View source for Philosophy:On the Pathos of Truth

"'''On the Pathos of Truth'''" ([[Social:German language|German]]: ''Über das Pathos der Wahrheit'') is a short essay by [[Biography:Friedrich Nietzsche|Friedrich Nietzsche]] concerning the motivation of [[Biography:Philosopher|philosopher]]s to seek [[Philosophy:Knowledge|knowledge]] as an end in itself.  Nietzsche identifies this motivation with [[Philosophy:Pride|pride]].<ref name=wilkinson2006p101>Wilkinson, Dale, ''Nietzsche and the Greeks'' (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006), p. 101.</ref>  On this point the essay prefigures theories concerning a destructive "will to truth" that Nietzsche discusses in ''On the Genealogy of Morals'', ''[[Philosophy:Beyond Good and Evil|Beyond Good and Evil]]'', and ''[[Philosophy:The Gay Science|The Gay Science]]''.<ref name=Stack1983p53>Stack, George J., ''Lange and Nietzsche'' (Walter de Gruyter, 1983), p. 53.</ref>
As an illustration of a motivated seeker of truth, Nietzsche takes [[Biography:Heraclitus|Heraclitus]], although he also discusses [[Biography:Pythagoras|Pythagoras]] and [[Biography:Empedocles|Empedocles]].<ref name=Stack1983p53 />  He recounts Heraclitus as being psychologically distant from other people, due to being aware of truth while others are not:<ref name=Berry2013p93>Berry, Jessica N., "Nietzsche and the Greeks" in Gemes & Richardson (eds.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche'' ([[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]], 2013), p. 93.</ref> 
{{quote|"...no one will be able to imagine such regal self-esteem, such boundless conviction that one is the sole fortunate wooer of truth.  Men of this sort live within their own solar system, and that is where they must be sought....Such a being might seem more comprehensible in a remote shrine, among images of the gods and amidst cold, sublime architecture."}}

Nietzsche's focus is on the psychology and social life of the philosopher, identifying [[Philosophy:Misanthropy|misanthropy]] and [[Medicine:Seclusion|seclusion]] as the result of being motivated toward knowledge itself, regardless of any features of the philosopher's [[Astronomy:Cosmology|cosmology]], [[Physics:Physics|physics]], or [[Philosophy:Epistemology|epistemology]].<ref name=Berry2013p93 />

Nietzsche concludes the essay by identifying a need to have [[Art|art]] along with knowledge.   Art is necessary because it adds [[Philosophy:Emotion|emotion]] and purpose to society. Knowledge is limited; for example, a knowledge of matter and motion will not reveal any purpose in the universe.  While the motivation for knowledge in itself brings about insights which help society, art allows constant variation which can affirm a sense a purposiveness, which is an emotional need of individuals.<ref name=wilkinson2006p101 />

"On the Pathos of Truth" was written in 1872, and was intended to be a preface or foreword, but no book was ever written to follow it.  Nietzsche, however, did collect it, along with four other such prefaces to unwritten books, and gave the edition to Cosima Wagner as a Christmas present.<ref>See the back cover of Nietzsche, ''Prefaces to Unwritten Works'', edited by Michael W. Grenke (St. Augustine's Press, 2005), which reproduces all of these prefaces.</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*''“About Truth and lie in the extra-moral sense”.'' pages 119-128. In: ''Nietzsche’s seven notebooks from 1876.''  by Daniel Fidel Ferrer, 2020. Free online translation. 

{{Nietzsche}}
[[Category:Metaphilosophy]]


{{Sourceattribution|On the Pathos of Truth|1}}