The Philosophy of Friedrich NietzscheMencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
Philosophy
The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900; Philosophy, German -- 19th century
_Science_--The object of all science is to keep us from drawing wrong
inferences--from jumping to conclusions. Thus it stands utterly opposed
to all faith and is essentially iconoclastic and skeptical. "The
wonderful in science is the reverse of the wonderful in juggling. The
juggler tries to make us see a very simple relation between things
which, in point of fact, have no relation at all. The scientist, on
the contrary, compels us to abandon our belief in simple casualities
and to see the enormous complexity of phenomena. The simplest things,
indeed, are extremely complex--a fact which will never cease to make us
wonder." The effect of science is to show the absurdity of attempting
to reach perfect happiness and the impossibility of experiencing utter
woe. "The gulf between the highest pitch of happiness and the lowest
depth of misery has been created by imaginary things."[11] That is to
say, the heights of religious exaltation and the depths of religious
fear and trembling are alike creatures of our own myth-making. There
is no such thing as perfect and infinite bliss in heaven and there
is no such thing as eternal damnation in hell. Hereafter our highest
happiness must be less than that of the martyrs who saw the heavenly
gates opening for them, and our worst woe must be less than that of
those medieval sinners who died shrieking and trembling and with the
scent of brimstone in their noses. "This space is being reduced further
and further by science, just as through science we have learned to make
the earth occupy less and less space in the universe, until it now
seems infinitely small and our whole solar system appears as a mere
point."[12]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account