more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 24075

[filed under theme 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 7. Falsehood ]

Full Idea

Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.

Gist of Idea

Convictions, more than lies, are the great enemy of truth

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Human, All Too Human [1878], 483)

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Human, All Too Human', ed/tr. Faber,Marion [Penguin 1994], p.234

A Reaction

Love this one. Especially in western democracies in the 2020s. If we value truth, we must be fallibilists.

The 7 ideas with the same theme [how to understand failures to be true]:

19072 In the deeper sense of truth, to be untrue resembles being bad; badness is untrue to a thing's nature [Hegel]
24075 Convictions, more than lies, are the great enemy of truth [Nietzsche]
4548 Only because there is thought is there untruth [Nietzsche]
18305 To love truth, you must know how to lie [Nietzsche]
16477 Asserting not-p is saying p is false [Russell]
5417 A good theory of truth must make falsehood possible [Russell]
21623 True and false are not symmetrical; false is more complex, involving negation [Williamson]