Past Event: PKGW: James Pearson (Univ. of Amsterdam)

Location: 451 College St, room B04

Title: The Double-Edged Sword of Genealogy: Nietzsche and the Limits of Critique

Abstract: In the critical literature on Nietzsche, genealogical critique is often assumed to be uniformly beneficial – that is, reliably conducive to human flourishing. I refer to this as the standard view. In this talk, I challenge that assumption. Drawing on Nietzsche’s own texts, I argue that genealogy is only life-enhancing under specific cultural and psychological conditions. When applied indiscriminately, it can actively undermine flourishing. First, I situate genealogy within Nietzsche’s broader philosophy of history, arguing that it inherits both the promise and the danger of what he calls “critical history” in On the Use and Abuse of History for Life. Like history, genealogy can be either salutary or corrosive, depending on the vitality of the culture it addresses. Second, I show that Nietzsche does not endorse genealogical critique in relation to functioning ideologies, where illusion may play a productive role in sustaining social cohesion and fostering self-overcoming. In such contexts, genealogical debunking may frustrate rather than support collective flourishing. Third, I argue that genealogy can obstruct both creative agency and self-knowledge. Nietzsche’s reflections on the necessity of exclusion, forgetting, and even self-misunderstanding for decisive, authentic agency suggest that genealogical critique may, in some cases, paralyze rather than empower. Taken together, these lines of argument call into question the assumption that genealogy is a universally appropriate mode of critique. Nietzsche instead offers a more nuanced picture – one in which the value of genealogy is context-dependent and historically contingent. This has pressing implications, particularly in light of the growing enthusiasm for genealogical methods in ethics and political theory.