NIETZSCHE AND HERMENEUTICAL THINKING: FINITUDE AND TRUTH

Abstract

The question of whether Nietzsche should or at least could be incorporated into the hermeneutical tradition has been a debate for many scholars is the last decades. Differing claims, both for and against, have been advanced by people such as Vattimo, Davey, Babich and Grondin. This work attempts to discuss some of these claims, addressing the hermeneutical background to Nietzsche’s thought focusing on two key concepts of his philosophy: finitude and truth. I argue that Nietzsche’s philosophy can be understood as hermeneutical thinking since it assumes the radical purpose to think our finite situation (in both epistemological and existential senses) in a way that is very close to the hermeneutical circularity of human understanding. I also argue that this interpretation allows such polemical theses as the will to power, perspectivism, and “theory of errors” to become comprehensive as a whole, and mutually compatible.