The Harmony of Moral Confusion, in Nietzsche, Will to Power, §259

by Corry Shores
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The Harmony of Moral Confusion

Friedrich Nietzsche

The Will to Power

§ 259

(1884)

All evaluations are made from the perspective of some individual's or group's survival. But we forget this fact. Hence "a single individual contains within him a vast confusion of contradictory valuations and consequently of contradictory drives." Animals, however, have instincts that respond to "quite definite tasks." Thus the human inner confusion of drives is a symptom of our diseased condition. (149d)

Nonetheless, we have a compensating technique for obtaining knowledge. We perform our own evaluations that lift us above simple assessments of good and evil.

Hence the wisest person would be rich in contradictions and yet still have "great moments of grand harmony." (150a)

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power. Ed. Walter Kaufmann. Transl Walter Kaufmann and R.J. Hollingdale. New York: Random House Vintage Books, 1967.