Were Nietzsche's cardinal ideas - delusions?

 

 

Eva M. Cybulska

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

Nietzsche's cardinal ideas - God is Dead, Übermensch and Eternal Return of the Same - are approached here from the perspective of psychiatric phenomenology rather than that of philosophy. A revised diagnosis of the philosopher's mental illness as manic-depressive psychosis forms the premise for discussion. Nietzsche conceived the above thoughts in close proximity to his first manic psychotic episode, in the summer of 1881, while staying in Sils-Maria (Swiss Alps). It was the anniversary of his father's death, and also of the break-up of his friendship with Wagner, the most important relationship in his life. Despite having been acquainted with these ideas from reading philosophy and literature, Nietzsche created them de novo and imbued them with very personal meaning. Surprisingly, he never defined or explained his cardinal thoughts in his published writings, perhaps because rationally he could not. A resultant hermeneutic vacuum provoked an avalanche of interpretations in secondary literature. But could these ideas be delusions? A current definition of delusion is challenged, and an attempt is made at a limited comparison between delusion, scientific/philosophical doctrine and poetic creation. It is also argued that psychosis is a way of re-living trauma, and delusions can therefore be seen as a form of reasoning that helps to make sense of the world in a state of psychotic disintegration. Far from being false beliefs, delusions are a true expression of one's innermost feelings and pain, albeit indirectly. The relationship between early parental loss and repeated trauma, psychosis and creativity is also explored.

---

 

 

“Full text available only in PDF format”

 

 

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV-TR) (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.         [ Links ]

Andreasen, N. J. C., & Powers P. S. (1975). Creativity and psychosis. Archives of General Psychiatry 32, 70-73.         [ Links ]

Andreasen, N. J. C. (1976). Linguistic analysis of speech in affective disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 33, 1361-1367.         [ Links ]

Bowlby, J. (1985). Attachment and loss (Vols. 1-3). London: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1969)        [ Links ]

Brown, G. W., & Harris, T. (1978). Social origins of depression. London: Tavistock.         [ Links ]

Cybulska, E. M. (1997). Nietzsche: Madness as literature. Psychiatric Bulletin, 21, 510-511.         [ Links ]

Cybulska, E. M. (1998). The masks of Nietzsche and eternal return of the repressed. Paper presented at the 6th Annual Conference of the Friedrich Nietzsche Society on Nietzsche: Questions of life and death; philosophy, psychology, psychoanalysis held in Manchester, UK, 20-22 September 1996, as reported by U. Nussbaumer-Benz, Nietzscheforschung, Akademie Verlag (Ein Jahrbuch) Band 4, 347-357.         [ Links ]

Cybulska, E. M. (2000a). The madness of Nietzsche: A misdiagnosis of the millennium? Hospital Medicine. 61(8), 571-575.         [ Links ]

Cybulska, E. M. (2000b). Nietzsche's eternal return: An illumination or a delusion? Philosophy Now, 29, 16-19.         [ Links ]

Danto, A. C. (1965). Nietzsche as philosopher. New York: Columbia University Press.         [ Links ]

Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and repetition (P. Patton, Trans.). London: The Athlone Press.         [ Links ]

Eisenstadt , J. M. (1978). Parental loss and genius. American Psychologist, 33, 211-223.         [ Links ]

Eliade, M. (1989). The myth of eternal return, or cosmos and history (W. R. Trask, Trans.). Middlesex, England: Arcana.         [ Links ]

Eysenck, H. (1994). Genius: The natural history of creativity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.         [ Links ]

Feldman, D. H. (1999). The development of creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 169-186). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.         [ Links ]

Foucault, M. (1993). Madness and civilisation: A history of insanity in the age of reason (R. Howard, Trans.). London: Routledge.         [ Links ]

Freud, S. (1955a). The interpretation of dreams. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), Standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vols. 4-5, pp. 1-627). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1900)        [ Links ]

Freud, S. (1955b). Beyond the pleasure principle. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), Standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 18, pp.1-64). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1920)        [ Links ]

Garety, P. A., & Hemsley, D. R. (1994). Delusions: Investigations into the psychology of delusional reasoning. East Sussex, U.K: Psychology Press Ltd.         [ Links ]

Goodwin, F. K., & Jamison, K. R. (1990). Manic-depressive illness. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

Heidegger, M. (1984). Nietzsche (D. F. Krell, Trans.) New York: HarperCollins Publishers. (Original work published 1954)        [ Links ]

Heidegger, M. (1977). The word of Nietzsche: 'God is dead'. In The question concerning technology and other essays (W. Lovitt, Trans.). New York: Harper Torchbooks.         [ Links ]

Hollingdale, R. J. (1999). Nietzsche: The man and his philosophy. Cambridge U.K: Cambridge University Press.         [ Links ]

Jamison, K. R. (1993). Touched with fire. New York: Free Press.         [ Links ]

Jaspers, K. (1962). General psychopathology (J. Hoenig & M. W. Hamilton, Trans.). Manchester: The University Press. (Original work published 1913)        [ Links ]

Jung, C. G. (1989). Seminars on Nietzsche's Zarathustra, 2 vols. (J. Jarret, Ed.). London: Routledge. (Original work published 1934-1939)        [ Links ]

Jung, C. G. (1990). The archetypes and the collective unconscious. In M. Fordham, G. Adler, & W. McGuire (Series Eds.), The Collected Works of C. G. Jung (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.), Bollingen Series XX (2nd ed.) (Vol. 9, Part 1). London: Routledge. (Original versions of work published 1934-1954)        [ Links ]

Kant, I. (1988). Critique of pure reason (J. M. D. Meiklejohn, Trans.). London: Everyman's Library. I. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. (Original work published 1781)        [ Links ]

Kant, I. (1978.) Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view (H. H. Rudnick, Ed. & V. L. Dowdell, Trans.). Carbondale and Edwardville: Southern Illinois University Press. (Original work published 1798)        [ Links ]

Kaufmann, W. (1974). Nietzsche: Philosopher, psychologist, antichrist. New Jersey, Princeton: Princeton University Press.         [ Links ]

Kenny, A. (2007). Knowledge, belief, and faith. Philosophy, 82, 381-397.         [ Links ]

Klein, M (1981). Love, guilt and reparation. London: The Hogarth Press.         [ Links ]

Klossowski, P. (1997). Nietzsche and the vicious circle (D. W. Smith, Trans.). London: Athlone Press.         [ Links ]

Kierkegaard, S. (1968). Concluding unscientific postscript (D. Swenson & W. Lowrie, Trans.). Princeton: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1846)        [ Links ]

Kohut, H. (1984). How does analysis cure? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.         [ Links ]

Kraepelin E. (1921). Manic-Depressive insanity and paranoia (G. Robertson, Ed. & R. M. Barclay, Trans.). Edinburgh: E. & S. Livingstone. (Original work published 1913)        [ Links ]

Kristeva, J. (1984). Revolution in poetic language (M. Waller, Trans.). New York: Columbia University Press.         [ Links ]

Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.         [ Links ]

Lacan, L. (1968). The language of the self (A. Wilden, Trans.). New York: Dell Publishing Company.         [ Links ]

Laing, R. D. (1965). The divided self: An existential study in sanity and madness. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd.         [ Links ]

Lewis, A. (1932). The experience of time in mental disorder. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 25(5), 611-620. (Original paper presented December 8, 1931)        [ Links ]

Maher, B. A., & Ross, J. S. (1984). Delusions. In H. E. Adams & P. Sutker (Eds.), Comprehensive textbook of psychopathology (pp. 383-411). New York: Plenum Press.         [ Links ]

Maher, B A (1988). Anomalous experience and delusional thinking. In T. F. Oltmanns & B. A. Maher (Eds.), Delusional beliefs (pp. 15-33). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.         [ Links ]

Middleton, Ch. (Ed. & Trans.). (1996). Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.         [ Links ]

Mollon, P. (2002). Remembering trauma: A psychotherapist's guide to memory and illusion. London and Philadelphia: Whurr Publishers.         [ Links ]

Neale, J. M. (1988). Defensive function of manic delusions. In T. F. Oltmanns & B. A. Maher (Eds.), Delusional Beliefs (pp. 138-156). New York: Wiley.         [ Links ]

Nietzsche, F. (1969a). Thus spoke Zarathustra (R. J. Hollingdale, Trans.). London: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1883-1885)        [ Links ]

Nietzsche, F. (1969b). Will to power (W. Kaufmann & R. J. Hollingdale, Trans.). New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1883-1888)        [ Links ]

Nietzsche, F. (1974). The gay science (W. Kaufmann, Trans.). New York: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1882)        [ Links ]

Nietzsche, F. (1986a). Ecce homo (R. J. Hollingdale, Trans.). Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1888)        [ Links ]

Nietzsche, F. (1986b). Sämtliche Briefe. Band 8 (Own translation). Kritische Studienausgabe, Band 8. Berlin: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag de Gruyter. (Original work published 1887-1889)        [ Links ]

Nietzsche, F. (1990). Beyond good and evil (R. J. Hollingdale, Trans.). London: Penguin Books. (Original work published 1886)        [ Links ]

Nietzsche, F. (1994). Friedrich Nietzsche Jugendschriften.Band 1 (Own translation). München: Deutschenbuch Taschenbuuch Verlag. (Original work published 1854-1861)        [ Links ]

Partridge, E. (1963). Origins: A short etymological dictionary of modern English. London: E. Routledge & Kegan Paul.         [ Links ]

Popper, K. (1959). The logic of scientific discovery. London: Hutchinson. (Original work published 1935)        [ Links ]

Rhodes, N., Dowker, A., & Claridge, G. (1995). Subject matter and poetic devices in psychotics' poetry. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 68, 311-321.         [ Links ]

Rogé, J. (1999). Le syndrome de Nietzsche. Paris: Editions Odile Jacob.         [ Links ]

Salomé, L. (2001). Nietzsche (S. Mandel, Ed. & Trans.). Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press. (Original work published 1894)        [ Links ]

Sass, L. A. (1994). The paradoxes of delusion. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.         [ Links ]

Schain, R. (2001). The legend of Nietzsche's syphilis. Westport, Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Press.         [ Links ]

Schopenhauer, A. (1969). The world as will and representation (E. F. Payne, Trans.). New York: Dover Publications, Inc. (Original work published 1819)        [ Links ]

Soanes, C. (Ed.). (2006). Oxford English Dictionary (11th rev. ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

Spitzer, M. (1990). On defining delusions. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 31, 377-397.         [ Links ]

Tysk, L. (1984). Time perception and affective disorders. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 58, 455-464.         [ Links ]

Wood, D. (1988). Nietzsche's transvaluation of time. In D. Wood & D. F. Krell (Eds.), Exceedingly Nietzsche (pp. 31-62). London and New York: Routledge.         [ Links ]