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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Letters to Jourdain' and 'The Gay (Joyful) Science'

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3 ideas

23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / c. Particularism
No two actions are the same [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: There neither are nor can be actions which are the same.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay (Joyful) Science [1882], §335)
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / d. Virtue theory critique
Many virtues are harmful traps, but that is why other people praise them [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: Virtues like industriousness, obedience, chastity, filial piety and justice are usually harmful to those who possess them. When you have a real, whole virtue you are its victim. But your neighbour praises your virtue precisely on that account.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay (Joyful) Science [1882], §021)
     A reaction: This is the conspiracy theory of virtue. We want people to do menial or undesirable jobs, so we dress them up as wonderful virtues, and make people feel good for possessing them. There must be some truth in this.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / f. Compassion
You cannot advocate joyful wisdom while rejecting pity, because the two are complementary [Scruton on Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: Pity and good cheer are complementary, ..so there is something contradictory in a philosophy that advocates joyful wisdom, while slandering pity as the enemy of the higher life.
     From: comment on Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay (Joyful) Science [1882]) by Roger Scruton - Animal Rights and Wrongs p.35
     A reaction: A good objection to Nietzsche. He has a rather solipsistic view of joyful exuberance etc., and fails to realise how social such things must be. In that, Nietzsche was caught in the romantic tradition of Wordsworth and co.