more on this theme
|
more from this thinker
Single Idea 18310
[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 5. Generalisation by mind
]
Full Idea
The 'highest concepts' ...are the most general, the emptiest concepts, the last fumes of evaporating reality.
Gist of Idea
The 'highest' concepts are the most general and empty concepts
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols [1889], 2.4)
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ', ed/tr. Hollingdale,R.J. [Penguin 1972], p.37
A Reaction
This could be seen as an attack on the aspirations of all of philosophy, which seeks general truths out of the chaos of experience. Should we shut up, then, and just be and do?
The
49 ideas
from 'Twilight of the Idols'
15606
|
Military idea: what does not kill me makes me stronger
[Nietzsche]
|
2891
|
Only the English actually strive after happiness
[Nietzsche]
|
2892
|
Wanting a system in philosophy is a lack of integrity
[Nietzsche]
|
20101
|
Without music life would be a mistake
[Nietzsche]
|
2893
|
In every age the wisest people have judged life to be worthless
[Nietzsche]
|
2894
|
Value judgements about life can never be true
[Nietzsche]
|
2895
|
The value of life cannot be estimated
[Nietzsche]
|
18308
|
A philosopher fails in wisdom if he thinks the value of life is a problem
[Nietzsche]
|
2896
|
I want to understand the Socratic idea that 'reason equals virtue equals happiness'
[Nietzsche]
|
2897
|
With dialectics the rabble gets on top
[Nietzsche]
|
2898
|
Anything which must first be proved is of little value
[Nietzsche]
|
2899
|
The fanatical rationality of Greek philosophy shows that they were in a state of emergency
[Nietzsche]
|
18309
|
The evidence of the senses is falsified by reason
[Nietzsche]
|
2900
|
I revere Heraclitus
[Nietzsche]
|
18311
|
Philosophers hate values having an origin, and want values to be self-sufficient
[Nietzsche]
|
18312
|
The supreme general but empty concepts must be compatible, and hence we get 'God'
[Nietzsche]
|
18310
|
The 'highest' concepts are the most general and empty concepts
[Nietzsche]
|
18314
|
In language we treat 'ego' as a substance, and it is thus that we create the concept 'thing'
[Nietzsche]
|
18313
|
The big error is to think the will is a faculty producing effects; in fact, it is just a word
[Nietzsche]
|
18315
|
We get the concept of 'being' from the concept of the 'ego'
[Nietzsche]
|
18316
|
The grounds for an assertion that the world is only apparent actually establish its reality
[Nietzsche]
|
18317
|
The 'real being' of things is a nothingness constructed from contradictions in the actual world
[Nietzsche]
|
18318
|
People who disparage actual life avenge themselves by imagining a better one
[Nietzsche]
|
2901
|
How could the Church intelligently fight against passion if it preferred poorness of spirit to intelligence?
[Nietzsche]
|
18320
|
To renounce war is to renounce the grand life
[Nietzsche]
|
18319
|
Love is the spiritualisation of sensuality
[Nietzsche]
|
2902
|
Healthy morality is dominated by an instinct for life
[Nietzsche]
|
18322
|
When we establish values, that is life itself establishing them, through us
[Nietzsche]
|
18321
|
To evaluate life one must know it, but also be situated outside of it
[Nietzsche]
|
2903
|
A good human will be virtuous because they are happy
[Nietzsche]
|
18323
|
Any explanation will be accepted as true if it gives pleasure and a feeling of power
[Nietzsche]
|
2904
|
The doctrine of free will has been invented essentially in order to blame and punish people
[Nietzsche]
|
2906
|
By denying God we deny human accountability, and thus we redeem the world
[Nietzsche]
|
2905
|
'Purpose' is just a human fiction
[Nietzsche]
|
18324
|
There are no moral facts, and moralists believe in realities which do not exist
[Nietzsche]
|
20133
|
The 'motive' is superficial, and may even hide the antecedents of a deed
[Nietzsche]
|
2908
|
There is a need for educators who are themselves educated
[Nietzsche]
|
2909
|
Thinking has to be learned in the way dancing has to be learned
[Nietzsche]
|
18325
|
Christians believe that only God can know what is good for man
[Nietzsche]
|
18326
|
The beautiful never stands alone; it derives from man's pleasure in man
[Nietzsche]
|
20368
|
There are no 'individual' persons; we are each the sum of humanity up to this moment
[Nietzsche]
|
18327
|
A wholly altruistic morality, with no egoism, is a thoroughly bad thing
[Nietzsche]
|
18328
|
Invalids are parasites
[Nietzsche]
|
18329
|
Sometimes it is an error to have been born - but we can rectify it
[Nietzsche]
|
18330
|
Judging by the positive forces, the Renaissance was the last great age
[Nietzsche]
|
18331
|
Democracy is organisational power in decline
[Nietzsche]
|
18332
|
The creation of institutions needs a determination which is necessarily anti-liberal
[Nietzsche]
|
2911
|
True justice is equality for equals and inequality for unequals
[Nietzsche]
|
2913
|
Thucydides was the perfect anti-platonist sophist
[Nietzsche]
|