,orwe areunable opass throughtheooking lass" nto urveryelves,s the eflectiveroundfwhatwe know: VersuchenwirdenSpiegel nsich ubetrachten,o entdeckenir ndlich ichts ls dieDinge uf hm.WollenwirdieDingefassen,o kommen ir uletzt ieder ufNichts,ls aufdenSpiegel.Dies istdieallgemeinsteeschichteerErkenntniss"M 243; 3,202_3).na prefaceo thesame extwrittenalf decade ater, ietzsche ould peculaten what tcouldmean orKant oreflectriticallyn reflection:War s nicht twas onderbaru verlangen,ass einWerkzeugeine igene refflichkeitndTauglichkeitritisirenolle?dass der ntellektelbstseinenWerthe,eineKraft,eineGrenzenerkennen'olle?war es nichtogar inwenigwidersinnig?"M:iii;3, 13) InhisNachlafi otes, econcludes,Der ntellektann ichnichtselbst ritisiren,umden ntellektukritisiren,ir inhoheres esenmit absoluterrken-ntniB'einmufiten"XII, 188).Heideggerianuestioningields erhapshe nly ossible letheiologicalr true"cien-ce- a possibilityeideggerimselfuggestsnthisame ontext.Wer inmal orZeiten icheinfallenieB zu sagen,die Wissenschaftonne hrWesen nurbehaupten,ndem ie eszuriickgewinneus einemursprunglichenragen, er mu6 in einer olcher age sichausnehmenieeinNarr nd erstbrerderWissenschaft;enn ieFragen ach enGriindenbringtoch just s Nietzscheays,wer mmer achdenGriindenragt,ergeht uGrunde]innereermiirbung,urwelches orhabenerwirksame ame NihilismusuGeboteteht"(Nl, 362). Heidegger'sronicuggestionasmorehan bit ncommon ithNietzsche'sro-vocativehallengeo the onvictionsf scientifichilosophyegardinghe ssence ndpro-gressf he ciences.40"DieMenschheitat u alienZeiten asActivum ndPassivumerwechselt,s ist hrewiger rammatikalischerchnitzer." 121.41"Das Lebende stnur ineArtdes Todten..." GS 109).Cf. Nietzsche'shemicallyinspiredbservationn "DerUbergangus derWeltdesAnorganischenndie desOrgani-schen stder us festenWahrnehmungenerKraftwerthendMachtverhaltnissen die derunsicheren,nbestimmtenweileineVielheit onmiteinanderampfendenesen=Proto-plasma) ich erAusenweltegeniiberuhlt."XI, 537).RevistaPortuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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Nietzsches Chaos ivenatura 239

"everyenter f force dopts perspectiveowardhe ntireemainder.." (XIII,371),42heresalways reciprocityetweennterpretationsndperspectives.Onthe asisofthe elationalnteractionftheworld onceivedothn ts ub-jective ndobjective imensionss Will toPower, nd tsultimatenteractiven-volvementithtself"theworld iewed romhe nside.. itwould e will opower'andnothinglse. " [BGE36]),Nietzscheanwrite:A quantum fpower s designated ythe effect tproducesand thatwhich t resists. headiaphorous tate s missing, hough t s thinkable. t is essentially will to violateandto defendoneselfagainstviolation.Not self-preservation:veryatom affects he wholeofbeing it s thoughtway if one thinkswaythisradiation fpowerwill. XIII, 258)To conceive heworld "from he nside" s Nietzscheays not romhe s-sumptionf our wn nterestut athers theworldmighte seen ccordingo tscollectivendvariednterests,ould,neffect,e toconstructhe bject ubjecti-vely. his sNietzsche'serspectivalism.43Today'svisionof demythologized,nsensitivebject-natures a systematicexpressionf the ulturalllusion f sciencentheWest nd theenlightenment'sreverse ythologicalision fa mechanicalature evealedhroughhe obrietyfscientificophistication.44erewe note hathe rivilegefthe ubjectnd ts dealofobjectivityre rrorsdelusions):Onceyouknow hat hererenopurposes,oualsoknow hat heres no accident." (GS 109).45nNietzsche'sision f heworld,necessityndpurposeredissociated.ut nthedeal rder fnature'sonformityolaw,what pposes urposes accident.Withouthisdeal,withouturpose,heresno accidentnd nly hancewithts rchaic ecessity)emains.

Chaos sivenaturaIn thecontextf a sketch orAlso sprach arathustra "Towards hepro-jection fa new rt f ife"-Nietzsche's irstnvocationfChaos sivenatura he42The transformationf a "chaos" of sensationsnto a cosmos suitableforhumanunder-

standingmaybe an arbitraryhantasy ut t s nonetheless n effectiveymbolic onstructionoftheworld: die Welt' istnur inWortfur asGesammtspielieserAktionen"XDI, 371)."Die Mechanikals eine Lehre derBewegung ist bereits ine Ubersetzungn die Sin-nensprachedes Menschen" (XIII, 258). The perspectivalist ositionadopts an interpretiveperspective eyondthesubjectiveand extending eyondtheobjectiveas well: "jedes Atomwirkt n das ganze Sein hinaus" ibid.). To say that verythings interpretationlso entailsthat ur view of theworld effects urowninterpretiveransformationf theworld.Ergo,a deliberate elf-diminution aywell advance the seemingly ontrary)ims ofexaggerated goism. The rangeof thisegoism is expressed bywhat Nietzsche names "Zu-schauer-Gottlichkeit"taken, o be sure in a more Sartrean r modernisticallyanal sensethanNietzsche'soriginal mphasis."Als ichden Zweck dachte,dachte ch auch denZufall. Es muBmoglich eindie Weltnach Zwecken und die Welt durch Zufall zu erklaren:ebenso als Denken, ebenso alsWollen, ebenso als Bewegung, ebenso als Ruhe: ebenso als Gottund ebenso als Teufel.Denn das Alles ist das Ich" (X, 162).




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has onlytwo- occurs n a passage from 881,parsedwithmusical allusion toBe-ethoven:"Firstbook in thestyleof thefirstmovement f the NinthSymphony."Thus theconceptual ummary:Chaos sive natura: re-gardinghe dehumanisationofnature'" IX, 519), offers n expression f the firstmovement f thisprojectednewwayof ife.Nietzsche'sperspective ere s not to be confusedwith heenlight-enment ision ofde-anthropomorphisationroposing o undo or else to denytheefficacy fthe "humanisation f nature" i.e.,"- interpretationof nature] ccordingto us" [XII, 19]).The enlightenmentdeal of a liberation rom utelage self-or otherwisempo-sed), extractinghe human contribution rom theworld of both psychological(psycho-social)projection nd putatively bjectiveperception, implycannot beachieved,as Netzschesees it.UnlikeProtagoras,who highlightedhe nseparablecontributionf the humanto all epistemic ndeavors,Nietzsche neither elebratesnor, ike Xenophanes,does he mockingly mphasize or even seek to subvert spostmodernistvant la lettre) he inevitablehuman contributionhat s a partofanyand all natural nowing ecause hisown ambitions morecomplicated.Nietz-sche's goal is nothingess than thegoal of stylized, onscious,art: "we want totake whatwe need from nature],n order o dream bove andbeyondthe human.Somethingmoregrandiosethanthe storm, nd the mountain ange,and the seashould rise-andyetbornfrom umanity!"X, 415).

Nietzsche's artistic ision sees a transformedumanityn the ightof artpre-supposingboth theunknowabilityf nature nd its abundant xcess: chaos sivenatura. ftheform fthis astexpression s a parody fSpinoza's deus sivenatura(NietzschecriticizesSpinoza's formula s a confessionof sensibility accusingSpinoza and othermetaphysiciansf a literally igher feeling" GS 372] on theformula f a mystic eturn o nature nd thebackground f "ChristlicheVertrau-ensseligkeif [XII, 129]), itselfderived n turnfromDescartes' equationof Godand thethings f theworld {MeditationVI), the core of Nietzsche's chaos sivenatura s Kantian, choingNietzsche's rebuke o the Stoic ideal46 yokingRous-seau withSpinoza,47Comte withChristianity in the context f the mechanisticmusicbox that s theeternal epetitionf a world where as he claims,more thanconcealinga hidden or obscure,god, "even thecapacityfor eternalnovelty... ismissing" XI, 556).Nietzsche'schaos sive natura or natura sive chaos) substitutes hatHeideg-gerdeconstructss a "truer"in an aletheic ense)48 ccountof nature or hecon-

46Nietzche rites,MitwelcherWucht erUeberzeugunglaubte agegen er ntikeStoikerndas All und ndieVernunftigkeitesAlls!" 1,208)."RiickkehrurNatur" . seineStationen:intergrundhristlicheertrauensseligkeit(ungefahrchon pinoza deus ivenatura"!)"XII, 129).Heidegger,Die WahrheitndderUnterschiedon "wahrernd cheinbarer elt"(NS1, 616ff). his s thekind fcritiquehat nly thinker ith sidelinen ogiccouldprofer.or as HeideggereadsNietzsche's ccount ftruthetracestbackto an inherentand essentialmbivalence:Die WahrheitstVerfehlunger Wahrheit.nderunzweideu-




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Nietzsche s Chaos sivena tura 241

ventional eligio-scientificalsificationf nature.49 ature xceedshuman ompre-hension50 et, orNietzsche, imultaneously,uch chaos is intrinsic o thehuman,51whohimseli has somethingn commonwith verythinghat s: indeed,he is him-self piece ofreality,ruth,ature"XIII, 193).One's ownchaos,and thepowerofart s thepowerof llusionorlying,s to beopposedtowhat we perceiveas thecosmos itself. ornature/chaoss excess,con-tradiction,rueltynd all theseductions fappearanceorfalsity. o live in suchachaoswithouteeing t, o endure ucha worldof conflictnd illusion:manmust e a liarbynature,e must bove ll be an artist. Andhe s oneto be sure:metaphysics,eligion, orality,cience all ofthemnly roductsf hiswilltoart, olie,toflightromtruth,"onegationf "truth."hisabilitytself,hanksowhich eviolates ealityymeans f ies,this rtisticbilityf man ar excellence he has ncommon ith verythinghat s. He himselfs afterll a pieceofreality,ruth,ature:how hould e not lso bea piece fgeniusn ying?XIII,193)Beginningwiththetaskofcreating stylized, rtistic isionofhumanity re-workingthe humanas a work of art, .e., the achievement f whichNietzscheexpresses s theexigent bility - To 'give style'to one's charachter a great ndrareart" GS 290), Nietzsche'sdemandpresupposes heprerequisiteroject fgi-vingstyle o ourperception fnaturede-deified, e-naturalized),owreconceivedas the art ofscience, as theprojectofknowing he world.Because science is art

(and notthe artisticntipode ccording o the usual schematismfconceptualop-posites),52he taskofacknowledginghecontributionsfinventionrart onature,the taskofre-aestheticizingcience,worksbackwarduponthepresuppositionsfthefirst rimaryask,namely hechallenge fcreating neself s a workofart.

tigenWesensbestimmunger Wahrheit ls Irrtumwird die Wahrheitnotwendig weimalund jedesmal anders,also zweideutig gedacht". See especiallyHeidegger's discussionoftruth s 6|ioia)aig in Nietzsche's thought:Nur unterZugrundelegung ieses Wesens derWahrheit ls Einstimmigkeitann die Wahrheit ls Bestandigkeit in Irrtum ein.Dieses imIrrtumsbegriffugrundegelegteWesen derWahrheitst enes, das von altershermmetaphy-sischen Denken als Angleichungan das Wirklicheund als Einstimmigkeitmit ihm,als6 |i o 10) o i


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Nature s ArtWe haveseen that he mage fthenature ietzscheallschaosemphasizesless ts ackoforderhan ts xcess:nature,eyondhe ublime,he acanianReal:uncountenanceable.53healternativeothis ision fnatureas chaosto all eter-nity) urns uttobe not he nlightenmentision f science ua theobjectifying"de-anthropomorphisationfnature" ut ratherndexactly henaturalizationfthe rtist.54ietzsche'suestionnTheGayScience, Whenwillwecompleteurde-deificationfnature?"naugurateshe rojectftheoyfulwisdom hat enatu-ralizes umanitynandonthe ermsf"a pure, ewly iscovered,ewly edeemed

nature"GS 109).55The chaos ornature eredescribeds thewild,untamed,nduncontrollableforceHolderlin'sivine,raorgic, peiron ature) pposed o themilderantasyNietzschescribeso the toics r asmay egleaned romarden arietyeadingsofRousseau, rtoday's cological harasaicism.ppealingothe urface fthisexcess nnature, ietzsche's orkshemselveseployhe ame xtraordinaryeta-phors. his s theresplendencef autumnerfectionpitomizedntheepigraphwithwhichNietzscheegins isEcceHomo, dayofpure larityndbenediction,anabundantlyerfectay when: verythingas become ipe,"when he ccident(grace)of a pellucid tmospherellowshimto see his whole ife itup by atransfiguringrilliance the ackwardsndforwardslluminationfgratitudendblessing. ndNietzsche eems ventorememberheexactdayofsuchbrilliantclarity:hemorningfterhe hird fSeptember888, nhis44th ear f ife,56nthe ccasion ffinishinghework nTwilightfthe dols, whennthemorningafterhiswritingsteppedutside foundwaitingme the oveliest ay heOber--Engadin adever hownme- transparent,lowingnitscolours,ontainingnitself very ntithesis,verymediant fice andsouth." I have,"he concluded,"neverxperienceduch nautumn,orhave houghtnythingfthe ort ossibleonearth a ClaudeLorrainhoughtn to nfinity,very ayofthe ame xcessiveperfection." (EH,Twilight).

Themetaphorsor ransfigured,esplendentold,metaphorsf utumnloryndabundance,remetaphorsfexcess, or hewild, eedless,nimaginablerofligacyofnature,iketheriches f the unatevening,he oyful ision fshining old53For discussionofLacan's uncanny egister fthe Real andNietzsche's conception fnature,ee the uthor's On theOrderof theReal: Nietzsche nd Lacan." Citedabove."mitMenschlichemwollenwirdie Naturdurchdringennd sie von gottlicherMum-merei rlosen." X, 415).The transformationfa "chaos" ofsensationsnto cosmos suitable orhumanunders-tandingmaybe an arbitraryhantasy ut t s nonetheless n effectiveymbolic onstructionf

theworld: die Welt' istnur inWort ur asGesammtspielieserAktionen"XHI, 371).We must maginethat, n 1888, Nietzsche,born n 1844, had to think f thesignifi-cance of such redoublednumbers, lthoughhe himselfwould not "turn" r finishhis forty--fourthearuntil he15th fOctober,1888.RevistaPortuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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Nietzsches Chaos ivena ura 243

Nietzschenvokesnthat eautifullyrovocativehallengeo thefuturef humanculturenTheGayScience,where easksnotwhat lessingould e likeweknowthat) ut twould eallyake obe abletobless n the ace fevilordisappointmentor certainuffering,o live one's ideal n an age dominatedyone's owndyingdream,o osea love nd till o ove, ofightn nthewake funspeakableoss, na battle ith oprospectormore uccess han hat ame oss.Thus peakingn themost xtremeashionf thediamond ardnesshatwouldbe requisiteor uchfuturalhumaneness"GS 337),Nietzscheescribeshe ore fhis ifelong rojectand deal ofgiving tyle o human aturetself. ere, atherhan lood and vio-lence,he names esplendencershiningrgoldas themultifariousnd manifoldharvestolors fthe ossibilityor newfeelingorife, ternity,rt. hefeelingsgodlike appiness:thehappinessf a godfull fpower nd ove,full ftears ndlaughter,"hat s thehappinessfbenediction,he amebenedictionhat egives ohisown ife nthe pigraphffixedoEcce homo: his s a happiness ouredut nabundance,like he un nthe vening,ontinuallyestowsts nexhaustibleiches,pouringhem nto hesea,feeling ichest,s the undoes,onlywhen ven thepoorestishermans still owing ith olden ars!"GS 337).To suggesthis reativeision,fnowwe turn rom metaphoricaliscussionofnatures art, o the xample f thepictorialndplastic rtsandwe recall hatNietzsche imselflwaysncludes he rt fmusic nd therewithheatrend dan-ce),wemay e abletoexplorehisast deal f abundantappinessndNietzsche'sprojectfgiving tyle o thehumanharacterthus e-creatinghehumann thelightf rt rnature.The mage hatNietzsche ivesfor his ision tthe onclusionfhisBirth fTragedys a thoroughlyodily, xperientialneofspaceandatmosphere:t s theworkingfsculpturendarchitecturen one'sbeing,hemusical eflectionf ifeintheGreeceNietzscheow invents"or s:

Walkingnderoftyonic olonnades,ookingptowardhorizonhat as ut ff ypurendnobleines,indingeflectionsfhis ransfiguredhapen he hiningarbleat his ide, nd llaroundimolemnlytridingrdelicately ovingumaneings,speakingith armoniousoices ndn rhythmicanguagefgestures(BT25)Althoughcannotaymore n this chematiconstellationere on the imen-sionalityhats thepoliticalestheticsf thepolis nantiquityitmay e enoughto recall hat nemaynot imply aze upon, ontemplate,rmerelyee a plasticwork fart.nstead,eeing neselfnseeingbeing eenby s much s seeing),hestatue's lasticitylaims he pace roundt, husnstallinghe isitors a guest nitsownterms,n response o it,within ts ownspace and hencecaughtnto,capturedy ts wnorbit. his s the eason he aokoon,een nperson,ace n-as it was firsteen n theRenaissance:ndeed nd outof doors couldexercisesuch galvanic ffect.57t exerted literallyimensionallaim n thosewhoen-57Though,nd obesure,liny's escriptionas tselfoverynfluentialhatt ouldbe claimedhatt tood ehindhe nstitutionfwhat asbeen amedlassicism,eefor




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counteredt,ordescribedt for thersn these cstaticerms. his s thereasonHolderlinouldhavereactedas apocryphauggests edid)to a primalncounterwith hesight f classical however erivative,ecadent, e wouldsay: inau-thentic)tatuesassing hroughhe ardensf a privateilla nFrance. hestatue,especiallynder eaven,ike he rokennddemandingrchaic orsommortalisedinRilke'spoem, ttersn rrestiblemperative,rginghe hangehatn entireo-ciety ouldnot hen nd still annotmaster. neis as much eenbyas one sees.One is claimed,ransportedythe tatuetself,nto hedimensionalound f thesculpture'sension. Tius he ontemporaryiewer an alsobe poised,fonly, orour echnologizedensibilities,na dimrecollectionftheway nwhich heHel-lenewouldhavehad no choicebut o be setagainst,rchednoppositionothemeasure f the tatue.58husNietzsche'sarly emarksefer ot nly othe sta-tue s the nchantmentfa soul nstone,"59ut o "concealmentf ragedylike heworld fthe tatue)."60ndGadamer's estdiscussion f art s a reflectionntheRilkeanmperativehat s art's ommand:Youmusthange ourife." o followthismperatives the egacy ndthepromisef a phenomenologicalermeneuticsof rt uch smay eseen, eyond ietzsche,nHeideggerrMerleau-Ponty.

The NaturalizationfHumanitys ArtNietzsche,orhispart, roposes othings theoreticallyodest s a pheno-menologicalermeneuticsrphilosophyfart.nsteadNietzsche's roblems theproblemfthe reationfthework f rt,nd hus ismanynterpretersemindsthat is s an artist's esthetics.eyond he raditionalppositionetween atureandculture,s the raditionaluestion fBiidung,which raditionallyepresentsthehuman s other han atureand, boveall as "somethingigher,") ietzscheproposesoreconcileaturendculture,ndthats,tomake fhumanitydelibe-ratework fart ndthis, fcourse,swhatNietzsche ames hegrand tyle. hisprojectt onceaffirmsurplace nnaturend ourdispositions artistsfconcep-tion, nd, ensation/perception.Nietzscheroposesrt s a means o the edemptionfboth aturendthe artofnaturehatsthehumaneing: Mytask: hede-anthropomorphisationfnatureand henhe enaturalizationfhumanity,fter e haswon he ure onceptf na-ture'" IX, 525). This s more han matterfdescribingparallel etween hehumanas homo aturd)ndnatureas a dynamicreativehaos fabundancendchance) ut atherfundoinghe bstacles orecognizingurselvesswhatwe are(as whowe are), hese rethevery bstacles oachieving newly aturalizedu-

descriptionf hisncountern tshistoricalontext:imon ichter'saocoon's odyndtheAestheticsfPain:Winckelmann,essing, erder, oritz, oethe.Detroit:Wayne tateUniversityress, 992).58Cf. 1, 81)andKSA 11, gl.25 [1011.59KSA8,sgl.22 [36].60KSA7,sigl. [15];cf.KSA9,sigl. [101].RevistaPortuguesa de Filosofia, 57 (2001),225-245



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NlE TZSCHES CHAOS SIVENA URA 245

manitynthe asisof renaturalizedature,eyondhe rojectionsfhumanizingmyth,ncludinghemythsf reason: Thehuman eing s thewitness owhatgigantic owers anbe set nmotionhroughsmall eing fmanifoldontentBeings hat laywith tars" XII, 40). Thus Nietzsche ritesn the ulminatingsections fBeyond ood ndEvil:Inman reaturend reatorre nited:nman heresmaterial,ragment,xcess,lay,dirt, onsense,haos; utn man heres alsocreator,orm-giver,ammer,ardness,spectatorivinity,nd eventhay.BGE225)Themeaningf chaos s an originallyreativeonception,heordermposedonchaosby ensationndreflections theworkingfhumannventionnd rt,n-cludinghe alculative,redictivert f science. hus heprojectfrenaturalizinghumanityresupposes,ietzscheays, heredeemedonceptionf nature hat e-storestscreative bundances chaos.This restorationf unfathomablexcessorchaos lsorestoreshe nnocencefbecoming.hus morfati,rwhatHeideggercalls Gelassenheitn anotherontext,s thepoint f Nietzsche's eanthropomor-phisationf nature"s thenaturalizationfthehuman einghere eworkeds,re-createds,orbecome work f art. uttogiveoneselftyle,obecome work fart, ne must etdispose ver herawpower f chaos: I tellyou:onemust avechaos none, ogivebirtho a dancingtar. tellyou:you till ave haos nyou."This creativehaos s thepowerncreasinglyacrificedn thedecadentulture fnihilism:t s thereasonNietzsche rites hat nemust e recalledo one'sown-most,ntrinsicossibilities,s thepossibilityot fmere eing utbecoming,re-ation, rowth,nd acrifice. hatmust e learntor hiss loveandhencewhatsneeded or rt ndfor ivingtyle o one's characterto one's ife ndto the ul-ture fthehuman. husNietzscheubtitlesis ownreflectionsnhis ife s anauthor: owOne BecomesWhat ne s. For fone can bethus ecalledooneself,the esults a dancingtar the unatevening and n this ivine appiness, ehumaneingsmightegin oknow urselves.


chaos sive natura: nietzsche ' s evening gold and the dancing star, babette e. babich

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