Full Idea
Every piece of knowledge that is beneficial to us involves an identification of nonidentical things, of things that are similar, which means that it is essentially illogical.
Gist of Idea
Our knowledge is illogical, because it rests on false identities between things
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1872-74 [1873], 19 [236])
Book Reference
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Unpublished of 'Unfashionable Obs' period (v 11)', ed/tr. Gray,Richard T. [Stanford 1995], p.74
A Reaction
I take the thought to be that no two tigers are alike, but we call them all 'tigers' and merge them into a type, and then all our knowledge is based on this distortion. A wonderful idea. I love particulars You should love particulars.
Related Idea
Idea 7144 Logic must falsely assume that identical cases exist [Nietzsche]