3AM Interviews Professor Paul Katsafanas
[Professor Katsafanas] treats the history of philosophy not merely as a subject of antiquarian interest, but as a wellspring of ideas containing the resources to shape debates currently at the forefront of his field. Here he discusses Nietzsche’s naturalism, his idea of flourishing, the ethical ideas around flourishing and his attitude towards the Ancient Greeks, Kant and Bentham, why contemporary ethical philosophy has tended not to heed Nietzsche, Nietzsche’s distinction between the conscious and unconscious, how Nietzsche characterises the distinctions between reflective and unreflective action, and another distinction between action and mere behaviour, the concept of ‘the drive’, where values come from for Nietzsche, the Nietzschean self, freedom and autonomy, why Nietzsche’s approach is more refreshing than Kant’s, Aristotle’s and Hume’s, Nietzsche’s rejection of Enlightenment ethics, Nietzsche’s ethical theory, psychological and cultural pathologies, and the idea that we could preserve ideals or higher values in an aestheticized manner.
Full Interview: https://316am.site123.me/articles/nietzschean-flourishing