(042) Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil”, One Paragraph at a Time
These blog posts are my attempt to better understand this material. I encourage any corrections or criticisms in the comments.
Chapter Two: The Free Spirit
42. A new order of philosophers is appearing; I shall venture to baptize them by a name not without danger.
A new set of philosophers appearing in the world. Nietzsche embraces the danger of attempting to categorize them.
As far as I understand them, as far as they allow themselves to be understood — for it is their nature to WISH to remain something of a puzzle — these philosophers of the future might rightly, perhaps also wrongly, claim to be designated as “tempters.”
The end goal of a philosopher is to pursue truth. But at some level human beings are a mystery unto themselves.
As such, Nietzsche believes that it is in the nature of the “philosophers of the future” to want to remain at some level obscured from the truth they promote.
Perhaps it is valid to cast them as experimenters, rather than perfect pursuers of truth. Perhaps not.
This name itself is after all only an attempt, or, if it be preferred, a temptation.
Nietzsche admits that making such an attempt at naming is itself a temptation.
Yet again Nietzsche, through a bit of wordplay and in the most self aware way possible, levies criticism of philosophers.
