Becoming the free spirit

pp. 130-159

in: Katrina Mitcheson, Nietzsche, truth and transformation, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

In the opening three chapters, I explored how Nietzsche rejects metaphysical truth, which aims at a "real world" beyond perspectives, both because of his view that we cannot transcend perspectives and because of his critique of our attempts at transcendence as damaging to life. The practice of truth that he gradually developed responded to both this epistemological insight and this evaluative element of his critique. This practice aims to arrive at the most truthful interpretation of our experiences by exploring and incorporating a range of perspectives, without becoming entrenched in any one and without reference to any standard beyond their interpretations. Any practice we take up, however, has existential implications. It affects who we are. In Chapter 4, I showed that, when Nietzsche's approach to truth is seen not simply in opposition to Plato but as possessing continuity with the Platonic idea of truth as affecting those who practise it, it is apparent that Nietzsche intended the application of his method of truth not simply to hasten the destruction of the illusions of the ascetic ideal but also to allow us to overcome the nihilism inherent within it. Nietzsche's interpretation of life as will to power, discussed in Chapter 5, implies that the uptake of a new practice of truth could transform us, by changing the character and interrelation of the various wills to power that make us who we are, which include our will to truth and the habits associated with it.