Blogopticon: Cloud of Witnesses: Nietzsche on the absence of moral facts
Now that I have settled into our new home here within the architecture of Patheos, I am resuming the Blogopticon feature, which seeks to highlight one of the most interesting recent posts at major Christian blogs.
Today I draw attention to Cloud of Witnesses, and its quotation from Nietzsche. I quote Nietzsche below not because I believe he is correct on this point, ultimately. I quote him because I think that, when you remove the ultimacy of the God-relationship, this is precisely what you are left with. And I think it works as a fair summation of the mindset of the western cultural elite:
“My demand upon the philosopher is known, that he take his stand beyond good and evil and leave the illusion of moral judgment beneath himself. This demand follows from an insight which I was the first to formulate: that there are altogether no moral facts. Moral judgments agree with religious ones in believing in realities which are no realities. Morality is merely an interpretation of certain phenomena—more precisely, a misinterpretation. Moral judgments, like religious ones, belong to the stage of ignorance at which the very concept of the real and the distinction between what is real and imaginary, are still lacking; thus “truth,” at this stage, designates all sorts of things which we today call “imaginings.” Moral judgments are therefore never to be taken literally: so understood, they always contain mere absurdity.”
The Portable Nietzsche, “Twilight of the Idols,” p. 501ff
Thanks to Cloud of Witnesses for its excellent work.
