Overheard in a discussion.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is quoted as saying

"There are no facts, only interpretations."

What are your thoughts on this?

Please no gifs or memes in your response or replies. Please keep the discussions on a civil level. Thank you.

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ElwoodBlues · M

I just came across this quote:

As Immanuel Kant put it in 1784, "Have the courage to use your own understanding! — that is the motto of enlightenment."

Seems like Nietzsche is saying "nope, don't trust your understanding," because you will always make interpretations that inevitably lead to subjectivity and thus errors. And that's valid up to a point.

Rephrasing what I said elsewhere, the scientific method allows us to find the excluded middle between Kant & Nietzsche, between trusting & distrusting our understanding. Science allows us to put our understanding to objective tests. If we can predict the results of experiments and measurements and tests, we can get beyond the subjective biases of our own understanding.

onrealityofdreams · M

@ElwoodBlues Very well said. Thank you.