Knowledge, Self-Cultivation, and Naturalism: Nietzsche and Architecture in the Middle Works (1878-1882)

This chapter explores Nietzsche’s thoughts on architecture in his “middle period” (1878-1882). I show that Nietzsche has a number of striking insights into architecture that merit being taken seriously and claim that these contribute to our understanding of a number of his philosophical undertakings in these works, including the passion for knowledge (D: §429), self-cultivation (GS: §335) and his naturalism. Nietzsche calls for an architecture for the search of knowledge (GS §280) which encompasses a naturalistic retranslation of our knowledge and values. His goal is to supply us with both a symbolic naturalism that will replace the otherworldly discourse of churches and a practical environment for studying the natural origins and history of our values.