Nietzsche and Psychology

Nietzsche's view of science is conflicted in the way that he often attacks it but also praises certain aspects of it. Psychology is the aspect of science that Nietzsche found most favorable. Psychology brings together truth and values. An article about Nietzsche and psychology by John Richardson states that "Psychology brings these two topics of truth and values into closest relation. For psychology  properly done, finds out the truth about values, in particular about the value of truth" (Richardson, pg. 311)

In order to understand Nietzsche's views on science, one first needs to look at the different types of science. There are two distinguished ideas of science, prevailing (or what has been done before) and reformed (what science can be). Nietzsche seems to value science as a means to the truth. 


Attached below is a link to Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil 23. In this writing his views on psychology are shown. http://nietzsche.holtof.com/reader/friedrich-nietzsche/beyond-good-and-evil/aphorism-23-quote_ea3282a75.html 

As it can be seen in this writing, Nietzsche's views are quite complicated and conflicted. He often contradicts himself. Nietzsche writes of changes he wants to see in psychology. One of these changes has to do with honesty. Nietzsche recognizes honesty as a part of psychology, but he would like it to become MORE important. This newly important honesty exposes moral values, or why we do what we do. Nietzsche sees how the moral roots of psychology have distorted it. This is apparent when Niezsche states, "The power of moral prejudices has driven deep into the most spiritual, the most apparently cool world, the one with the fewest assumptions, and, as is self-evident, damages, limits, blinds, and distorts that world. A true physical psychology has to fight against an unconscious resistance in the heart of the researcher. It has "the heart" against it. Even a doctrine of the mutual interdependence of the "good" and the "bad" drives creates, as a more refined immorality, distress and weariness in a still powerful and hearty conscience - even more so a doctrine of how all the good drives are derived from the bad ones."(Nietzsche, 23)





Nietzsche, F. "Aphorism 23." Beyond Good and Evil. N.p.: n.p., 1886. N. pag. Print. 

Richardson, John. "Nietzsche's Psychology." Nietzsches Wissenschaftsphilosophie(2011): 311-27. Print.