Are Our Wires Crossed?

Bryan, your Belly with Two Heads post has me a bit confused. First you rocked me in your third paragraph where you casually toss out “I don't pretend to follow everything Nietzsche is saying in this book but he seems . . . to be impatient with the dishonesty inherent in most philosophy (emphasis added).” Whoa, what? Is that something you think he believes, or are you tacitly agreeing that that is the case? As I recovered from that zinger and continued through your statement, the less sure I was of what you were suggesting. I wondered if that confusion wasn’t rooted in terminology. We’re saying cynical, but are we really talking about pessimism?

But no, as I re-read your piece, I found that suggestion didn’t hold water. You’re clearly talking about cynicism, but I was reading it as an attack on pessimism. Indeed, I fear I’ve harbored that feeling since our exchange about “Ancient Tweets,” and it has affected my readings of your posts since. But let’s put a pin in that for a moment and circle back to your discussion of cynicism.

You suggest that Nietzsche believes that “most systems of thought have really been erected to reinforce what we already believe.” Let’s assume that’s the case. Does that prove, what? That the cynics have it right, that humans act from solely selfish motivations? I’d say not. Instead I may see it as an innate construct of the species with which we wrestle. I think a more fruitful approach to the question would be through the existential lens of faith. If those “most systems” were erected to reinforce what the subject already believed, were they erected in good faith, motivated to find truth, even if doomed to fail? Or were those efforts made in bad faith, a cerebral circle jerk? I think that has some bearing here.

As for my defense of pessimism, I confess I am somewhat touchy about that of late. I am a firm believer that change happens, sometimes suddenly and irrevocably. That Pandora’s Box unleashes something on occasion for which there is no agreeable solution other than to bear the burden of a new and forever changed situation. When folks attend that with rosy glasses and walk it off with nonchalance believing things can never change that much that quickly, well I find it frustrating, even when I should grant them some compassion and patience. We all cope how we must, I suppose.