more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 4423

[filed under theme 13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 1. Relativism ]

Full Idea

We have fixed up a world for ourselves in which we can live, with bodies, lines, planes, causes, motion and form; without these articles of faith nobody would endure life. But that does not mean they have been proved. Life is no argument.

Gist of Idea

We assume causes, geometry, motion, bodies etc to live, but they haven't been proved

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay (Joyful) Science [1882], §121)

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Gay Science', ed/tr. Kaufmann,Walter [Vintage 1974], p.177

A Reaction

It is hard to disagree. A lot of recent thought suggests that they are Hume's 'natural beliefs', like truth and induction, which simply can't be proved. 'Unprovable' does not mean 'incorrect', however.

The 31 ideas with the same theme [knowledge varies according to points of view]:

412 If God had not created honey, men would say figs are sweeter [Xenophanes]
417 Donkeys prefer chaff to gold [Heraclitus]
426 Sea water is life-giving for fish, but not for people [Heraclitus]
436 A dog seems handsome to another a dog, and even a pig to another pig [Epicharmus]
3305 There is no more purely metaphysical doctrine than Protagorean relativism [Benardete,JA on Protagoras]
1547 Man is the measure of all things - of things that are, and of things that are not [Protagoras]
1801 Animals vary in their feelings and judgements (Mode 1) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1804 Perception varies with madness or disease (Mode 4) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1808 Perception of things depends on their size or quantity (Mode 8) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1806 Perception of objects depends on surrounding conditions (Mode 6) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1809 Perception is affected by expectations (Mode 9) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1807 Perception varies with viewing distance and angle (Mode 7) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1810 Perception and judgement depend on comparison (Mode 10) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1802 Individuals vary in responses and feelings (Mode 2) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1803 Objects vary according to which sense perceives them (Mode 3) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1805 Judgements vary according to local culture and law (Mode 5) [Pyrrho, by Diog. Laertius]
1482 If two people disagree over taste, who is right? [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
1483 Bath water is too hot for some, too cold for others [Epicurus, by Plutarch]
1487 When entering a dark room it is colourless, but colour gradually appears [Epicurus]
1814 Everything is perceived in relation to another thing (Mode 13) [Agrippa, by Diog. Laertius]
1874 How can we judge between our impressions and those of other animals, when we ourselves are involved? [Sext.Empiricus]
6578 For Kant, experience is relative to a scheme, but there are no further possible schemes [Kant, by Fogelin]
24124 We now have innumerable perspectives to draw on [Nietzsche]
23209 Each of our personal drives has its own perspective [Nietzsche]
4423 We assume causes, geometry, motion, bodies etc to live, but they haven't been proved [Nietzsche]
4420 There is only 'perspective' seeing and knowing, and so the best objectivity is multiple points of view [Nietzsche]
4486 The extreme view is there are only perspectives, no true beliefs, because there is no true world [Nietzsche]
7424 Saying games of truth were merely power relations would be a horrible exaggeration [Foucault]
21942 Foucault challenges knowledge in psychology and sociology, not in the basic sciences [Foucault, by Gutting]
4709 Ontological relativists are anti-realists, who deny that our theories carve nature at the joints [O'Grady]
6583 Radical perspectivism replaces Kant's necessary scheme with many different schemes [Fogelin]