eprintid: 10057042 rev_number: 28 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/05/70/42 datestamp: 2018-09-28 17:32:26 lastmod: 2020-05-21 10:06:11 status_changed: 2018-09-28 17:32:26 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Gardner, S title: Nietzsche on Kant and teleology in 1868: '"life" is something entirely dark...' ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: A01 divisions: B03 divisions: C01 divisions: F16 keywords: Goethe, Kant, Lange, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, teleology note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. abstract: We know from Nietzsche’s posthumously published notebooks and correspondence of his plan in 1868 to compose a doctoral dissertation in philosophy on the subject of teleology in nature and the concept of the organic, with reference to Kant. The bulk of my discussion represents an attempt to extrapolate from Nietzsche’s letters and preparatory notes the view he arrived at. Since the notes do not defend explicitly any single definitive thesis, their interpretation is unavoidably conjectural. I argue that, if Nietzsche’s remarks are considered with close reference to the philosophers who at that point dominated his horizons, namely Kant, Schopenhauer, and Lange, with Goethe also playing a key role, a plausible account can be given of the broad conclusions Nietzsche reached as a result of his early engagement with the problem of teleology. This outlook maintains the necessity and distinctiveness of philosophical reflection, but takes a skeptical view of its basis. In 1868 Nietzsche had no clear idea of how to proceed from this point, but in the end I propose, as others have done, that Nietzsche’s reflections on Kant and teleology helped to lay the ground for The Birth of Tragedy. In conclusion, I hypothesize that Nietzsche’s later philosophy involves no change of metaphilosophical standpoint. date: 2019 date_type: published official_url: http://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2019.1527541 oa_status: green full_text_type: other language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1587705 doi: 10.1080/0020174X.2019.1527541 lyricists_name: Gardner, Sebastian lyricists_id: SGARD30 actors_name: Waragoda Vitharana, Nimal actors_id: NWARR44 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Inquiry volume: 62 number: 1 pagerange: 23-48 pages: 26 citation: Gardner, S; (2019) Nietzsche on Kant and teleology in 1868: '"life" is something entirely dark...'. Inquiry , 62 (1) pp. 23-48. 10.1080/0020174X.2019.1527541 <https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2019.1527541>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10057042/1/Gardner_16NIETZSCHE%2C%20KANT%20%26%20TELEOLOGY%20submitted%20to%20UCL.pdf