Quotation
Last reviewed:
“The falseness of a judgement is for us not necessarily an objection to a judgement.”
Friedrich Nietzsche · Genealogy and perspectivism · Modern · 1886
What does it mean?
A judgement can be false and still be something he refuses to throw out, because the question he wants is how far it promotes life, not only whether it corresponds. A rival reading hears a licence to believe whatever helps you, the sloppiest pragmatism. He is attacking the assumption that truth is the only value a judgement can have, inside a book that also attacks comfortable falsehoods. The sentence is not 'believe what you like'. It is a refusal to let falseness be an automatic veto.
Did Friedrich Nietzsche really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Kaufmann spells 'judgment'. The wording here uses British 'judgement' for the same sentence. The aphorism continues: the question is how far it is life-promoting. Falseness is not, for him, the only test.
Where it comes from
Beyond Good and Evil §4, in Walter Kaufmann's translation
Approximate date: 1886.
How to use it
A team in a Cambridge lab keeps a model they know is idealised because it lets them see a pattern. The falseness is real. Whether it is an objection depends, on this sentence, on what the model is for. A model used to deny a patient's symptoms is a different case from a model used as a ladder. He does not sort those cases for you.
A mindset reading
Do not quote the sentence and stop. The aphorism's next move is the one that prevents it becoming a blank cheque. If you cannot say what, for him, could still count as an objection, you have only the shocking half.
Understand the philosophy
Beyond Good and Evil §4 belongs to the opening attack on philosophers' prejudices. It sits near the remark that untruth is a condition of life. That neighbourhood is the argument. The sentence alone is a provocation.
- knowledge
- ethics
- mind
FAQ
What does it mean?
A judgement can be false and still be something he refuses to throw out, because the question he wants is how far it promotes life, not only whether it corresponds. A rival reading hears a licence to believe whatever helps you, the sloppiest pragmatism. He is attacking the assumption that truth is the only value a judgement can have, inside a book that also attacks comfortable falsehoods. The sentence is not 'believe what you like'. It is a refusal to let falseness be an automatic veto.
Did Friedrich Nietzsche really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Kaufmann spells 'judgment'. The wording here uses British 'judgement' for the same sentence. The aphorism continues: the question is how far it is life-promoting. Falseness is not, for him, the only test.
Which work is it in?
Beyond Good and Evil §4, in Walter Kaufmann's translation Approximate date: 1886.