more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 7198

[filed under theme 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 2. Nihilism ]

Full Idea

Belief in the categories of reason is the cause of nihilism - we have measured the value of the world against categories that refer to a purely invented world.

Gist of Idea

Nihilism results from measuring the world by our categories which are purely invented

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 11[99])

Book Ref

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Writings from the Late Notebooks', ed/tr. Bittner,Rüdiger [CUP 2003], p.219

A Reaction

What a remarkable thought! He will have Kant especially in mind. The implication is that we might avoid nihilism by creating more accurate categories, but Nietzsche, as relativist, thinks that is impossible (Ideas 7174, 7175). Nihilism is our fate.

Related Ideas

Idea 7174 Categories are not metaphysical truths, but inventions in the service of needs [Nietzsche]

Idea 7175 Philosophers find it particularly hard to shake off belief in necessary categories [Nietzsche]

The 19 ideas with the same theme [human life seems pointless and absurd]:

7072 Jacobi was the first philosopher to talk of nihilism [Jacobi, by Critchley]
22090 For me time stands still, and I with it [Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
24123 My eternal recurrence is opposed to feeling fragmented and imperfect [Nietzsche]
23214 For the strongest people, nihilism gives you wings! [Nietzsche]
20125 The ethical teacher exists to give purpose to what happens necessarily and without purpose [Nietzsche]
23717 Modern nihilism is now feeling tired of mankind [Nietzsche]
7198 Nihilism results from measuring the world by our categories which are purely invented [Nietzsche]
7847 Initially nihilism was cosmic, but later Nietzsche saw it as a cultural matter [Nietzsche, by Ansell Pearson]
9782 Nietzsche urges that nihilism be active, and will nothing itself [Nietzsche, by Zizek]
18286 The greatest experience possible is contempt for your own happiness, reason and virtue [Nietzsche]
19622 The pointlessness of our motives and irrelevance of our gestures reveals our vacuity [Cioran]
19617 Evidence suggests that humans do not have a purpose [Cioran]
19612 The universe is dirty and fragile, as if a scandal in nothingness had produced its matter [Cioran]
9243 If we believe existence is absurd, this should dictate our conduct [Camus]
6708 Happiness and the absurd go together, each leading to the other [Camus]
23941 'Absurdity' is just the result of our wrong choices in life [Solomon]
3268 If a small brief life is absurd, then so is a long and large one [Nagel]
6688 Life is only absurd if you expected an explanation and none turns up [Graham]
6843 Perceiving meaninglessness is an achievement, which can transform daily life [Critchley]