Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to show that Nietzsche did have a New World Conception, which he thought of as both the antithesis and alternative to a previous, metaphysical concept of world. The procedure for demonstrating Nietzsche's position will be carried out in three steps--VALUATION, DEVALUATION, TRANSVALUATION--using textual interpretation as the primary, methodological tool. ;In PART I, VALUATION, Nietzsche's overdetermined terminology and his approach to truth will be clarified as a preparation for an understanding of his critique of the "true" and "apparent" worlds. The attribution of the highest valuations to the "true" world was an error according to Nietzsche. However, it was not realized that the history of idealism, which belief in the highest valuations inaugurated, was based on an error until Nietzsche's own historical period, the end of the nineteenth century. ;In PART II, DEVALUATION, Nietzsche's interpretation of the decline of philosophy and the devaluation of its highest metaphysical values will be traced historically from Plato to Christianity through Kant and Positivism under Nietzsche's title, "The History of an Error." The devaluation of the once considered highest valuations results in nihilism; human existence is rendered meaningless because belief in a "true" world can no longer be maintained. But the advent of nihilism has another effect. It prepares the way for a New World Conception. ;In PART III, TRANSVALUATION, Nietzsche's New World Conception, in which a transvaluation of values takes place--"beyond good and evil"--will be discussed with reference to the key concepts of Nietzsche's late thinking--the Forces, Will to Power, Eternal Return, Dionysian affirmation, amor fati, and others. According to the New World Conception, existence is transformed. Nietzsche conceived the possibility of a new type of life, which would be strong enough to affirm the world as it is, even though its contradictions may be a source of perplexity and suffering