Sunday, February 21, 2016
Immortality of the Soul and Vitalism
The concept of the Immortality of the Soul is Atomistic--it affirms the continued existence of an Individual after its separation from the Species. However, despite his anti-Atomist Vitalism of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche misses this feature of the after-worldly doctrines that are the targets of his Dionysianism. That may be because the Apollonian dimension of his doctrine is paradoxical--the Individual that it creates may be irreal in some respect, but the Apollonian principle itself is as real as is the Dionysian, a paradox that he inherits from Schopenhauer. So, without a substantive alternative, he cannot quite invalidate the concept of an Immortal Soul, even while consigning it to Irreality. However, a substantive alternative is available--the concept of the Individual as a Part, rather than as an Atom, and, likewise, the interpretation of the Apollonian as Diversification, rather than as Atomization. On the basis of that alternative, Vitalism can entail a Principle of Individuation, and can unequivocally repudiate the concept of the Immortal Soul as antithetical to Life-affirmation.
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