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Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1885-86 [1886], 34[063])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