Religion, science, and value in Nietzschean life-philosophy
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation explores the relationship between philosophy, science, and religion by reconstructing a "Nietzschean" tradition of "life-philosophy" [Lebensphilosophie] in late 19th-century Germany and analyzing an influential critique of this tradition. I argue that in the context of the impact of Darwin and the German historicist tradition, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, church historian Franz Overbeck, and sociologist Georg Simmel developed "naturalistic" theories of religion that drew from the life-sciences to give an account of the place of human values in the natural world. I then examine the most trenchant critic of life-philosophy, Heinrich Rickert, and argue that Rickert attempted to outline a "Kantian" alternative that rejected naturalistic and genealogical accounts for failing to capture the role values play in practical life. Further, I show that these debates over naturalism and value were the basis of each thinker's understanding of religion and assessment of its fate in modernity. In conclusion, I venture some remarks concerning the potential contribution of philosophical insights won from my reconstruction of "Nietzscheanism" and "Kantianism" for theoretical discussions in the contemporary study of religion.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Woodford, Peter J |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Religious Studies. |
| Primary advisor | Sockness, Brent W, 1962- |
| Thesis advisor | Sockness, Brent W, 1962- |
| Thesis advisor | Bashir, Shahzad, 1968- |
| Thesis advisor | Hussain, Nadeem J. Z |
| Thesis advisor | Yearley, Lee H |
| Advisor | Bashir, Shahzad, 1968- |
| Advisor | Hussain, Nadeem J. Z |
| Advisor | Yearley, Lee H |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Peter J. Woodford. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Religious Studies. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Peter James Woodford
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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