[lit-ideas] Re: Believing What One Knows To Be False
- From: Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 12:17:42 +0700
JL wrote that my "Kantian extract was 'obscurus per obscurius'."
Let me paraphrase. Ideas like 'Self' or 'World' or 'God' are useful
because they help unify and organize our experiences, but they don't
refer to actual things. We cannot have an experience of ourself, the
world or God/Universe, but rather we have experiences that are 'mine',
are part of 'the world', and, ultimately, belong to an absolute unity.
They are useful illusions that we need because they help us in our
pursuit of further understanding. Nevertheless, Kant warns us that we
have to remember, regardless of their usefulness, they remain
falsehoods.
Nietzsche is merely raising the question how the pursuit of Truth can
maintain its lofty status given that important parts of our lives
revolve around necessary falsehoods. Or, to offer Nietzsche's own
words, why don't we privilege usefulness over Truth?
Truly me in Indonesia,
Phil Enns
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