Nietzsche on Honesty and the Will to Truth

Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 51 (3):247-258 (2020)
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Abstract

Nietzsche values intellectual honesty, but is dubious about what he calls the will to truth. This is puzzling since intellectual honesty is a component of the will to truth. In this paper, I show that this puzzle tells us something important about how Nietzsche conceives of our pursuit of truth. For Nietzsche, those who pursue truth occupy unstable ground, since being honest about the ultimate reasons for that pursuit would mean that truth could no longer satisfy the important human needs it satisfies at present. We can pursue truth, or be honest about what in us is served by such a pursuit, but not both. Nietzsche aims to show that understanding and owning up to this instability is the sort of affirmation of human life to which we ought to aspire, and is the price we pay for being free from otherworldly morality.

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Author's Profile

Daniel I. Harris
University of Prince Edward Island

Citations of this work

Book Review: Nietzsche as Metaphysician (By Justin Remhof). [REVIEW]Theptawee Chokvasin - 2023 - Suranaree Journal of Social Science 17 (1):Article ID: e266363.

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References found in this work

Nietzsche on truth, illusion, and redemption.R. Lanier Anderson - 2005 - European Journal of Philosophy 13 (2):185–225.

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