Alexander Nehamas (Department of Philosophy, Humanities, and Comparative Literature, Princeton University), will give a lecture entitled “Nietzsche, Intention, and Action”

Beginning from Nietzsche’s thought that “in order to become what one is one must not have the faintest idea what one is,” Nehamas will try to articulate his understanding of intention and action.

From the abstract: "A large swath of human behavior cannot possibly be explained if we assume, as is common both in everyday talk and in philosophy today, that an intention is a mental state that precedes, causes, and rationalizes our actions. Most interesting behavior, beyond lifting an arm or turning on a light—behavior encapsulated in ”becoming what one is” and most clearly observable in the production and interpretation of works of art—requires that intention, whatever exactly it is, comes into being along with the actions with which it is connected. That has important consequences for the interpretation of both Nietzsche and human action more generally."

Sponsored by The New School for Social Research.

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