more from Friedrich Nietzsche

Single Idea 20132

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self]

Full Idea

To become what one is, one must not have the faintest notion of what one is.

Gist of Idea

To become what you are you must have no self-awareness

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Ecce Homo [1889], II.9), quoted by Brian Leiter - Nietzsche On Morality 3 'fatalism'

Book Reference

Leiter,Brian: 'Nietzsche On Morality (2nd Edn)' [Routledge 2015], p.68


A Reaction

[Don't understand 'II.9'] Enigmatic but striking. As I understand it, Nietzsche thought that knowing what you are is virtually impossible, though he spent a lifetime studying himself. Would you recognise someone who had become what they are?