Background Info
He had an interest in the evolution and genealogy of morality and use platonic objectivity as a strategy.
He stated that art was important but also seductive and that truth/morality is a lie that we produce
-> he was one of the masters of suspicion
Masters of Suspicion
The Masters of suspicion
- Marx: truth/morality is a product of economic circumstances
- Nietzsche: truth/morality is a lie that we produce
- Freud: morality is shaped by subconscious forces
-> they all claim that there is no reasonable self-consciousness or relation to others |
classical view of science
according to the classical view of nature:
- there is order in nature
- we observe nature and try to reconstruct/grasp this order
-> because this order in nature is in the objects, we can find it objectively
- grasping the objective order in the pinnacle of science for the subject, |
Science according to Nietzsche
science according to Nietzsche entails that:
- there is will to truth
- the world is chaos
he claims that, science is based on lies:
as order is a lie we produce, for there is
- no real sameness: everything is different
- seemingly similarity; we take similarity as sameness
-> this projected sameness is the basis of all faulty science and metaphysics
science is just a way to remain happy |
The Suffering of Science
According to Nietzsche, scientists try to find safety in stable fact*-> but as the world does not guarantee this they continuously get disappointed
-> this need for safety causes them to lack the courage to create their own categories/lies |
* a science relates to a spider in this way, the spider is also seeking safety and stability by organizing in terms of spinning a net so that it can life on it.
|
|
Truth and Lies
Nietzsche defines truth as: the commonly accepted relationship of language to things
Nietzsche saw lies/deception as using language in an unconventional way*; it is an uncommon usage which leads to rejection, simply because it harms the other
-> liars, then are, those who use language in an unconventional way that harms us
origin of the lie:
- animals that do not find patterns of similarity/sameness do not survive (e.g. food or enemies)
- evolution selects those that have untrue projections (and do not suffer from e.g. induction problem)
lying also has social benefits: it leads to morality |
* for example saying water (thereby referring to the commonly used word/concept), when in reality you're handing over something toxic (which is not commonly named water)
Reason and Intuition
Reason: gives stability, safety and science
->is lawful
the rational man: believes in abstraction and detachment from emotion, to seek truth and clarity and is described as, "aspiring only to sincerity, truth, freedom from deception and protection against beguiling attack."
-> is the antithesis of the intuitive man.
Intuition: is not fixated on historical lies, is always open for wonder and re-evaluation, should think of it as art (dealing with the world through understanding that it is our creation), self-production of stability while acknowledging its limits.
-> the intuitive man is one who lives outside or free of the concepts which the rational man regards as truth |
Nietschze prefers the rational man: as though he only succeeds in warding off misfortune, he suffers less than the intuitive man. He does not show emotions and executes a masterpiece of deception. “When a real storm cloud thunders above him, he wraps himself in his cloak, and with slow steps he walks from beneath it.”
Language
usually, we claim to have knowledge when what one says corresponds to what actually is the case (correspondence)
Nietzsche argues that this is not how its works, he claims that the relation to the world is shaped by life. As we depend on senses and sounds, and so the things that we take together may still be inherently different.
-> language is a convention that is always misleading
He claims that the world is categorised* in two ways:
- metaphorical (e.g. gendering of plant and tree)
- abstracting (e.g. snake)
truth: an acceptable what of using sound/forgetting you are using convention |
These categories are socially conserved, which causes language to be immanent lie according to Nietzsche
-> another reason for this is that tradition makes us forget that lies are contingent (we use the words and forget that it is just commonly used and not the truth/essence of the thing it stands for)
|
|
Anthropocentrism
Nietzsche argues that human beings are on the same level in the world as e.g. ticks; the only difference between us and these animals is our understanding and supposed capacity of knowledge
-> this was in contrast with the common belief, recognised in anthropocentrism of the human as a biological creature that puts itself at the centre. who, thereby universalises their own relationship to the world, and according to which knowledge is subservient to life. |
genealogy idividual
the world without human beings, according to Nietzsche is not much different, as the human just is (nothing more)
-> human beings just came to be
The human capacity for knowledge is actually not that special and came to be through evolution (and our need for knowledge) and cultural deceptions
-> "humans ain't that special they just good at lying" |
Genealogy commonality
With Genealogy in terms of commonality, Nietzsche meant that:
- human beings can more easily survive in groups
- the state of nature is not peaceful -> it is a war of all against all
- human beings call on artificial commonalities: e.g. nationality, morality, truth, humanity -> to find peace and this war of all against all |
Prodcuting Stability
Humans produce stability by making categories and forgetting the origin of these categories.
according to Nietzsche, stability succeeds as it is tautological and space, time, and number are our (semi-)necessary creations |
|
