Bad Conscience: Nietzsche and Responsibility in Modernity

Abstract

Nietzsche is a name not often invoked in relation to the topic of responsibility. This study reveals, however, that his work engages vigorously with the problem of responsibility in modernity on both the conceptual and methodological levels. In the concept of "e; bad conscience,"e; Nietzsche presents a " dangerous and multi-coloured " alternative to the more monochrome varieties of self-consciousness which ground theories of individual responsibility in the work of other modern philosophers, such as Locke and Kant. The complexity of Nietzsche's approach to self-consciousness allows him to shed light on the range of interconnected practices of responsibility and irresponsibility that characterize modern life. It also raises pressing questions about the possibility and conditions of philosophy in modernity. In grappling with " bad conscience" within the performative structures of his own thought, Nietzsche makes experimental use of methodological resources drawn from both the ancient and modern traditions of Western philosophy. In particular, this study examines Nietzsche's appropriation and " reinterpretation" of meditational methods which form part of the ancient philosophical " art of living," and which re-emerge in altered form, in the work of Descartes. In Nietzsche's writings, such methods are used to provoke and reflect upon the passions of " bad conscience," a dangerous practice which involves the risk of exacerbating this " illness," but which also promises to give birth to new insight and skill in confronting the problem of responsibility in modernity.