Nietzsche’s [claim] was that our desire for truth above utility is just one of the many symptoms of human weakness and lack of self-reliance: we are incapable of carrying the burden of our solitude and asserting our will as the ultimate ground of everything we believe; we cannot bear the realization that we are self-grounded, unprotected by any universal order of things.- Leszek Kolakowski, Metaphysical Horror, p. 29
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But on this point, as in most other areas of philosophizing, he was not consistent: he glorified the spirit of doubt, but failed to see that if there is no such thing as truth, there cannot be doubt either. My act of doubting implies that I believe something to be true, but am unable to decide what that something is. If we get rid of truth, doubt becomes impossible.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill, God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Martin Luther
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Nietzsche and doubt
Arnold posted a good reflective quote on Nietzsche not being consistent.
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Thanks. Perhaps someday I should actually try reading Nietzsche.
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