PHILOS 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Beyond Good & Evil (Video Game), Friedrich Nietzsche, Perspectivism
Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)
Subjectivity: Existentialist Perspectivism
Read: Nietzsche, Will to Power and Genealogy of Morals
Watch: Human, All Too Human - Nietzsche (49 min)
1. What is your first impression of Nietzsche?
A. Mostly positive
B. Mostly negative
2. According to the film, Nietzsche was a Nazi.
A. True
B. False
Metaphysics
Epistemology
Values: Beyond Good &
Evil is Aesthetics
Nihilism
“God is Dead”
Life is “will to power”
Perspectivism;
Subjectivism
Art, Poetry, Music; not
Science
Will to Truth = Will to
Power
Be Great!
Create Reality
Make your life a work of art
What is a SUBJECTIVE moment of truth?
Examples:
The truth of “freedom”: Braveheart
Subjective truth portrayed in “Baraka”: Trailer (please watch for next class)
➢ The truth about modern civilization
➢ The truth about third world poverty
Truth about the cause of the “Environmental Crisis”: Phillip Larkin’s “The Mower”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Defining Perspectivism: An Epistemological Position
➢ Truth is not a correspondence between a thought/idea and a thing/object out in
the world, because the mind is not a mirror.
➢ Truth is always meditated: One’s understanding of the world is possible only
through one's subjective perspective and interpretation; there is no neutral,
unmediated, “perspective-free” or “interpretation-free” understanding of reality.
➢ Relativism: There can be radically different and incommensurable conceptual
schemes or perspectives, one of which we must (consciously or unconsciously)
adopt, but none of which is “more true” than its rivals.
Example: “You were flirting!”
➢ Pluralism: While there is no perspective which is definitively "true," individuals
may choose to value some perspectives over others, hence, it could be said there
are many “truths” some of which may be contradictory.
➢ Contrast: Objectivity vs. Subjectivity
Objective standpoint: “It” (3rd person)
Subjective standpoint: “I” (1st person)
The world is composed of objects, things,
events, etc. that can be known by all
“clearly and distinctly” i.e. measured and
analyzed rationally and quantitatively.
I experience the world mediated/filtered
through my thoughts, emotions, memories,
states of mind, perceptions and immediate
sensations (smell, taste, sight, hearing,
touch).
Examples: Science, positivism, historical
materialism.
Examples: Existentialism, Solipsism,
Phenomenology
3. Nietzsche claimed that the mind is a mirror of reality.
A. True
B. False
Nietzsche’s Perspectivism: Subjectivity
➢ Metaphysics: Reality is not given; rather it is created out of the chaos & flux of
existence by “will to power.”
➢ A perspective = an interpretation of the chaos & flux forged by an individual “will
to power.” (contrast with Marx’s class perspectives)
➢ There are no given individuals/subjects (no “I”) at the helm of “self” – we create
ourselves thru the perspectives we choose. Drives to interpret reality reflect
different VALUES.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Read: nietzsche, will to power and genealogy of morals. Watch: human, all too human - nietzsche (49 min: what is your first impression of nietzsche, mostly positive, mostly negative, according to the film, nietzsche was a nazi, true, false. Subjective truth portrayed in baraka : trailer (please watch for next class) Truth about the cause of the environmental crisis : phillip larkin"s the mower . Truth is not a correspondence between a thought/idea and a thing/object out in the world, because the mind is not a mirror. Truth is always meditated: one"s understanding of the world is possible only through one"s subjective perspective and interpretation; there is no neutral, unmediated, perspective-free or interpretation-free understanding of reality. Relativism: there can be radically different and incommensurable conceptual schemes or perspectives, one of which we must (consciously or unconsciously) adopt, but none of which is more true than its rivals.
