Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Hermarchus, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Friedrich Nietzsche

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7 ideas

12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 2. Intuition
Intuition only recognises what is possible, not what exists or is certain [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: 'To intuit' does not mean to recognise the existence of a thing to any extent, but rather to hold it to be possible, in that one wishes or fears it. 'Intuition' takes us not one step farther into the land of certainty.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 131)
     A reaction: I like this remark. I am sympathetic to the view that the actual world has modal properties (in opposition to Sider, for example). To apprehend dispositions is precisely to apprehend possibilities. Intuition is a thousand interwoven inductions.
How do I decide when to accept or obey an intuition? [Wittgenstein]
     Full Idea: If intuition is an inner voice - how do I know how I am to obey it? And how do I know that it doesn't mislead me? For if it can guide me right, it can also guide me wrong. ((Intuition an unnecessary shuffle))
     From: Ludwig Wittgenstein (Philosophical Investigations [1952], 213)
     A reaction: Presumably the last point, in brackets, means that you still have to evaluate the intuition, with which I would agree. I take judgement to occur in the space of reasons, to which intuition is a major contributor. Only a fool would just accept intuition.
12. Knowledge Sources / E. Direct Knowledge / 4. Memory
There is no proof that we forget things - only that we can't recall [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: That forgetting exists has never yet been demonstrated, but only that many things do not occur to us when we want them to.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1881-82 [1882], 12[1]123)
     A reaction: There is now quite a lot of evidence that there innumerable memories buried in that mind that we seem unable to directly recall. He is right that we can hardly demonstrate this negative fact.
Memory is essential, and is only possible by means of abbreviation signs [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: Experience is only possible with the help of memory; memory is only possible by virtue of an abbreviation of an intellectual event as a sign.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1885-86 [1886], 34[249])
     A reaction: My memory of a town is not formed as a sign, but as a bunch of miscellaneous fragments about it. I think mental files gives a better account of this than do 'signs'.
Forgetfulness is a strong positive ability, not mental laziness [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: Forgetfulness is not just a vis inertiae, as superficial people believe, but is rather an active ability to suppress, positive in the strongest sense of the word.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (On the Genealogy of Morals [1887], II.§01)
     A reaction: It is unimpressive when people remember small slights and grievances for a long time - and even being owed small sums - so the ability to forget such things is admirable. But wilfully forgetting some things is obviously shameful.
If you remember wrongly, then there must be some other criterion than your remembering [Wittgenstein]
     Full Idea: If you remember wrongly, then there must be some other criterion than your remembering. If you admit another test, then your memory itself is not the test.
     From: Ludwig Wittgenstein (Lectures 1930-32 (student notes) [1931], C VII)
     A reaction: If I fear that I am remembering some private solitary event wrongly, there is no other criterion to turn to, so I'm stuck. Sometimes dubious memories are all we have.
We may be unable to remember, but we may never actually forget [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: It has yet to be proven that there is such a thing as forgetting; all we know is that the act of remembering is not within our power.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Dawn (Daybreak) [1881], 126)
     A reaction: There is some evidence for this. We forget innumerable people, but then find that we recognise them if we meet them many years later. Anecdotes report very ancient memories suddenly surfacing.