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Single Idea 18297

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / d. Biological ethics ]

Full Idea

Man first implanted values into things to maintain himself - he first created the meaning of things, a human meaning!

Gist of Idea

We created meanings, to maintain ourselves

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Thus Spake Zarathustra [1884], 1.16)

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Thus Spake Zarathustra', ed/tr. Hollingdale,R.J. [Penguin 1969], p.85

A Reaction

It is certainly hard to see anything resembling values or meaning in the cosmos, if you remove the human beings. We should expect an evolutionary grounding in their explanation.

The 23 ideas from 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'

18287 People now find both wealth and poverty too much of a burden [Nietzsche]
18286 The greatest experience possible is contempt for your own happiness, reason and virtue [Nietzsche]
18288 Heaven was invented by the sick and the dying [Nietzsche]
18290 But what is the reasoning of the body, that it requires the wisdom you seek? [Nietzsche]
18289 Forget the word 'I'; 'I' is performed by the intelligence of your body [Nietzsche]
18291 Virtues can destroy one another, through jealousy [Nietzsche]
18292 I can only believe in a God who can dance [Nietzsche]
18293 The noble man wants new virtues; the good man preserves what is old [Nietzsche]
18294 The state coldly claims that it is the people, but that is a lie [Nietzsche]
18295 If you want friends, you must be a fighter [Nietzsche]
18296 An enduring people needs its own individual values [Nietzsche]
18297 We created meanings, to maintain ourselves [Nietzsche]
18298 Not being a god is insupportable, so there are no gods! [Nietzsche]
18299 The will is constantly frustrated by the past [Nietzsche]
18300 Whenever we have seen suffering, we have wanted the revenge of punishment [Nietzsche]
18301 We only really love children and work [Nietzsche]
18302 Man and woman are deeply strange to one another! [Nietzsche]
18303 Reject wisdom that lacks laughter [Nietzsche]
18304 Saints want to live as they desire, or not to live at all [Nietzsche]
18305 To love truth, you must know how to lie [Nietzsche]
18306 We don't want heaven; now that we are men, we want the kingdom of earth [Nietzsche]
18307 I want my work, not happiness! [Nietzsche]
20757 The powerful self behind your thoughts and feelings is your body [Nietzsche]