Virtuous homunculi: Nietzsche on the order of drives

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2018

Authors

Riccardi, Mattia (Author) FLUP

Journal

Title: Inquiry

Vol. 61 No. 1

Pages: 21-41

ISSN: 0020-174X

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Indexing

Scopus

ProQuest

Current Contents

Scientific classification

CORDIS: Humanities > Philosophy

Other information

DOI: 10.1080/0020174X.2017.1371834

Abstract (EN): The primary explanatory items of Nietzsche’s philosophical psychology are the drives. Such drives, he holds, are arranged hierarchically in virtue of their entering dominance-obedience relations analogous to those obtaining in human societies. This view is puzzling for two reasons. First, Nietzsche’s idea of a hierarchical order among the drives is far from clear. Second, as it postulates relations among subpersonal items that mimic those among persons, Nietzsche’s view seems to trade on the homunculus fallacy. In this paper, I argue that a Hume-inspired dispositional reading of the drives’ order successfully addresses these two problematic issues. Moreover, I argue that my reading is superior to the two main competing interpretations, which I call the vitalistic reading and the normative reading, for these ascribe to Nietzsche a view committed to (a version of) the homunculus fallacy.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific