Genealogy in Nietzsche's critique of traditional philosophy

The search for truth as a reality independent of the history and man had been the common ground of almost all the traditional philosophy until the end of the 19th century. In this respect, the traditional thought has an attitude that ignores the historicity of concepts and facts. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, one of the prominent thinkers of the 19th century, criticizes the traditional philosophical point of view, which he calls metaphysical philosophy, and recommends historical philosophy instead of it. Nietzsche's proposal, the historical philosophy, shows that concepts and facts are historical, thus they do not have fixed essences. The research that reveals the source of discourses that somehow change within history rather than the miraculous origin sought by metaphysical philosophy would be the method of the new philosophy proposed by Nietzsche. Nietzsche reveals the effects of traditional thought in various fields such as art, religion, morality; this exposition may also allow to read his criticisms holistically. Nietzsche's criticisms are directed towards all values that harm life. The phenomenon of décadence in the meaning of collapse, degeneration and corruption, which Nietzsche observed in the whole field of valuations, is one of the important concepts of his thinking. His exposition of the décadence phenomenon is an example of historical philosophy as well. The research of the discursive legacies that constitute human values becomes the essential method which affects other disciplines in the 20th century. In this context, Nietzsche's proposal for methodical change is of great importance for the contemporary philosophy. This study aims to investigate the historical philosophy and its method, genealogical research, based on Nietzsche's criticism of traditional philosophy.