PHILOSOPHY AND (GAY) SCIENCE. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
PHILOSOPHY AND (GAY) SCIENCE. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

Summary/Abstract: This text attempts to describe the relationship between philosophy and science in Nietzsche’s works. The cultural background sustaining this attempt is based on the ambiguos understanding of the concept of science, an ambiguity caused by the mixing of the Greek and modern meanings of this concept. Philosophy is simultaneously the fundamental science in the hierarchy of disciplines (we sense here the Greek legacy), but also the science that criticizes tradition by adopting the methodological standards introduced by natural sciences (modern legacy). Our hypothesis is that this tensed relationship that philosophy establishes with the meaning of science can also be traced in the case of a radical philosopher like Nietzsche. We propose, therefore, a typology trying to make sense of this relation: (A) science is considered as some kind of parasitic existence on the behalf of our instincts; (B) science is viewed more as a factor of contagion that destroys any kind of hierarchy; (C) finally, science resembles more an instrument that helps a philosopher critizing traditional prejudices. In order to conclude, Nietzsche maintains the vision of a philosophy being the center of all disciplines by emphasizing, against metaphysical ideals, our biological nature, but he uses, in the same time, functionalist or pragmatic arguments provided by modern science in attacking traditional thinking.

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