Tension: Figures and Concept in Nietzsche’s Thought

Abstract

Up to now critics have been neglecting the importance the concept of «tension» (Spannung) has for Nietzsche. The complex semantic field with its innumerable synonyms and antonyms displays a remarkable polysemy. (In the natural sciences the word ‘tension’ stands for a series of concepts which although precise are very different from each other, like electric and mechanic tension.) The study of this semantic field is therefore of interest for both the history of concepts and the history of metaphors. Nietzsche’s cultural
references go from the classics of western philosophy (Heraclitus, Marcus Aurelius) to contemporary psychology and physiology. In his texts multifarious metaphors intertwine and overlap. They stand for very different models (the bow, the tempest, the explosion etc.), whose various connections and interferences the paper reconstructs. The different, positive and negative, connotations of tension are analyzed as well as Nietzsche’s attempt to link to this concept a change of viewpoint. We follow his reflections on classical topics in ethics (the criticism of stoic morals) as well as in aesthetics (the beautiful and the sublime). Particular attention is paid to the complex connection between the concept of «tension» and the concept of «greatness».