Methodological and thematic outline of the research perspectives of Nietzsche’s metaphor

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Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics", University of Munster, Germany

Methodological and thematic outline of the research perspectives of Nietzsche's metaphor

Vitalii Mudrakov

Ph.D. (Philosophy)

Associate Professor, Visiting Scholar

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of Nietzsche's philosophy, namely the specifics of its metaphorical translation. The study unfolds as a systematization of Nietzsche's metaphors. The systematization of metaphors arises from the philosopher's main interest - the religious sphere, or rather Christianity. The principle of systematization is based on the main actors of the Christian religion: God, man, and the church. The methodological basis of the article is continued by the approach of functional typology of metaphors. This allowed us to formulate a research scheme of metaphors as a productive mechanism of classification: "analysis-criticism-vision". The author emphasizes the importance of contextual (strategic and tactical) interpretation of Nietzsche's metaphors as a means of avoiding speculation on his philosophy. A special feature of the article is the rather extensive material of the advisory literature as a certain methodological guideline for the development of the research project on metaphors. The author is preparing material (themes and methodological formulas) to substantiate the thesis of metaphor and writing style in general as a form and method of religious criticism.

The proposed material reflects the theoretical construct of the study, which is being implemented as a research project "NIETZSCHES METAPHERN. Ein philosophischer Leseversuch".

Keywords: Nietzsche's philosophy, methodology, theme, metaphor, perspective, new.

Віталій Мудраков

Методологічне та тематичне окреслення дослідницьких перспектив метафор Ніцше

Анотація

nietzsche metaphor religious criticism

Стаття присвячена дослідженню філософії Ніцше, а саме специфіці її метафоричної трансляції. Дослідження розгортається як систематизація метафор Ніцше. Систематизація метафор постає із головного інтересу філософа - релігійної сфери, а точніше християнства. Принципом систематизації слугують основні актори християнської релігії: Бог, людина, церква. Продовжує методологічну основу статті підхід функціональної типології метафор. Це дозволило сформулювати дослідницьку схему метафор як продуктивний механізм класифікації: «аналіз-критика-візія». Наголошується на важливості контекстуальної (стратегічної та тактичної) інтерпретації метафор Ніцше як на засобі уникнення спекуляцій на його філософії. Особливістю статті є доволі обширний матеріал дорадчої літератури як певна методологічна настанова для розвитку дослідницького проєкту метафор. Автор готує матеріал (тематизації та методологічні формули) для обґрунтування тези про метафорику й стиль письма загалом як форму й спосіб релігійної критики. Запропонований матеріал відображає теоретичний конструкт дослідження, яке реалізується як науковий проєкт «NIETZSCHES METAPHERN. Ein philosophischer Leseversuch».

Ключові слова: філософія Ніцше, методологія, тематика, метафора, перспектива, нове.

Introduction

A radically new interpretation of the world in a radically new way of interpreting the world: this combination makes Nietzsche's philosophy one of the most interesting and therefore one of the most studied. He develops new, or rather unconventional, perspectives and "since Nietzsche multiplies perspectives, he deliberately diversifies styles so that the reader is not captured by one style, a "style in itself"" (Kofman, 2014, p. 12). But "the play of the mode of writing remains in Nietzsche subordinated to a new way of interpreting the world, communicating a new perspective" (Kofman, 2014, p. 13). It "beckons" to the topics - the religious sphere - that these perspectives explain and about which the philosopher spoke most eloquently, in order to reach "new secret paths" and "dance places" (GT, KSA 1, 14) and to comprehend the hiddenness of their metaphorical hints.

Thus, Nietzsche's writing style is a way of speaking in a new way. In this sense, metaphors become a tool for cognition of the old and the new that spew out their own metaphysics of "floating meaning" (Kebuladze & Lyuty, 2016, p. 144). After all, Nietzsche himself says about this in different formulations in his work On Truth and Lies in the Non-Moral Sense (NS (WL), KSA 1, 880-881). Therefore, the main question of the article is how to research Nietzsche's metaphors? Therefore, based on all of the above, the purpose of the study is formulated in the following tasks: 1) to form thematic groups of research literature that would best reveal the research perspective of the problem; 2) to describe the foundations of the research perspectives of Nietzschean metaphor as theoretical and methodological guidelines; 3) pointing to the functionality of metaphors, to systematize them according to the thematic groups "God", "man", "church" as a holistic conceptual interpretation; 4) to formulate a methodological construct that would be productive for the study of these metaphorical systems.

Analysis of recent research and publications

Nietzsche's radically new interpretation of the world in a radically new way of interpreting the world has shaped very different approaches and directions of interpretation and has a great resonance to this day. Thus, the specificity of Nietzsche's philosophy allows us to use its interpretive potential and thematic scope in a wide range of ways: from the problems of nature in modern research projects and environmental movements1 to the value and worldview transformation of Ukrainians, which became the preconditions for the current war (Mudrakov & Stephan, 2022). So, if there is an opportunity, it is implemented. This rule is also confirmed within the framework of the proposed problematic: a fairly large number of studies exist on linguistic and philosophical features, style in general and Nietzsche's metaphor in particular. However, the analysis of this set of works is not just a basis and a platform for new research and discussion, but a systematization by thematic and methodological grouping for the research efficiency of various aspects of the stated topic. Thus, for a productive analysis of Nietzsche's metaphor, I propose thematic blocks that reveal the peculiarities of Nietzsche's thinking (Jensen, 2015) and life experience (Kaulhausen, 1977); outlines the philosopher's thought as a "rhizomatic labyrinth" (Brock, 2012); interpret his disguises both through collective research, which, echoing across generations, focuses on individual works of the philosopher (Gasser, 1993), (Ates, 2014), and individual doctoral projects that reveal "how he thinks with and in masks" (Schubert, 2021) and how individual positions-works are formed (Brucker, 2019).

The next thematic unit covers guidelines for reading Nietzsche (Montinari, 1982) and his metaphor itself in its various dimensions (Tebartz- van Elst, 1994; Kofman, 2014; Georg, 2018; Stegmaier, 2018). A particularly important block for the research perspectives of Nietzsche's metaphors are special studies that, based on an understanding of linguistic and stylistic features of the philosopher's language, focus on the analysis of the specifics of the criticism of religion (Kampfert, 1971; Henke, 1981), as they can become key reference points for substantiating the thesis of language, or rather style and specifically metaphor as a mode or type of religious criticism. In this case, a general orientation framework for interpretation will be important, for which I propose the works of such authors as W. Muller-Lauter (Muller-Lauter, 1971), G. Abel (Abel, 1998) and T. Lyuty (Lyuty, 2017). The last block can be supplemented by a large number of works to a greater extent than the others. However, this set of works is based on a certain experience of understanding how to maintain the objectivity of the general orientation framework.

The purpose of the article is the research of Nietzsche's metaphor and it's methodological and thematic outline.

Formulation of the main material

І. Foundations of research perspectives of Nietzsche's metaphor.

І.І. Prerequisites: The starting point in the research perspectives of Nietzsche's metaphor should be, first, an understanding of the diagnostic and cognitive potential of his philosophy in general and, second, its projective and creative potential, that is, as an attempt to build something completely new. Diagnostics and prognostication are deployed by stating the changing conditions of the context, the manifestation of which is described as processes of secularisation (Heit, 2014), i.e. i.e. new perspectives have long been here (Mudrakov, 2018), in which the "Ubermensch" project appears as a form and method of secularised ethics (Mudrakov, 2018а) - New benchmarks in new conditions. Therefore, Nietzsche demands the cultivation of new, post-nihilistic, life-affirming values in order to affirm the active potentialities in man against decadence: "Die Philosophen als Typender decadence / Die Religion als Ausdruck der decadence / Die Moral als Ausdruck derdecadence. [...] Der Wille zur Macht: BewuBtwerden des Willens zum Leben [...]" (N 1888, KSA 13, 418). Therefore, for the conceptual development of the problem, I propose here the following thematisation: Nietzsche's overcoming of the project of metaphysics (Heidemann, 1962) and the theological reception of the destruction (or renewal) of old conditions (Biser, 2002), (Jung, 2013), and therefore the introduction of a new way of life (Brock, Godde, & Jorg, 2022).

І.ІІ. Instruments: Since we are talking about the explanation and interpretation of metaphors as a philosophical tool, we will emphasize the need for a philosophical understanding of the concept of "metaphor", that is, in a very broad, so to speak Aristotelian sense. In fact, Aristotle's metaphor is almost indistinguishable from hyperbole (exaggeration), from synecdoche, from simple comparison or personification and assimilation. In all cases, there is a transfer of meaning from one word to another (Aristoteles, 2008).

Another important point in the study of metaphors as tools is their typology according to the functions they perform. By "functionality" I mean what connotations of a new medium, another image or sphere of transfer are brought to the old object that is being metaphorised. That is, whether these connotations enrich the positive meaning, negate it, or can be considered neutral. From this, it is worth conceptualising their tactical and strategic tasks: the role of metaphors in a particular aphorism and the role in building something completely new. That is, it is necessary to apply the method of contextual analysis (Stegmaier, 2007), therefore, it is important not to lose the general orientation framework, i.e., to look at the works that are classified as hermeneutical Nietzsche-Forschung (Muller-Lauter, 1971), (Abel, 1998). And the completely new transmitted through the "Grosser Stil" (GD, KSA 6, 119) requires clarification for "orientation" (Stegmaier, 2010), (Stegmaier, 2015) - and this is the most difficult point to study in terms of interpretive unambiguity.

II. Philosophical interpretation in the system of metaphor classification.

II.I. God: it refers to the various objectifications of the transcendent in the system of the Christian worldview. Nietzsche's understanding of this theme is illustrated by a series of metaphors. In his analyses of the absolute guarantee in Christianity, he calls it the Crucified One who "himself became spider" (AC, KSA 6, 184); philosopher formulates the thesis of the "death of God" (FW, KSA 3, 481), which as a metaphor denotes the result of the metaphysical guarantees of Christianity; he warns and understands the extent of the change and the duration of the transition, metaphorically referring to them as "shadows of God" (FW, KSA 3, 467). With comparative metaphors such as “Jesus as an idiot” or "Jesus as Buddha", he refers to the psychological cross-section of characteristics that are presented in society as prerequisites and conditions for a type to follow (AC, KSA 6, 200-203). Such an assessment seems to open the way for a new idea of imitation, another guarantee. In this sense, "Dionysus" or "Dionysian as alternative" also appears in the analysis as a metaphor that points to the intention of opposing the old with the new: "- Have they understood me? - Dionysus against the crucified [...]" (EH, KSA 6, 374).

II.II. Man: it refers to the various characteristics of a Christian as a bearer of the Christian worldview and its changes. To understand this, Nietzsche draws on, for example, the "principle of faith" (GD, KSA, 61-62) and "humility" (GD, KSA, 64) and defines them respectively as the inability to put one's will into things and change them with meaning, i.e. to believe that they already have a will, and the unwillingness/inability to change what is given. The philosopher metaphorises these and other qualities with the state of "sickness": "not healthy insight" or "sick", and finally he denies man his consciousness and reason - "animal" - as the end of this logic. Instead, health and true "freedom" are associated with "solitude" (N, KSA 9, 670) - these metaphorical hints set the conditions for the new. Man must endure his loneliness because of the murder of God as "the great man": "We have killed him, - you and I! We are all his murderers!" (FW, KSA 3, 481). Now she alone must accept life (amor fati) and affirm it. The formulation "the great man" opens up the space to discover the “free spirit” and finally to attain "health" (N, KSA 11, 658) through ways of "wandering", "becoming" і "dancing". These metaphors convey the qualities of searching for and creating something new: "inventors" of new values. Therefore, the new perspective as the discovery of a new potential draws attention to the superhuman as a complex multicomponent metaphor ("camel", "lion" and "child").

II.III. Church: it refers to the various characteristics of the forms and systematic means of the collective organisation of Christians, as well as to the impulses for their transformation. Nietzsche equates the way of life promoted by Christian values with "herd" and "herd animal" because they supposedly reinforce the sense of vital weakness in man that directs him towards "herd organisation" (GM, KSA 5, 384). The idea of achieving a "better being", guided by Christian "truth" "into the belief in untrustworthy things, into the ceremonial of prayer, worship, feast, etc. [...]" (N, KSA 13, 104), becomes a system of ways to tame this crowd. "Ascetic priest" is thus an image for the embodied functionality of this system, which the philosopher uses to represent, among other things, the instrumentalisation of asceticism as a means of power (N, KSA 12, 271), realised through Paul (AC, KSA 6, 215-217), and ecclesiastically sanctioned through life in the state (N, KSA 13, 104).

Nietzsche refers to new points of orientation with the metaphors "the great noon" and "the new horizon" or "new morning" and describes the state as a journey through the "sea" - a difficult path into the future, full of courage, ruthlessness, dedication, firmness and sincerity. The dangers of the "sea" as a path to true knowledge are complemented by images of the dangers of the "high mountains", i.e. "one must be practised to live on mountains" (AC, KSA 6, 167). The metaphor of the "ship" (FW 289, KSA 3, 529) is a means of traversing this sea, which is also meant to imply an understanding of some collectivity or refuge for the "free in spirit", as he refers to those present on the "ship" with the plural "we".

Conclusions

Thus, Nietzsche's metaphors are a complex interweaving of images and meanings that constitute a very specific and new way of philosophizing and reflect the complexity of the philosopher's thought. This complexity and the methodological guidelines for its study are discussed in the following paragraphs in accordance with the tasks set:

The proposed thematic groups of research literature are based, in particular, on the principle of "peculiarities of thinking - specificity of expression". Therefore, certain groups of literature seem to represent the study of Nietzsche's thought processes, their ciphers and riddles, and thus this should provide a qualitative perspective for the study of metaphors. The philosophical and philological studies on Nietzsche's critique of religion are a fundamental addition to the research perspectives of metaphor, which are intended to help substantiate the thesis of metaphor as a special type of religious criticism. The proposed literature is a guarantee of an impetus for discussion and the creation of a high-quality starting point for research and the avoidance of radically speculative interpretations;

The complexity of Nietzsche's philosophy, and most importantly, its openness to various interpretations, require a rather thorough explanatory background. We conclude that the philosopher's orientation to overcome the old forms of organization, structuring, and containment and to describe the new ones is unconditional and key here. To a large extent, therefore, we are talking about perspectivism: man as a creator of values and a dimension of new life. The established boundaries of the research understanding of the concept of "metaphor" allow not only to increase the set of metaphors on the topics of the main actors of Christianity, but also to understand much more deeply the functionality of individual metaphors in different contexts and as an expression of the sign system for orientation;

Metaphors were selected and systematized by the thematic groups "God", "man", and "church", which create short, holistic descriptions and reflect Nietzsche's main theses on analyzing the old and planning for the completely new. These blocks create a lace of metaphors, subsystems of a metaphorical system that aims to analyze, rethink, and propose. That is, their functions are established by different modes of analysis, and the Christian thematization emphasizes a systemic critique of the ways and means of organizing human reality and its social dimensions. Therefore, there is a methodological and theoretical basis for substantiating the thesis that Nietzsche's metaphor is a way and means of religious criticism and outlining visions of new perspectives, the new;

It is reasonable to say that the above-mentioned modules of Nietzschean analytics in the above metaphors - to analyze, rethink, propose - are methodologically justified to be studied according to the "analysiscriticism-vision" scheme. Thus, the modes of metaphor functionality acquire a corresponding typology: analytical, critical, and visionary. While the first two types are tools for cognition of the given, the third type is projective. Accordingly, projection requires a description of the parameters of new conditions, which cannot be done without a philosophy of orientation. The methodology of classification by functionality should be supplemented by the method of contextual analysis of metaphors, which will allow us to check a metaphor for belonging to a certain type (analytical, critical, visionary) through its role in a specific place: in an aphorism, in a book, or in the strategic tasks of philosophy. Thus, a comparative analysis of the role of metaphors in different contexts is an additional criterion for their classification.

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