(037) 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
37. “What? Does not that mean in popular language: God is disproved, but not the devil?”
Assuming that we could successfully reduce all human instinct and compulsion into a single node of understanding such as the will to power, wouldn’t that mean that we’ve disproven the existence of a will that is free? Would we have disproved the existence of the God from which we derive our free will?
Would it also mean that we are dominated by some darker force, some devil of unconsciousness? Nietzsche’s Antichrist, perhaps?
— On the contrary! On the contrary, my friends! And who the devil also compels you to speak popularly!
No, says Nietzsche. On the contrary.
What do you think Nietzsche means when he refers to “popular language”?
