Affirming the Pandemic or Aversion to Life? A Nietzschean Assessment

Abstract

This paper is a reflection on the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on social life and draws on Nietzsche’s views on pessimism, will to power and affirmation. The question that lies at its centre is what it means to experience the pandemic with an affirmative or a life-negating attitude. It aims to open up a space for discussion for how the pandemic actually is or can possibly be experienced affirmatively. In order to do so, first of all it provides an outline of Nietzsche’s analysis of the ancient Greek culture and the Greek myth of the wisdom of Silenus and secondly Nietzsche’s critique of the ascetic ideal. Lastly, putting the two topics side by side, it explores reactions towards the current pandemic on a scale of economy ranging from preservation to enhancement.