CFP: Nietzsche on Affect/s: The Agonist

The Agonist - Fall 2019 Issue: Nietzsche on Affect/s

In his notes, Nietzsche remarks that “Under every thought there is an affect [Affekt]. Every thought, every feeling, every will is not born from one particular drive, but an overall condition” (KSA 12: 2 [103]). Affects are described in Dawn as “inclinations” and “aversions [or disinclinations]” that influence one’s behavior (D 34). And indeed, throughout his work Nietzsche examines a wide variety of particular affects and their functions, analyzing the influence of affects such as pity, guilt, contempt, fear, honor, dishonor, pride, and cheerfulness. A number of Nietzsche scholars offer accounts of how affect functions broadly in Nietzsche. While some investigate the way in which affects create values or evaluative stances (Janaway, Katsafanas, Poellner), still others examine the way affects shape epistemic perspectives (Clark and Dudrick) and perceptual experience (Poellner) in Nietzsche. Yet the topic of affect in Nietzsche’s thought is still under-treated.

Affects, for Nietzsche, not only shape thought and experience; they shape individuals. For example, in the criminal from Twilight of the Idols, physiological degeneration results when one’s “most lively drives [Triebe]… grow together with depressive affects [Affekte].” Furthermore, the affects one experiences do not simply reflect or express some feature of the individual’s particular psychology; affects are communicated between and among individuals, and such communication always takes place in a norm-laden sociohistorical context. Thus, one must, from a Nietzschean standpoint, investigate interplay between individual, affect, and society.

For our issue, we welcome contributions from scholarly essays to artistic explorations on Nietzsche and affect. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Nietzsche on the function of affect or affects

An investigation of an individual Nietzschean affect

Affect and personal transformation in Nietzsche

Affects and social being in Nietzsche

Intersections between Nietzsche’s thought and affect theory

To submit your work for review, please send an abstract of 500 words or a 500-word proposal of your suggested artwork to [email protected] latest by July 1st. The final paper submission and final work submission deadline is October 1st. Please see the Submission Guidelines at http://agonist.nietzschecircle.com/wp/submission-policy.