Beyond Good and Evil · Chapter
Chapter 15 explained
A brief, sharp critique of idealistic philosophy's treatment of the senses, arguing that to treat sense-organs as mere phenomena (not causes) leads to a logical absurdity.
What happens
A brief, sharp critique of idealistic philosophy's treatment of the senses, arguing that to treat sense-organs as mere phenomena (not causes) leads to a logical absurdity. The narrator posits sensualism as a necessary hypothesis to avoid this contradiction.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Traditional Philosophy
Directly attacks the idealist conception of sense-organs as mere phenomena, demonstrating its logical absurdity and advocating for a sensualist alternative.
Psychology as the Fundamental Science
Implies that a proper physiological (and psychological) study must start from a correct understanding of the senses as causes, not mere effects.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Directly argues against idealistic philosophy, using logical reasoning to expose a reductio ad absurdum and advocate for sensualism.
Key passages
“To study physiology with a clear conscience, one must insist on the fact that the sense-organs are not phenomena in the sense of the idealistic philosophy; as such they certainly could not be causes!”
A proper scientific study of physiology requires rejecting the idealist view that sense-organs are merely appearances; they must be recognized as genuine causes.
Sets up the core argument against idealism as a barrier to science.
“But then our body, as a part of this external world, would be the work of our organs! But then our organs themselves would be the work of our organs! It seems to me that this is a complete reductio ad absurdum...”
If the external world is created by our organs, then our body and the organs themselves would also be creations of our organs, leading to the absurd idea of something creating itself.
Uses logical reduction to show the incoherence of the idealist position.