Nietzsche: We Cannot "Selflessly" Investigate Morality

October 14, 2011 By 6 Comments

Nietzsche writes a lot of things which attack the ideal of selflessness. Yet he does not make any blanket call for an ideal of unmitigated, small-minded selfishness. He calls for certain kinds of self-concern and in some cases certain kinds of self-denial in the pursuit of higher purposes or higher ideals of self-cultivation. Rather than [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Autonomy, Autonomy, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Evidence, Evidence, Historical Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy 6 Comments

Confidence vs. Self-Confidence (And The Will To Power)

October 4, 2011 By 1 Comment

Greta has a meditation up today on the topic of seeking new adventures, doing things you don’t think you’ll like, and generally expanding your horizons. It reminded me of something I think and say a lot but don’t think I have yet recorded on the blog. And of course, everything I think and say has [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Nietzsche, Nietzsche Tagged With: , , 1 Comment

Nietzsche: "'Good' Is No Longer Good When One's Neighbor Mouths It"

September 26, 2011 By 3 Comments

I argued yesterday that Nietzsche believes that there are objective standards of value for assessing divergent moralities. In reply, Juno (of the blog Letters from Le Vrai) asks what I would make of Section 43 of Beyond Good and Evil which reads, in full, as follows: Are these coming philosophers new friends of “truth”? That is probable enough, for [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Autonomy, Autonomy, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Epistemology, Epistemology, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Virtues, Virtues 3 Comments

The Camels With Hammers "Nietzsche and Morality Reader Challenge"

September 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In a couple of recent posts, I have begun to explicate Nietzschean texts on morality and moral values and show how they support my interpretation of him as a kind of values realist who essentially could be categorized as an egoistic indirect consequentialist perfectionist. Now there are many texts that lead people to infer that [...]

Filed Under: About This Blog, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophy Leave a Comment

Nietzsche: Moral Absolutism and Moral Relativism Are "Equally Childish"

September 25, 2011 By 23 Comments

Recently Joel Marks, a career moral philosopher, concluded that the moral certitude he has felt and argued for his entire career was built as much on faith as many theists’ belief in God is. And in response he swung radically in the opposite direction and came to believe that there can be no rational objectivity [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Teleology, Teleology 23 Comments

On Rejecting Faith in Morality

September 16, 2011 By 1 Comment

Update: Joel Marks has replied to this post and to my first follow up post.  I have reedited this post to incorporate his remarks at the end. Joel Marks is at the Center for Bioethics at Yale University and is professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of New Haven. Though writing on ethics throughout [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Ethics, Ethics, Love, Love, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Personal, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Skepticism, Skepticism 1 Comment

Mostly True, Not Mostly False

September 3, 2011 By 9 Comments

I wrote a post where I effectively argued that any genuine truth in art and in myths (including religious art and myths) could be essentially translated into, and defended in the form of, philosophical propositions.  James counters: my question regards the notion that myths or art can be “true” or not, and that the way [...]

Filed Under: Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Nietzsche, Nietzsche 9 Comments

Nietzsche Is My Co-Pilot

September 1, 2011 By 6 Comments

Being a Nietzsche guy, I get links to a lot of gimmicky Nietzsche paraphernalia, toys, trinkets, and parodies sent my way.  But few instantly excite me as much as this just did: Buy it or other stylish ironic clothes at Amorphia Apparel. Thanks a bunch to Matt. Your Thoughts?

Filed Under: Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Parody, Parody Tagged With: , , , , 6 Comments

Nietzsche's Immoralism As Rebellion Against The Authoritarian Tendencies Of Moralities

August 21, 2011 By 2 Comments

Nietzsche casts himself, quite provocatively, as an “immoralist”.  In this post, I want to make clear what Nietzsche means by this term as a first step towards understanding the exact nature and scope of his hostility to morality.  As should already be apparent to longtime Camels With Hammers readers, I am optimistic about philosophy’s possibilities [...]

Filed Under: Authority, Authority, Autonomy, Autonomy, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Historical Ethics, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy Tagged With: , , , , , , 2 Comments

Coming Soon To Camels With Hammers: More Nietzsche

August 17, 2011 By 7 Comments

I wrote my doctoral dissertation primarily on Nietzsche’s philosophy. In the first four chapters, I developed a textual, systematic reading of Nietzsche’s views on metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, and in the fifth chapter I gave my own account of metaethics which attempted, on the one hand, to further develop, supplement, and systematize Nietzsche’s best ideas, [...]

Filed Under: About This Blog, Featured, Nietzsche, Nietzsche 7 Comments