(035) Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil”, One Paragraph at a Time
I’ve struggled in all my attempts to read and comprehend Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil”. These blog posts are my attempt to better understand this material. I encourage any corrections or criticisms in the comments.
Chapter Two: The Free Spirit
35. O Voltaire! O humanity! O idiocy! There is something ticklish in “the truth,” and in the SEARCH for the truth; and if man goes about it too humanely — “il ne cherche le vrai que pour faire le bien” — I wager he finds nothing!
The philosopher cannot untangle himself from his moral prejudices. Any pursuit of truth will ultimately be done in service of what he deems to be “the good”, and therefore will not result in any discovery of truth.
I’m at a disadvantage in that I don’t know very much about Voltaire beyond the fact that Nietzsche was highly influenced by Voltaire, but is in great disagreement about the primacy of a philosopher’s pursuit of truth.
What do you think about this short paragraph?
