Nietzsche Colloquium 2020: Transvaluation or devaluation of values? – On the topicality of Nietzsche’s social criticism

Wednesday, 30 September, to Saturday, 3 October 2020, all day, Hotel Waldhaus Sils

Nietzsche diagnosed a striking breakdown of values already in his own time. In his view, an all-pervasive nihilism emerged for a variety of reasons, ranging from a loss of cultural unity, the decline of educational institutions, the erosion of the foundations of the state and the end of metaphysics to the self-abdication of morals and the crisis of modern art. Nietzsche saw the breakdown of values as an inevitable consequence of the nihilism pervading all sectors of culture and society. At the same time, though, particularly in his later texts, he also made a case for a transvaluation of all values. To do this, traditional values had to be defined and new criteria for new values had to be found that would not immediately be caught up again in the maelstrom of nihilism. This task has recently acquired a new urgency. The crisis of truth in our own era of “alternative facts” and the all-encompassing “virtual” reality of all human phenomena in the wake of the digital revolution has led to a total arbitrariness of values. Values are set which survive without any justification, circulating freely: groundless values. However, a growing awareness of the global environmental crisis – literally, the desert is growing – has also led to a return of values and moral imperatives, whose status is philosophically largely unexplained, and which appear to, or perhaps have to, ignore Nietzsche’s critique of absolute valuation.

What potential does Nietzsche’s critique of values and his vision of a transvaluation of values have in today’s debates?

The Colloquium is held in German. It is intended both for experts and an interested general public. The events can be attended individually.

Prices: Colloquium ticket CHF 180 (students CHF 50) / individual events CHF 20 (students CHF 10) / concert CHF 30 (students CHF 20). No advance registration is required.

Nietzsche Colloquium 2018: Truth and lies

Thursday, September 27 to Sunday, September 30, 2018, all day, Hotel Waldhaus Sils

The dichotomy of truth and lies, which has regained geopolitical significance, lost its innocence with Nietzsche. As we do not possess the truth per se, in a number of ways – not just politically and in the media, but also philosophically and scientifically –  the key question is how do we decide what is the truth and what a lie. Such decisions may be amoral or moral, factual or counterfactual. As “fool”, “bard” and “philosopher of the future”, Nietzsche created a fascinating spectrum for dealing with the irritating grounds for making such decisions.

The Colloquium is intended both for experts and for an interested public in general. The events can be attended separately.

Prices: Colloquium ticket CHF 180 / individual events CHF 20 / concert CHF 30
Advance registration is not necessary.

PROGRAMME