Lacan's Ethics and Nietzsche's Critique of Platonism

Download or read book Lacan's Ethics and Nietzsche's Critique of Platonism written by Tim Themi and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brings Lacan and Nietzsche together as part of a common effort to rethink the tradition of Western ethics. Bringing together Jacques Lacan and Friedrich Nietzsche, Tim Themi focuses on their conceptions of ethics and on their accounts of the history of ethical thinking in the Western tradition. Nietzsche blames Plato for setting in motion a degenerative process that turned ethics away from nature, the body, and its senses, and thus eventually against our capacities for reason, science, and a creative, flourishing life. Dismissing Plato’s Supreme Good as a “mirage,” Lacan is very much in sympathy with Nietzsche’s reading. Following this premise, Themi shows how Lacan’s ethics might build on Nietzsche’s work, thus contributing to our understanding of Nietzsche, and also how Nietzsche’s critique can strengthen our understanding of Lacan.