Is man good, evil, or neither? If man is naturally evil, can he be faulted as he is just acting according to nature? Is he held to a higher standard than animals because he has greater free will/intelligence?
I am inclined to say that man is totally free, and totally constrained. Identifying where one falls on this continuum, in toto or at any moment in one's life is an insoluble problem.
To say that man constructs meaning is true, but uninformative, and here's where I have a problem with Nietzsche (as commonly interpreted). He IDENTIFIES things as good or evil, but does not MAKE them so. Thus, insofar as he IDENTIFIES things that are alien as "evil" and sets "good" as an unattainable ideal, he is self-IDENTIFYING as evil, and creating a psychological problem.
He is not MAKING himself evil. That would be to inject ideology into the discussion and to take sides on the ontological question.
I think Nietzsche has it only partly right.
ReplyDeleteI am inclined to say that man is totally free, and totally constrained. Identifying where one falls on this continuum, in toto or at any moment in one's life is an insoluble problem.
To say that man constructs meaning is true, but uninformative, and here's where I have a problem with Nietzsche (as commonly interpreted). He IDENTIFIES things as good or evil, but does not MAKE them so. Thus, insofar as he IDENTIFIES things that are alien as "evil" and sets "good" as an unattainable ideal, he is self-IDENTIFYING as evil, and creating a psychological problem.
He is not MAKING himself evil. That would be to inject ideology into the discussion and to take sides on the ontological question.