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Single Idea 24107

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature ]

Full Idea

Once it has taken control of the intellect, every single human drive probably demands to be recognised as the ultimate lord and goal-setter of all human matters.

Gist of Idea

Once a drive controls the intellect, it rules, and sets the goals

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1881-82 [1882], 7[057])

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Joyful Science, and 1881-82 fragments (v 6)', ed/tr. Del Caro,Adrian [Stanford 2023], p.233

A Reaction

This is the best line of attack against the view I like, that human values arise out of the central functions of human nature. It is roughly the existential objection. Is all intellect controlled by some drive, or can intellect seize control of a drive?

Related Idea

Idea 24117 We need lower and higher drives, but they must be under firm control [Nietzsche]

The 40 ideas from 'Unpublished Notebooks 1881-82'

24096 Unlike time, space is subjective. Empty space was assumed, but it doesn't exist [Nietzsche]
24084 Seeing with other eyes is more egoism, but exploring other perspectives leads to objectivity [Nietzsche]
24085 For absolute morality a goal for mankind is needed [Nietzsche]
24086 The goal is to settle human beings, like other animals, but humans are still changeable [Nietzsche]
24087 People who miss beauty seek the sublime, where even the ugly shows its 'beauty' [Nietzsche]
24088 See our present lives as eternal! Religions see it as fleeting, and aim at some different life [Nietzsche]
24089 Essences are fictions needed for beings who represent things [Nietzsche]
24115 There is no proof that we forget things - only that we can't recall [Nietzsche]
24090 Our inclinations would not conflict if we were a unity; we imagine unity for our multiplicity [Nietzsche]
24091 The sublimity of nature which dwarfs us was a human creation [Nietzsche]
24116 Justice says people are not equal, and should become increasingly unequal [Nietzsche]
24092 I tell the truth, even if it is repulsive [Nietzsche]
24093 We can aspire to greatness by creating new functions for ourselves [Nietzsche]
24117 We need lower and higher drives, but they must be under firm control [Nietzsche]
24094 Humans are vividly aware of short-term effects, and almost ignorant of the long-term ones [Nietzsche]
24095 Our growth is too subtle to perceive, and long events are too slow for us to grasp [Nietzsche]
24118 Do away with punishment. Counter-retribution is as bad as the crime [Nietzsche]
24119 The eternal return of wastefulness is a terrible thought [Nietzsche]
24120 Great orators lead their arguments, rather than following them [Nietzsche]
24122 Life is forces conjoined by nutrition, to produce resistance, arrangement and value [Nietzsche]
24123 My eternal recurrence is opposed to feeling fragmented and imperfect [Nietzsche]
24097 The pragmatics of language is more comprehensible than the meaning [Nietzsche]
24098 Reasons that justify punishment can also justify the crime [Nietzsche]
24121 Greeks might see modern analysis of what is human as impious [Nietzsche]
24099 We contain many minds, which fight for the 'I' of the mind [Nietzsche]
24100 If you don't want war, remove your borders; but you set up borders because you want war [Nietzsche]
24101 We always assign values, but we may not value those values [Nietzsche]
24102 Thoughts are signs (just as words are) [Nietzsche]
24103 You should not want too many virtues; one is enough [Nietzsche]
24104 We don't create logic, time and space! The mind obeys laws because they are true [Nietzsche]
24105 Drives make us feel non-feelings; Will is the effect of those feelings [Nietzsche]
24106 Talk of 'utility' presupposes that what is useful to people has been defined [Nietzsche]
24107 Once a drive controls the intellect, it rules, and sets the goals [Nietzsche]
24108 Actions are just a release of force. They seize on something, which becomes the purpose [Nietzsche]
24109 Actual morality is more complicated and subtle than theory (which gets paralysed) [Nietzsche]
24110 Some things we would never do, even for the highest ideals [Nietzsche]
24111 Happiness is the active equilibrium of our drives [Nietzsche]
24112 To think about being we must have an opinion about what it is [Nietzsche]
24113 Our motives don't explain our actions [Nietzsche]
24114 The pain in truth is when it destroys a belief [Nietzsche]