Book four

sections 335–342

pp. 201-212

in: Monika Langer, Nietzsche's Gay science, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Abstract

Nietzsche has described the search for knowledge, the need for self-scrutiny, the meaning of thinking, the consequences of thoughtlessness, the instincts' role in intellectual activity, and the meaning of knowledge. Continuing to explore the instincts' role in knowledge, he now focuses more closely on self-knowledge, feelings about the past and future, and knowledge and feelings about others and about life. Through his fable about eternal return, Nietzsche provides a test for our attitude to life. He concludes with the opening section of his next work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra.