Question

This is a quotation from section 18 of First division: First and Last Things in Nietzsches Human, All Too Human:

When the history of the rise of thought comes to be written, a new light will be thrown on the following statement of a distinguished logician:-‘The primordial general law of the cognisant subject consists in the inner necessity of recognising every object in itself in its own nature, as a thing identical with itself, consequently self-existing and at bottom remaining ever the same and unchangeable: in short, in recognising everything as a substance.’

Who is he quoting from here, and what is it to say? It appears to be a statement of idealism to me, which would seem to contradict Nietzsches own thought, based on what he wrote in section 16.

Answer 1

Nietzsche's quote from Human, All Too Human debates traditional metaphysical substance, contrasting it with his own view of dynamic existence and the will to power. The exact logician he references is not specified, but the ideas discussed resonate with the philosophies of Plato, Parmenides, and Heraclitus.

Step-by-step explanation:

The quotation from Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human references a view that seems rooted in traditional metaphysical notions of substance, such as those espoused by philosophers like Plato and Parmenides, who believed in an unchanging reality behind the flux of the world. However, Nietzsche is known for his critique of such metaphysical claims, particularly the notion of static being over becoming, and his emphasis on the will to power as the main driver of human action, which is inherently dynamic. The logician Nietzsche mentions is not specified, but he is illustrating the contrast between traditional views of substance and his own perspectivist, dynamic philosophy.

The student's perception that the quote may reflect idealism potentially connects to the Platonic idea that we grasp the forms or essences of things through reason, an unchanging truth behind the variable physical world. Yet, Nietzsche's philosophy fundamentally challenges such a static conception of existence, proposing instead a world in continuous flux and transformation, aligning more closely with Heraclitus' viewpoint that all is becoming rather than being.