Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The Methods of Ethics (7th edn)' and 'Twilight of the Idols'

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5 ideas

23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 1. Ethical Egoism
18327 A wholly altruistic morality, with no egoism, is a thoroughly bad thing [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: An 'altruistic' morality, a morality under which egoism languishes - is under all circumstances a bad sign.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols [1889], 8.35)
23059 Self-interest is not rational, if the self is just a succession of memories and behaviour [Sidgwick, by Gray]
     Full Idea: Sidgwick said self-interest is not self-evidently rational. Unless we invoke a religious idea of the soul, human personality is no more than a succession of continuities in memory and behaviour. In that case, why should anyone favour their future self?
     From: report of Henry Sidgwick (The Methods of Ethics (7th edn) [1874]) by John Gray - Seven Types of Atheism 2
     A reaction: This sounds like Locke's account of the self, as psychological continuity. We can say that our continuous self is a fiction, the hero of our own narrative. Personally I think of the self as a sustained set of brains structures which change very little.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / d. Courage
15606 Military idea: what does not kill me makes me stronger [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: From the military school of life. - What does not kill me makes me stronger.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols [1889], Maxim 08)
     A reaction: The published version! Perhaps the most famous remark in all of Nietzsche, and no one realises it is ironic! It is a sarcastic remark about the battering ram mentality of the Prussian militarist! He had served in the army.
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / f. Compassion
18328 Invalids are parasites [Nietzsche]
     Full Idea: The invalid is a parasite on society.
     From: Friedrich Nietzsche (Twilight of the Idols [1889], 8.36)
     A reaction: I'll skip the rest, but you get the idea. The point (with which I sympathise) is that life is primarily about what healthy people do. Something has gone wrong if all we do is worry about the sick and the suffering.
23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 1. Utilitarianism
4129 It is self-evident (from the point of view of the Universe) that no individual has more importance than another [Sidgwick]
     Full Idea: It is a self-evident principle that the good of one individual is of no more importance, from the point of view of the Universe, than the good of any other, ..and as a rational being I am bound to aim at good generally, not merely at a particular part.
     From: Henry Sidgwick (The Methods of Ethics (7th edn) [1874], III.XIII.3)
     A reaction: Showing that even a very empirical theory like utilitarianism has an a priori basis. Of course, the principle is false. What about animals, the senile, criminals, androids? What bestows 'importance'?