Date: Tue, 16 Jun 1998 19:29:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: callihan-AT-callihan.seanet.com (Steven E. Callihan)
Subject: Re: freedom of will


cornets de groot wrote:

>Can anybody please tell me why according to FN there is no such thing as
>freedom of the will, or direct me to some of the available on-line texts
>where he points this out? For some odd reason I always find myself without
>words when people - especially religious people - state that there is. It's
>very frustrating to not be able to respond to a simple question such as:
>'well, you *do* have a choice, don't you?' I would like to deny that with a
>sound argument in less than 10 words. Thank you all.

I believe Nietzsche's full position is that there is neither free nor unfree
will. The distinction is an imaginary moral one, between the free will of
the spirit (moral action) and the unfree will of nature (immorality). See
WTP 786 (my ellipsis):

"Through a psychological misunderstanding, one has invented an _antithesis_
to the motivating forces, and believes one has described another kind of
force; one has imagined a _primum mobile_ that does not exist at all.
Accroding to the valuation that evolved the antithesis 'moral' and 'immoral'
in general, one has to say: _there are only immoral intentions and
actions_....But this whole species of intentions and actions is purely
imaginary; the world to which alone the moral standard can be applied does
not exist at all:--_there are neither moral nor immoral actions_.

Best,

Steve
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=A6 Steven E. Callihan            =A6 "It is the stillest words that bring  =A6
=A6                               =A6 on the storm. Thoughts that come on   =A6
=A6                               =A6 doves' feet guide the world."         =A6
=A6 URL: http://www.callihan.com/ =A6 -F. Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra,=A6
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