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Single Idea 20132

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self ]

Full Idea

To become what one is, one must not have the faintest notion of what one is.

Gist of Idea

To become what you are you must have no self-awareness

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Ecce Homo [1889], II.9), quoted by Brian Leiter - Nietzsche On Morality 3 'fatalism'

Book Ref

Leiter,Brian: 'Nietzsche On Morality (2nd Edn)' [Routledge 2015], p.68


A Reaction

[Don't understand 'II.9'] Enigmatic but striking. As I understand it, Nietzsche thought that knowing what you are is virtually impossible, though he spent a lifetime studying himself. Would you recognise someone who had become what they are?


The 8 ideas from 'Ecce Homo'

I am not an atheist because of reasoning or evidence, but because of instinct [Nietzsche]
The distinction between egoistic and non-egoistic acts is absurd [Nietzsche]
A bad result distorts one's judgement about the virtue of what one has done [Nietzsche]
One repays a teacher badly if one remains only a pupil [Nietzsche]
To become what you are you must have no self-awareness [Nietzsche]
Eternal recurrence is the highest attainable affirmation [Nietzsche]
The overcoming of pity I count among the noble virtues [Nietzsche]
A warlike philosopher challenges problems to single combat [Nietzsche]