Philosophy and the “Great Health”: Nietzsches Gesundheitslehre and Sickness as Fish-Hook of Knowledge

Présidence : Luca Lupo

Nietzsche often ascribes to the «great health» a particular capacity for knowledge and self-knowledge. In the preface to the first volume of Human All Too Human he calls sickness a «fish-hook of knowledge» and associates the great health to the free spirits. He also seems to see it as a presupposition of his own philosophical activity and to ascribe it to the philosophers of the future. But what is the relationship between philosophy and (great) health ? How can such physiological conditions like sickness and health play such an important role for the accomplishment of Nietzsche’s task? Focusing on both prefaces of Human All Too Human, my presentation will address these questions, exploring the philosophical role and significance of the «great health» in Nietzsche’s project of critique and rehabilitation of culture.