"...with mathematic precision" - continued...

The Text

Under French physiology's sphere of influence we also find Friedrich Nietzsche. A philologist by education, he mentioned the dynamometer several times in his texts, aphorisms and fragments. Mostly he refers to Féré's work Dégénérescence et criminalité, which was in his possession (see Nietzsche 1888, KSA 13, pp. 410, 499). The background leading up to Nietzsche's reading of Féré was initially his occupation with the "problem of decadence" – his criticism of Wagner is teeming with terms from the Salpêtrière school, as well as he calls Socrates a "monstrum in fronte" (Nietzsche 1889, KSA 6, p. 69, cited from Féré 1888, p. 80, who refers here to "l’œuvre de M. Lombroso") – rather the intention to ground every work of art in a physiological foundation (Nietzsche 1889, KSA 6, p. 418).

Excerpt from: Féré, Charles. 1888. Dégénérescence et criminalité, page 80.
Marks by Nietzsche (Nietzsches copy, Klassik Stiftung Weimar).

Nietzsche's argued as follows. Firstly, the dynamometer can be used to measure tragic emotions. Thus, in contrast to Aristotle’s teachings, it is possible to show that a tragedy functions as a "tonicum", not a "purgative agent" (Nietzsche 1888, KSA 13, p. 409 f.). Secondly, dynamometers lend objectivity to aesthetic impressions, for wherever we see strength wither, something ugly is also at play, and wherever it increases, something beautiful (ibid, p. 282 – along the lines of Féré 1888, p. 61). And thirdly, dynamometrics is capable of assigning a numerical value to erotic tension; anyhow the presence of members of the opposite sex in the audience results in increased performance of physical strength, on the part of the test subjects (according to Féré 1888, p. 3 f.) In this manner, boundaries of the clinic were lifted, allowing its knowledge to be applied to everyday interpersonal relationships.