Nietzsche and Authenticity as Self-Reinvention Cover Image

Nietzsche și autenticitatea ca reinventare de sine
Nietzsche and Authenticity as Self-Reinvention

Author(s): Daniel Nica
Subject(s): 19th Century Philosophy
Published by: Editura Academiei Române
Keywords: Nietzsche; authenticity; vitalism; perspectivism; sublimation; subject as multiplicity; self-reinvention;

Summary/Abstract: In contemporary philosophy, there is a widespread distinction between authenticity as self-discovery (which is an essentialist model, inspired by Rousseau, Herder and the Romantic tradition) and authenticity as self-creation (an existentialist model, inspired mainly by Kierkegaard and Sartre). In this paper, I would like to propose a threefold classification, which adds another model of authenticity, irreducible to any of the previous two. This third model is authenticity as self-reinvention, which could be reconstructed from Nietzsche’s philosophy. The self-reinvention model rests on three different, yet interrelated, ideas: 1) Vitalism: The authentic individual wholeheartedly embraces every aspect of his existence, even pain and sufferings, thus proving he truly owns himself. 2) Perspectivism: The authentic individual is able to reinterpret his mental states in the utmost personal manner, through the transvaluation of values (Umwertung aller Werte) and the spiritualization (Vergeistingung) of his drives. 3) Experimentalism: Authenticity is an incessant play, a constant process of identity formation, which corresponds to Nietzsche’s hypothesis of “the subject as multiplicity” and to his ideal of existence as a work of art or of becoming the poet of your life.

  • Issue Year: LXIX/2022
  • Issue No: 5
  • Page Range: 647-670
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Romanian