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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'
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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'

Bataille's On Nietzsche as a spiritual notebook « Previous | |Next »
January 12, 2005

Bataille's On Nietzsche is about the therapeutic value of writing. That is how I now approach this text that has given me so much trouble in reading. Pierre Hadot puts his finger on why I was having the problem.

In his text Philosophy as a way of Life Hadot makes a distinction between the discourse of philosophy taught in the universites as an abstract and theoretical activity and philosophy as a art or form of living ---as a way or mode of life. I've been trained by a state-financed educational institution in the discourse of philosophy that still bears the scars of scholasticism. I had to master that discourse as part of my training. Bataille is practising philosophy as a form of living, and he is concerned to transform himself and his way of life. Hence the mismatch.

Nietzsche was also practising philosophy as a form of living,for that matter. He was steeped in Greek philosophy, was deeply engaged in radically transforming our way of life, and was living a philosophical life.

On Nietzsche works within the literary genre of a spiritual notebook, known as a hypomnemata. Foucault says:

"The hypomnemata are to be resituated in the context of a very sensitive tension of that period. Within a culture very affected by traditionality, by the recognized value of the already-said, by the recurrence of discourse, by the 'citational" practice under the seal of age and authority, an ethic was developing which was very explicitly oriented to the care of oneself, toward definite objectives such as retiring into oneself, reaching oneself, living with oneself, being sufficient to oneself, profiting by and enjoying oneself. Such is the objective of the hypomnemata: to make of the recollection of the fragmentary logos transmitted by teaching, listening, or reading a means to establish as adequate and as perfect a relationship of oneself to oneself as possible."

In this kind of writing the author writes down another person's thoughts (eg., Nietzsche for Bataille), which then serve as an edification for the person writing them.

This kind of writing is a process of liberating oneself from the burdens of the past, (a transcending the old Bataille) in order to concentrate on the present moment. With Bataille this process of liberation (or transgression) often comes close to a culture of the self, a relationship of the self to the self.

This kind of reworking of the classical tradition in ethical thought as practices of the self offers one way to address the moral vacuity of modern culture. And just to finish. As Foucault's interpretation of the practices of the self were too aesthetic in orientation, so Bataille's are too mystical.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 7:38 AM | | Comments (0)
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