Twilight of the Idols

by

Friedrich Nietzsche

Dialectics Term Analysis

Dialectics refers to a method of intellectual investigation that draws on dialogue and discussion. In Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche condemns Socrates for bringing dialectical thinking into western philosophy (the Socratic method, a form of argumentative dialogue, challenges commonly held views as a way of identifying contradiction and other logical errors). Nietzsche thinks that dialectical thinking is destructive to life in that it allows lesser, weaker philosophical positions to gain traction in society. He also believes that happiness comes from instinct, not logic.

Dialectics Quotes in Twilight of the Idols

The Twilight of the Idols quotes below are all either spoken by Dialectics or refer to Dialectics. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
History and the Decline of Civilization  Theme Icon
).
“Reason” in Philosophy Quotes

To talk about ‘another’ world than this is quite pointless, provided that an instinct for slandering, disparaging and accusing life is not strong within us: in the latter case we revenge ourselves on life by means of the phantasmagoria of ‘another’, a ‘better’ life.

Related Characters: Friedrich Nietzsche (speaker), Socrates , Plato
Page Number: 48
Explanation and Analysis:
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Dialectics Term Timeline in Twilight of the Idols

The timeline below shows where the term Dialectics appears in Twilight of the Idols. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Problem of Socrates
History and the Decline of Civilization  Theme Icon
The Will to Power   Theme Icon
The Ideal vs. The Real  Theme Icon
Christianity and the “Revaluation of All Values”  Theme Icon
5. Socrates brought dialectics—a method of intellectual investigation that draws on dialogue and discussion—to Greek philosophy. Nietzsche argues that... (full context)
History and the Decline of Civilization  Theme Icon
The Will to Power   Theme Icon
6. Nietzsche claims that dialectics are dubious and unconvincing, and that people only resort to them when they have no... (full context)
History and the Decline of Civilization  Theme Icon
The Will to Power   Theme Icon
Christianity and the “Revaluation of All Values”  Theme Icon
7. Nietzsche wonders whether Socrates used dialectics as an act of “revenge” against the aristocrats. Dialectics allow the dialectician to be a... (full context)
History and the Decline of Civilization  Theme Icon
The Will to Power   Theme Icon
The Ideal vs. The Real  Theme Icon
Christianity and the “Revaluation of All Values”  Theme Icon
...would “perish” if they didn’t become “absurdly rational.” Nietzsche regards the “moralism” and subservience to dialectics of Greek philosophers from Plato onward as “pathologically conditioned.”  All that “reason = virtue =... (full context)
Expeditions of an Untimely Man
History and the Decline of Civilization  Theme Icon
The Will to Power   Theme Icon
The Ideal vs. The Real  Theme Icon
Christianity and the “Revaluation of All Values”  Theme Icon
...appreciates Plato’s eroticism, for today’s philosophy is devoid of the erotic. Nietzsche also argues that dialectics came from Plato’s eroticism. (full context)
What I Owe to the Ancients
History and the Decline of Civilization  Theme Icon
The Ideal vs. The Real  Theme Icon
Christianity and the “Revaluation of All Values”  Theme Icon
...most scholars do, and he calls Platonic dialogue a “frightfully self-satisfied and childish kind of dialectics.” Nietzsche also thinks Plato has strayed so far from Hellenic instinct that he became a... (full context)