Browsing by Author "Kleingeld, Charl"
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- ItemNietzsche's philosophy of self-creation as practical philosophy: an understanding, and overcoming, of suffering as philosophical problem.(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Kleingeld, Charl; Louw, Dirk; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There are an increasing number of philosophers today who utilize philosophy in order to cope with everyday difficulties, both their own and those of others. Yet philosophers have been aware of the therapeutic or, in this sense, practical nature of philosophy since its birth in Ancient Greece. In fact, the purpose of providing solace to a life of suffering was clearly visible throughout ancient Greek philosophy. Although philosophy has substantially grown beyond this purpose in subsequent millennia, one philosopher in particular made a deliberate return to this purpose in his philosophical works – though they are nevertheless often overlooked in this regard. Friedrich Nietzsche’s life was unusually beset with hardship and suffering. He thus turned to philosophy. For Nietzsche, suffering was a philosophical problem, and as such, it could only be overcome by philosophical means. Addressing what he called “the problem of suffering”, Nietzsche’s work can be viewed as an attempt to overcome this problem by providing all suffering with meaning. Suffering, he argued, is imbued with meaning through the philosophical process of self-creation; a process that is explained in this thesis as an amalgamation of individual philosophies, viz. the will to power, amor fati, and eternal recurrence. Together these philosophies are claimed to constitute a radical affirmation and revaluation of suffering and, as such, allow for a complete transformation of the individual, thus providing purpose and utility to suffering, rendering it meaningful as opposed to life-destructing. There can be little doubt that Nietzsche sought this solution for his own suffering – unsuccessfully as it turned out. Yet, in this thesis the assessment of the effectiveness of self-creation does not merely focus on Nietzsche’s own accomplishments in this regard. On the contrary, it is shown that, when properly applied, Nietzsche’s philosophy of self-creation can be effective as a practical philosophy meant to overcome the problem of suffering. This is done through testing its key features in a real-world scenario, viz. Victor Frankl’s implementation thereof to overcome his suffering in Nazi death-camps.