Ideas from 'Writings from Late Notebooks' by Friedrich Nietzsche [1887], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Writings from the Late Notebooks' by Nietzsche,Friedrich (ed/tr Bittner,Rüdiger) [CUP 2003,0-521-00887-5]].

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1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 3. Wisdom Deflated
'Wisdom' attempts to get beyond perspectives, making it hostile to life
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy
Words such as 'I' and 'do' and 'done to' are placed at the point where our ignorance begins
Pessimism is laughable, because the world cannot be evaluated
Is a 'philosopher' now impossible, because knowledge is too vast for an overview?
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 4. Conceptual Analysis
Philosophers should create and fight for their concepts, not just clean and clarify them
5. Theory of Logic / A. Overview of Logic / 3. Value of Logic
Logic tries to understand the world according to a man-made scheme
Logic is not driven by truth, but desire for a simple single viewpoint
Logic must falsely assume that identical cases exist
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 2. Realism
We can't be realists, because we don't know what being is
7. Existence / E. Categories / 5. Category Anti-Realism
Categories are not metaphysical truths, but inventions in the service of needs
Philosophers find it particularly hard to shake off belief in necessary categories
9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 6. Nihilism about Objects
Maybe there are only subjects, and 'objects' result from relations between subjects
Counting needs unities, but that doesn't mean they exist; we borrowed it from the concept of 'I'
9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism
The essence of a thing is only an opinion about the 'thing'
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 2. Nature of Necessity
Something can be irrefutable; that doesn't make it true
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 11. Denial of Necessity
There are no necessary truths, but something must be held to be true
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 7. Knowledge First
We can't use our own self to criticise our own capacity for knowledge!
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 5. Cogito Critique
Belief in the body is better established than belief in the mind
12. Knowledge Sources / B. Perception / 5. Interpretation
Sense perceptions contain values (useful, so pleasant)
Pain shows the value of the damage, not what has been damaged
Perception is unconscious, and we are only conscious of processed perceptions
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 3. Subjectivism
Comprehending everything is impossible, because it abolishes perspectives
Is the perspectival part of the essence, or just a relation between beings?
'Perspectivism': the world has no meaning, but various interpretations give it countless meanings
'Subjectivity' is an interpretation, since subjects (and interpreters) are fictions
There are different eyes, so different 'truths', so there is no truth
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / b. Aims of explanation
Explanation is just showing the succession of things ever more clearly
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / b. Purpose of mind
The intellect and senses are a simplifying apparatus
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind
With protoplasm ½+½=2, so the soul is not an indivisible monad
Unity is not in the conscious 'I', but in the organism, which uses the self as a tool
15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / d. Purpose of consciousness
Consciousness exists to the extent that consciousness is useful
Consciousness is a 'tool' - just as the stomach is a tool
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection
We think each thought causes the next, unaware of the hidden struggle beneath
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self
The 'I' is a conceptual synthesis, not the governor of our being
The 'I' is a fiction used to make the world of becoming 'knowable'
16. Persons / F. Free Will / 5. Against Free Will
'Freedom of will' is the feeling of having a dominating force
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / a. Rationality
Rationality is a scheme we cannot cast away
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / d. Weakness of will
There is no will; weakness of will is splitting of impulses, strong will is coordination under one impulse
21. Aesthetics / A. Aesthetic Experience / 2. Aesthetic Attitude
Experiencing a thing as beautiful is to experience it wrongly
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / b. Defining ethics
Morality is a system of values which accompanies a being's life
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / f. Ethical non-cognitivism
Morality is merely interpretations, which are extra-moral in origin
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / d. Biological ethics
Values are innate and inherited
Our values express an earlier era's conditions for survival and growth
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / e. Means and ends
Knowledge, wisdom and goodness only have value relative to a goal
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / f. Altruism
Altruism is praised by the egoism of the weak, who want everyone to be looked after
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / i. Self-interest
A living being is totally 'egoistic'
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / a. Nature of happiness
Modest people express happiness as 'Not bad'
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / d. Routes to happiness
The only happiness is happiness with illusion
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / a. Nature of pleasure
Pleasure needs dissatisfaction, boundaries and resistances
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / d. Virtue theory critique
Virtue is wasteful, as it reduces us all to being one another's nurse
Virtue for everyone removes its charm of being exceptional and aristocratic
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / e. Character
What does not kill us makes us stronger
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues
Courage, compassion, insight, solitude are the virtues, with courtesy a necessary vice
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 1. Deontology
Replace the categorical imperative by the natural imperative
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 1. Existentialism
Not feeling harnessed to a system of 'ends' is a wonderful feeling of freedom
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 2. Nihilism
Nihilism results from measuring the world by our categories which are purely invented
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self
By developing herd virtues man fixes what has up to now been the 'unfixed animal'
Virtues from outside are dangerous, and they should come from within
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 8. Eternal Recurrence
Existence without meaning or goal or end, eternally recurring, is a terrible thought
24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 1. A People / a. Human distinctiveness
Man is above all a judging animal
24. Political Theory / C. Ruling a State / 4. Changing the State / a. Centralisation
The upholding of the military state is needed to maintain the strong human type
25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights
Rights arise out of contracts, which need a balance of power
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / b. Limited purposes
'Purpose' is like the sun, where most heat is wasted, and a tiny part has 'purpose'
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 2. Natural Purpose / c. Purpose denied
If the world aimed at an end, it would have reached it by now
26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / c. Essence and laws
Things are strong or weak, and do not behave regularly or according to rules or compulsions
Chemical 'laws' are merely the establishment of power relations between weaker and stronger
All motions and 'laws' are symptoms of inner events, traceable to the will to power
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution
The utility of an organ does not explain its origin, on the contrary!
Survival might undermine an individual's value, or prevent its evolution
Darwin overestimates the influence of 'external circumstances'
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 2. Divine Nature
Remove goodness and wisdom from our concept of God. Being the highest power is enough!
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / a. Divine morality
Morality kills religion, because a Christian-moral God is unbelievable
It is dishonest to invent a being containing our greatest values, thus ignoring why they exist and are valuable
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / d. God decrees morality
Morality can only be upheld by belief in God and a 'hereafter'
29. Religion / A. Polytheistic Religion / 2. Greek Polytheism
Paganism is a form of thanking and affirming life?
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / a. Christianity
Christian belief is kept alive because it is soothing - the proof based on pleasure
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / d. Heaven
In heaven all the interesting men are missing
29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 3. Problem of Evil / a. Problem of Evil
A combination of great power and goodness would mean the disastrous abolition of evil