Nietzsche's Argument For The Pursuit Of Knowledge

Rationalism asserts truth can be known prior to experience, or a priori—only through reason. Empiricism asserts that all concepts and knowledge come a posteriori—from sense perception. Plato asserted that all knowledge is a priori, that knowledge is not possible based on anything coming from the senses. Things that come by way of sense perception are part of the world of becoming, and therefore, nothing can manifest from them other than mere opinion. True knowledge can only be gained from those things that are permanent, changeless, and eternal. Because we can only access knowledge through reason, for the pursuit of knowledge sense perception is irrelevant, and things learned through sense perception cannot properly be considered knowledge.

In contrast, innate knowledge, according to Empiricists, does not exist—knowledge instead comes by way of experience. Here, Nietzsche is an example of an Empiricist. Nietzsche criticized what was considered the most exalted of values in Western culture, what he considered to be Platonic dogma that worshiped rationality as the pinnacle of reason. According to Nietzsche, this Platonic dogmatism was the fundamental error of Western culture. He thought there was more to the world and to life, and thus, philosophy was not merely preparation for an afterlife. Plato believed that death liberated the soul from the sense world and allowed us to see the truth of the world that is intelligible. By contrast, Nietzsche’s attitude was that a philosopher should affirm life—as life was the prime topic of reflection in philosophy. Nietzsche did not define truth through reason in the Platonic way, he instead defined it from the