Single Idea 23187

[catalogued under 18. Thought / D. Concepts / 2. Origin of Concepts / a. Origin of concepts]

Full Idea

The most useful concepts have survived: however falsely they may have originated.

Gist of Idea

Whatever their origin, concepts survive by being useful

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1885-86 [1886], 34[063])

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Fragments from 1885-86 (v 16)', ed/tr. Del Caro,Adrian [Stanford 2020], p.15


A Reaction

The germ of both pragmatism, and of meaning-as-use, here. The alternative views must be that the concepts are accurate or true, or that they are simply a matter of whim, maintained by authority.

Related Idea

Idea 18975 We return to experience with concepts, where they show us differences [James]