Patrick Wotling’s scientific contributions

The purpose of this study is to identify the original problem which organizes the whole of Nietzsche’s reflection. Starting from the statement “what have I to do with refutations!" (On the Genealogy of Morals, Preface) and the analysis of its meaning, it shows that Nietzsche imposes a mutation on both the problem of philosophy and its method; he dismisses the traditional question of truth (resting on proof and refutation) and replaces it with the problem of culture, of which the questions of values (including truth), of morals, of décadence or of hierarchy are particular aspects. Consequently, the task he assigns to the philosopher is that of Züchtung, which is to be understood as the “enhancement of culture”. This task appears therefore as the second dimension of Nietzsche’s reflection, in addition to genealogy, which merely prepares the “enhancement of culture”.