Lange and Nietzsche (review)

Abstract

446 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY z3:3 JULY 1985 George J. Stack, Lange and Nietzsche. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1983. Pp. vii + 34 I. $6o.oo. F. A. Lange (1828-1875) was a philosophical historian and social scientist whose work is today known only to a handful of specialists. Lange's major work, the Geschichte des Materialismus, first appeared in 1866. A greatly expanded second edition was published in two volumes in 1873 and a875. Nietzsche was barely twenty-two years old when he recorded his enthusiastic reaction to Lange's book: "The most significant philosophical work to appear in the last decade is undoubtedly Lange's History of Materialism, in praise of which I could go on for several pages. Kant, Schopenhauer, and Lange's book: I need nothing more" (to Muschacke, November 1866). Lange's Geschichtecombines a sceptical Kantian epistemology with an essentially aesthetic view of philosophy. Things in themselves are entirely unknowable; we know only appearances shaped by our own organization and needs. But we also need ideals and "myths" which go well beyond our capacity for "knowledge." One of the functions of philosophy is to provide such ideals, but in a manner which is at least consistent with what we "know" about the world. Both Lange's scepticism and his call for the construction of new ideals found a receptive reader in the young philologist turning philosopher. Moreover, Lange's compendium provided him with a vast store of information, which Nietzsche recommended as such to anyone desiring knowledge concerning "the materialist movement of our times, the natural sciences with their Darwinian theories, their cosmological systems, their beloved camera obscura, etc., as well as concerning ethical materialism, the Manchester theory, etc.... " It is "a work which provides infinitely more than the title promises, a real treasure-house to be looked into and read repeatedly" (to von Gersdorff, February 1868). Though scholars have long known of Nietzsche's enthusiasm for Lange, George J. Stack's new book is the first full-scale attempt to assess Nietzsche's true debt to this forgotten figure. Since Lange's name never appears in Nietzsche's published writings and occurs only very rarely in his Nachlass, the evidence for his influence is almost entirely circumstantial. Stack's method is to summarize and juxtapose passages from Lange's and Nietzsche's writings, in order thereby to uncover in the latter "faint traces" of "the original Langean sources"--traces such as "a mode of expression, a phrase or even a word." Though such a procedure is open to abuse, it is here employed in a judicious and confidence-inspiring manner. If he goes too far in asserting that Nietzsche "was more strongly influenced by, and more deeply impressed by [Lange's Geschichte]than by anything else he ever read," Stack nevertheless succeeds in demonstrating that Lange's book had a major influence upon Nietzsche. Nietzsche's indebtedness to Lange's account of the theoretical conclusions and experimental methodologies of the empirical sciences is examined in minute detail. Indeed, many readers will be surprised to learn how well informed Nietzsche was concerning the sciences of his day. Equally valuable and informative is Stack's account of how Nietzsche's "perspectival" epistemology is foreshadowed in Lange's denial of absolute truth and in his insistence upon the "anthropomorphic" character of knowledge and the conventional and instrumental nature of "truths." Even BOOK REVIEWS 447 Nietzsche's vaunted recognition of the connection between language and thought is anticipated by Lange. Lange's influence can also be detected in Nietzsche's critique of dogmatic mechanism and atomism, as well as in his sceptical rejection of both materialism and idealism. On the other hand, Stack's claims concerning the Langean roots of Nietzsche's ideas concerning eternal recurrence and the will to power are unconvincing , as is his suggestion that Lange inspired Nietzsche's critique of Platonism, Christianity, and socialism. The more important link between Lange's "standpoint of the ideal" and Nietzsche's call upon philosophy to create new values and new myths is, however, well documented. Though Stack certainly succeeds in demonstrating Nietzsche's enormous debt to Lange, he occasionally overstates his own case and asserts...