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Ideas from 'The Will to Power (notebooks)' by Friedrich Nietzsche [1888], by Theme Structure

[found in 'The Will to Power' by Nietzsche,Friedrich (ed/tr Kaufmann,W /Hollingdate,R) [Vintage 1968,0-394-70437-1]].

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1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People
20383 The wisest man is full of contradictions, and attuned to other people, with occasional harmony
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 1. Philosophy
4520 I don't want to persuade anyone to be a philosopher; they should be rare plants
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 5. Objectivity
4545 Could not the objective character of things be merely a difference of degree within the subjective?
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 7. Status of Reason
4530 Reason is a mere idiosyncrasy of a certain species of animal
2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 9. Limits of Reason
4523 What can be 'demonstrated' is of little worth
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 3. Non-Contradiction
4531 Our inability to both affirm and deny a single thing is merely an inability, not a 'necessity'
2. Reason / B. Laws of Thought / 6. Ockham's Razor
4541 Everything simple is merely imaginary
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 3. Value of Truth
20357 Truth was given value by morality, but eventually turned against its own source
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 4. Uses of Truth
4534 'Truth' is the will to be master over the multiplicity of sensations
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 7. Falsehood
4548 Only because there is thought is there untruth
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 8. Subjective Truth
5652 True beliefs are those which augment one's power [Scruton]
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 9. Rejecting Truth
4508 The truth is what gives us the minimum of spiritual effort, and avoids the exhaustion of lying
3. Truth / D. Coherence Truth / 1. Coherence Truth
4538 Judgements can't be true and known in isolation; the only surety is in connections and relations
6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 9. Fictional Mathematics
4533 Logic and maths refer to fictitious entities which we have created
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / c. Becoming
20359 The nature of being, of things, is much easier to understand than is becoming
7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 8. Facts / e. Facts rejected
4525 There are no facts in themselves, only interpretations
4543 There are no 'facts-in-themselves', since a sense must be projected into them to make them 'facts'
8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 12. Denial of Properties
4546 We realise that properties are sensations of the feeling subject, not part of the thing
8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 5. Powers and Properties
4544 A thing has no properties if it has no effect on other 'things'
9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / c. Unity as conceptual
20362 We saw unity in things because our ego seemed unified (but now we doubt the ego!)
10. Modality / A. Necessity / 11. Denial of Necessity
4528 For me, a priori 'truths' are just provisional assumptions
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 1. Knowledge
4537 We can't know whether there is knowledge if we don't know what it is
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / c. Aim of beliefs
4485 Every belief is a considering-something-true
11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty
4487 A note for asses: What convinces is not necessarily true - it is merely convincing
12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 7. A Priori from Convention
4539 The forms of 'knowledge' about logic which precede experience are actually regulations of belief
12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique
4532 We can have two opposite sensations, like hard and soft, at the same time
13. Knowledge Criteria / E. Relativism / 1. Relativism
4486 The extreme view is there are only perspectives, no true beliefs, because there is no true world
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 5. Unity of Mind
4536 It is a major blunder to think of consciousness as a unity, and hence as an entity, a thing
16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 2. Knowing the Self
4551 Great self-examination is to become conscious of oneself not as an individual, but as mankind
16. Persons / E. Rejecting the Self / 4. Denial of the Self
4527 Perhaps we are not single subjects, but a multiplicity of 'cells', interacting to create thought
17. Mind and Body / A. Mind-Body Dualism / 6. Epiphenomenalism
20374 Consciousness is a terminal phenomenon, and causes nothing
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / b. Types of emotion
23938 Passions are ranked, as if they are non-rational and animal pleasure seeking
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 3. Emotions / f. Emotion and reason
23939 We fail to see that reason is a network of passions, and every passion contains some reason
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / a. Will to Act
4554 The concept of the 'will' is just a false simplification by our understanding
20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 2. Willed Action / b. Volitionism
4552 There is no such things a pure 'willing' on its own; the aim must always be part of it
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 1. Nature of Ethics / g. Moral responsibility
4521 None of the ancients had the courage to deny morality by denying free will
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism
4496 'Conscience' is invented to value actions by intention and conformity to 'law', rather than consequences
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / f. Übermensch
20136 There is an extended logic to a great man's life, achieved by a sustained will
20358 The highest man can endure and control the greatest combination of powerful drives
20369 The highest man directs the values of the highest natures over millenia
22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / g. Will to power
4506 There is a conspiracy (a will to power) to make morality dominate other values, like knowledge and art
4514 The basic tendency of the weak has always been to pull down the strong, using morality
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 1. Nature of Value / d. Subjective value
20370 All evaluation is from some perspective, and aims at survival
20354 The ruling drives of our culture all want to be the highest court of our values
22. Metaethics / B. Value / 2. Values / f. Altruism
4505 How can it be that I should prefer my neighbour to myself, but he should prefer me to himself?
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 1. Goodness / g. Consequentialism
4509 Utilitarians prefer consequences because intentions are unknowable - but so are consequences!
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 2. Happiness / c. Value of happiness
4500 It is a sign of degeneration when eudaimonistic values begin to prevail
4558 We have no more right to 'happiness' than worms
22. Metaethics / C. The Good / 3. Pleasure / a. Nature of pleasure
4550 Pleasure and pain are mere epiphenomena, and achievement requires that one desire both
23. Ethics / A. Egoism / 1. Ethical Egoism
4517 Egoism is inescapable, and when it grows weak, the power of love also grows weak
4519 The ego is only a fiction, and doesn't exist at all
23. Ethics / B. Contract Ethics / 2. Golden Rule
4560 The Golden Rule prohibits harmful actions, with the premise that actions will be requited
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 1. Virtue Theory / a. Nature of virtue
4555 The great error is to think that happiness derives from virtue, which in turn derives from free will
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / b. Living naturally
4493 Be natural! But how, if one happens to be "unnatural"?
4494 Not "return to nature", for there has never yet been a natural humanity
4498 'Love your enemy' is unnatural, for the natural law says 'love your neighbour and hate your enemy'
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / c. Motivation for virtue
4511 We would avoid a person who always needed reasons for remaining decent
4512 Virtue is pursued from self-interest and prudence, and reduces people to non-entities
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 2. Elements of Virtue Theory / f. The Mean
20372 The instinct of the herd, the majority, aims for the mean, in the middle
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / a. Virtues
4515 Modesty, industriousness, benevolence and temperance are the virtues of a good slave
4516 Many virtues are merely restraints on the most creative qualities of a human being
4510 A path to power: to introduce a new virtue under the name of an old one
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / c. Justice
4559 When powerless one desires freedom; if power is too weak, one desires equal power ('justice')
23. Ethics / C. Virtue Theory / 3. Virtues / e. Honour
4557 The supposed great lovers of honour (Alexander etc) were actually great despisers of honour
23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 4. Categorical Imperative
4507 The categorical imperative needs either God behind it, or a metaphysic of the unity of reason
23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 3. Motivation for Altruism
4501 Utilitarianism criticises the origins of morality, but still believes in it as much as Christians
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 1. Existentialism
4489 If faith is lost, people seek other authorities, in order to avoid the risk of willing personal goals
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 6. Authentic Self
4513 Virtuous people are inferior because they are not 'persons', but conform to a fixed pattern
23. Ethics / F. Existentialism / 7. Existential Action
4504 Morality used to be for preservation, but now we can only experiment, giving ourselves moral goals
24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 5. Culture
4495 The high points of culture and civilization do not coincide
25. Social Practice / B. Equalities / 2. Political equality
4491 In modern society virtue is 'equal rights', but only because everyone is zero, so it is a sum of zeroes
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 7. Eliminating causation
4542 Science has taken the meaning out of causation; cause and effect are two equal sides of an equation
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 8. Particular Causation / a. Observation of causation
4553 We derive the popular belief in cause and effect from our belief that our free will causes things
27. Natural Reality / G. Biology / 3. Evolution
4535 A 'species' is a stable phase of evolution, implying the false notion that evolution has a goal
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 1. God
4497 The concept of 'God' represents a turning away from life, and a critique of life
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / a. Divine morality
4488 Those who have abandoned God cling that much more firmly to the faith in morality
28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / d. God decrees morality
4502 Morality cannot survive when the God who sanctions it is missing
29. Religion / B. Monotheistic Religion / 4. Christianity / a. Christianity
4499 Primitive Christianity is abolition of the state; it is opposed to defence, justice, patriotism and class