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Single Idea 20359

[catalogued under 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / c. Becoming]

Full Idea

The doctrine of being, of things, of all sorts of fixed unities is a hundred times easier than the doctrine of becoming, of development.

Gist of Idea

The nature of being, of things, is much easier to understand than is becoming

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (The Will to Power (notebooks) [1888], §238)

A Reaction

I don't know if he intended it, but this is a fierce shaft hurled at Aristotle, who gives a wonderful essentialist account of the nature of things, but can offer nothing more on becoming than the doctrine of potentiality and actuality.

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Will to Power', ed/tr. Kaufmann,W /Hollingdate,R [Vintage 1968], p.291