Quote:

Drunk with the odour of blossoms. - The ship of mankind has, one believes, a deeper and deeper draught the more heavily it is laden; one believes that the more profoundly a man thinks, the more tenderly he feels, the more highly he rates himself, the greater the distance grows between him and the other animals - the more he appears as the genius among animals - the closer he will get to the true nature of the world and to a knowledge of it: this he does in fact do through science, but he thinks he does so even more through his arts and religions. These are, to be sure, a blossom of the world, but they are certainly not closer to the roots of the world than the stem is: they provide us with no better understanding of the nature of things at all, although almost everyone believes they do. It is error that has made mankind so profound, tender, inventive as to produce such a flower as the arts and religions. Pure knowldge would have been incapable of it. Anyone who unveiled to us the nature of the world would produce for all of us the most unpleasant disappointment. It is not the world as thing in itself, it is the world as idea (as error) that is so full of significance, profound, marvelous, and bearing in its womb all happiness and unhappiness. This consequence leads to a philosophy of logical world-denial: which can, however, be united with a practical world affirmation just as easily as with its opposite.

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This selection (#30) comes from his Human, All Too Human and I think it is probably key to eye it under the pretty hefty human psychological and sociological examination which this book (and damn near all of his works) takes.


I am wondering about the last few sentences and how to interpret them... What exactly is this consequence? Which can as he says be united with a practical world affirmation just as easy as the inverse... what do you think he is saying???

I really like this aphorism anyway.

Discuss!

Mnboardin said:

And who's to say that the attainment of "pure knowledge," which I assume is truth, would be an "unpleasant disappointment?"

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Mnboardin said:

The consequence is the realization of the world not truly being "...full of significance, profound, marvelous and bearing in it womb all happiness and unhappiness," of an error being the cause of man's tenderness, profundity and inventiveness, as the arts and religions portray and incite it. A philosophy of logical world-denial can still be held while living ones life, which is the practical world affirmation, and the opposite that is the ending one's life or the refusal to partake in life.

I'm not very familiar with Nietzsche's writings, but he seems to be beginning to play with the idea of nihilism, its causes, and methods of dealing with it.

Well that's my take on it.

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