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Single Idea 24121

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

Full Idea

Perhaps a Greek would experience the way we have delved deeply in uncovering what is human to be an impiety against nature, a shameless act.

Gist of Idea

Greeks might see modern analysis of what is human as impious

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1882-84 [1883], 34[01])

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Fragments from the period of 'Zarathustra' (v 14)', ed/tr. Loeb/Tinsley [Stanford 2019], p.583


A Reaction

Three instances come to mind: Vesalius, Kant and Darwin. That is, anatomical dissection, deep and critical introspection, and natural selection. Human dissection was certainly a Greek taboo.


The 28 ideas from 'Unpublished Notebooks 1882-84'

Unlike time, space is subjective. Empty space was assumed, but it doesn't exist [Nietzsche]
There is no proof that we forget things - only that we can't recall [Nietzsche]
Justice says people are not equal, and should become increasingly unequal [Nietzsche]
We need lower and higher drives, but they must be under firm control [Nietzsche]
Do away with punishment. Counter-retribution is as bad as the crime [Nietzsche]
The eternal return of wastefulness is a terrible thought [Nietzsche]
Great orators lead their arguments, rather than following them [Nietzsche]
Life is forces conjoined by nutrition, to produce resistance, arrangement and value [Nietzsche]
My eternal recurrence is opposed to feeling fragmented and imperfect [Nietzsche]
The pragmatics of language is more comprehensible than the meaning [Nietzsche]
Reasons that justify punishment can also justify the crime [Nietzsche]
Greeks might see modern analysis of what is human as impious [Nietzsche]
We contain many minds, which fight for the 'I' of the mind [Nietzsche]
If you don't want war, remove your borders; but you set up borders because you want war [Nietzsche]
We always assign values, but we may not value those values [Nietzsche]
Thoughts are signs (just as words are) [Nietzsche]
You should not want too many virtues; one is enough [Nietzsche]
We don't create logic, time and space! The mind obeys laws because they are true [Nietzsche]
Drives make us feel non-feelings; Will is the effect of those feelings [Nietzsche]
Talk of 'utility' presupposes that what is useful to people has been defined [Nietzsche]
Once a drive controls the intellect, it rules, and sets the goals [Nietzsche]
Actions are just a release of force. They seize on something, which becomes the purpose [Nietzsche]
Actual morality is more complicated and subtle than theory (which gets paralysed) [Nietzsche]
Some things we would never do, even for the highest ideals [Nietzsche]
Happiness is the active equilibrium of our drives [Nietzsche]
To think about being we must have an opinion about what it is [Nietzsche]
Our motives don't explain our actions [Nietzsche]
The pain in truth is when it destroys a belief [Nietzsche]