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Posted by Steve on 11/01/06 05:54
| "The snake that cannot shed its skin perishes. So do the spirits who are
| prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be a
pirit." -Nietzsche
| *Answer*
| If the apple were capable of formulating opinion in the first place,
| then to lose such a noble quality would certainly make the apple less
| distinguished amongst its peers;
in what ways would it be less distinguished? doesn't this presuppose as a
foregone conclusion that to *be* an apple, it must emote opinion?
| however, considering that the apple
| never had such talent, it will simply continue to maintain its status
| as an object neither capable of opinion, nor of spiritual nature.
others may take your dismissal of the possible spirituality of nature - even
that of an apple - as a terribly imprompto assumption. either way, being
prevented from changing an opinion does not change the nature of the apple
itself were it able to formulate them. so, a snake may very well die if it
fails to shed its skin; it does not necessitate logically that a spirit not
able to, or prevented from, doing something/anything part of its nature
somehow removes the natural component altogether. the spirit remains a
spirit...as the apple is still an apple.
perhaps it is the fault of the translator rather than an illogical oversight
of neitzsche. where neitzsche consistent in his analogy and compared the
*death* of the spirit to the *perishing* of a snake, it would not be
illogical as it would be comparing two kinds of death - the first, literal;
the second, a deminished quality of life. as it is, he is comparing the
literal death of a snake to the alteration of the nature of a spirit
(assumably who MUST emote opinion) into some other form of being.
simply put...if a human is defined as such because of his ability to see,
can i take his eyes and make him non-human. or, if he must be social yet i
exile him to a desserted island...is he not still human? to be human is
merely to be engineered as such. neitzsche has engineered a spirit that can
hold opinion, but has sadly killed it off when no such requirement was
warranted.
| Truth be told, I'd still eat it regardless!
me too ;^)
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