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Full Idea
The intellect and the senses are, above all, a simplifying apparatus.
Gist of Idea
The intellect and senses are a simplifying apparatus
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 34[46])
Book Ref
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Writings from the Late Notebooks', ed/tr. Bittner,Rüdiger [CUP 2003], p.2
A Reaction
This seems like a profound truth to me. The world, and our own bodies, are of almost infinite complexity, such that only a god could grasp it. In order to teach, we have to simplify even further. We choose a level of simplification for contexts.
| 16198 | Knowledge is the essence of the mind [Spinoza] |
| 5034 | Mind is a thinking substance which can know God and eternal truths [Leibniz] |
| 23184 | The mind is a simplifying apparatus [Nietzsche] |
| 7131 | The intellect and senses are a simplifying apparatus [Nietzsche] |
| 22652 | The mind has evolved entirely for practical interests, seen in our reflex actions [James] |
| 21949 | Having thoughts and feelings need engagement in the world [Heidegger, by Wrathall] |
| 3995 | A mind is an organ of representation [Lewis] |
| 2508 | The function of a mind is obvious [Fodor] |
| 2503 | Empirical approaches see mind connections as mirrors/maps of reality [Fodor] |