Nature's Nihilistic Art, in Nietzsche, Will to Power, §850

by Corry Shores
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Nature's Nihilistic Art

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Will to Power

§ 850

(Spring-Fall 1887)

The nihilism of artists

Some of us do not see any morality in nature. And we prefer amoral art as well. For we have moved beyond the notions of good and evil.

Our moralistic susceptibility to stimuli and pain is, as it were, redeemed by a terrible and happy nature, in the fatalism of the senses and forces. Life without goodness. (448c)

By not tainting her with moralistic notions, we may marvel nature's magnificence.

There is no justice in history. And there is no goodness in nature. The artistic pessimist seeks places in history where

the absence of justice itself is revealed with splendid naiveté, where perfection comes into view — and also in nature, to those places where her evil and indifferent character is not disguised, where she exhibits the character of perfection. (448d)

An artist reveals his nihilism when he exhibits a cynical view on history and nature.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power. Ed. Walter Kaufmann. Transl Walter Kaufmann and R.J. Hollingdale. New York: Random House Vintage Books, 1967.