Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation [Hardcover]

Christoph Cox (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520215532 | ISBN-13: 978-0520215535 | Publication Date: November 29, 1999 | Edition: 1

Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation offers a resolution of one of the most vexing problems in Nietzsche scholarship. As perhaps the most significant predecessor of more recent attempts to formulate a postmetaphysical epistemology and ontology, Nietzsche is considered by many critics to share this problem with his successors: How can an antifoundationalist philosophy avoid vicious relativism and legitimate its claim to provide a platform for the critique of arguments, practices, and institutions?
Christoph Cox argues that Nietzsche successfully navigates between relativism and dogmatism, accepting the naturalistic critique of metaphysics and theology provided by modern science, yet maintaining that a thoroughgoing naturalism must move beyond scientific reductionism. It must accept a central feature of aesthetic understanding: acknowledgment of the primacy and irreducibility of interpretation. This view of Nietzsche's doctrines of perspectivism, becoming, and will to power as products of an overall naturalism balanced by a reciprocal commitment to interpretationism will spur new discussions of epistemology and ontology in contemporary thought.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"An innovative approach to several of the most contentious and important of Nietzsche's ideas. . . . Cox's work, well-written and well-argued, moves comfortably within both the Anglo-American and European philosophical traditions and will contribute in many ways to furthering the understanding of several widely discussed issues concerning Nietzsche's epistemology, ontology, perspectivism, and approach to interpretation."--Alan D. Schrift, author of Nietzsche's French Legacy

From the Back Cover

"An innovative approach to several of the most contentious and important of Nietzsche's ideas. . . . Cox's work, well-written and well-argued, moves comfortably within both the Anglo-American and European philosophical traditions and will contribute in many ways to furthering the understanding of several widely discussed issues concerning Nietzsche's epistemology, ontology, perspectivism, and approach to interpretation." (Alan D. Schrift, author of Nietzsche's French Legacy)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (November 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520215532
• ISBN-13: 978-0520215535
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,121,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nietzsche and Knowledge, April 3, 2008

By 

Tim Jones (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation (Hardcover)

I also disagree with the reviewer that left a negative review, who, apparently not having read Nietzsche himself, relies on the very appearance/reality distinction Nietzsche criticizes by denigrating Cox for deviating from "what Nietzsche actually said." Cox presents a compelling interpretation of Nietzsche in refreshingly clear prose. As he states in the forward, he came to Nietzsche through his reading of Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze and the like, and he seeks to explicate the interpretation of Nietzsche that guided the work of those post-structuralist thinkers. Cox explicitly shows how Derrida's concepts of differance and bricolage, Foucault's understanding of intepretation and genealogy, and Deleuze's notion of Chaosmos follow from ideas developed by Nietzsche. As I read this book in order to enhance my understanding of post-structuralism, I found these sections particularly helpful.

But Cox's analysis of Nietzsche is by no means limited to setting up connections with post-structuralist thought (in fact, this is a very minor portion of the book). Cox is primarily interested in developing a comprehensive account of Nietzsche's theory of knowledge. A current debate over Nietzsche concerns whether he is best conceived as a postmodernist or a modern naturalist. Cox argues that Nietzsche is effectively a postmodern naturalist (although, I don't think he ever uses the word "postmodern" in the book), and suggests how Nietzsche's "postmodernism" (or, theory of interpretation) and naturalism mutually inform each other.

If you're looking for a clear and thorough "postmodern" interpretation of Nietzsche's theory of knowledge, this is your book. Also check out "Nietzsche's Theory of Knowledge," which includes a thorough discussion of Will to Power and its relation to Nietzsche's epistemology. If you're looking for a more "modern" take on Nietzsche's epistemology, check out Maudemarie Clark's "Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy" or Brian Leiter's "Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Nietzsche on Morality." But don't be so lame as to leave a postmodern scholar's work a negative review because you happen to be a modernist (and vice versa, for all you postmodernists out there).

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, comprehensive--highly recommended., August 12, 2007

By 

Cooper J. Smith-Stackhouse - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nietzsche: Naturalism and Interpretation (Hardcover)

Despite the previous reviewer's mixed-bag of criticism and unnecessary aspersions, I would have to disagree, and rate this book highly. I cannot, myself, put it any better than Peter Groff did, in The Journal of Nietzsche Studies 25 (2003) 100-102, when he described this book as, "clearly and elegantly written" and "a substantial and timely contribution to Nietzsche studies." I, too, found this book quite clear, and extraordinarily helpful in making sense of Nietzsche's thought, and situating it within the larger philosophical tradition. Anyone with an interest in Nietzsche would be well served by picking up a copy.