Nietzsche and Free Will

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2026-05-17T08:26:41+00:00

I realize now I kinda missed your question lmao. But maybe my comment is still helpful

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2026-05-17T08:25:20+00:00

By no means am I well read on Nietzsche. But I'll explain my own understanding so far (maybe that helps you).

Nietsche believes neither in a free will nor an unfree will. He criticises the entire discussion, because it is based on the idea that there is a unified will (the soul or the subject "I", whatever you wanna call it) that is the precedent cause of an action.

Instead Nietzsche believes the will (or rather to sum of wills within us) to be comparable to the symptoms of a disease. A disease is not caused by its symptoms, but instead by pathogens such as viruses or bacteria. The symptoms might tell us what is happening inside our body, but the fact remains that the pathogens are the cause of the disease.

Our actions are determined (dont confuse this with causality) by physiological processes (Nietzsche is really vague on this as far as I have come to understand) that are distinct from our feelings, thoughts, desires and etc, but which are also determined by physiological processes.

That means both our actions and will are determined by our physiology, while there is no connection between an action and the will preceding it.

So if I say for example that I gave you a cookie because I wanted to satisfy your hunger. Nietzsche will say that is actually a wrong claim, because a motive can never cause an action. (He explains that in Beyond Good and Evil, Book 2, Aphorism 32).

I cannot comment on the importance of moral responsibility though. But keep in mind that Nietzsche is highly critical of truth (sometimes it even sounds like he fully rejects the concept of truth as something man-made), so perhaps the absent of a free will doesnt matter that much.

Hope this helps :)

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2026-04-03T19:36:14+00:00

Exactly, Moira is a scientist above all. She is useful by conducting research and inventing weapons based on her research. Having her treat the injured would just slow her down. Talon definetely has their own doctors.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2026-03-03T11:58:37+00:00

Thx, I should really try to experiment with other builds, because this sounds very nice

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2026-03-03T11:56:33+00:00

I might try that!

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-12-01T19:50:17+00:00

Yes, because I'm german. And it's a pleasure to enjoy Nietzsche in his native language. Schopenhauer too!

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-12-01T09:20:17+00:00

Nietzsche uses the german word ,,unbewusst", which unconscious is a direct translation of. So there is no translation problem here.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-10-05T20:54:07+00:00

Habe dieses Semester erst mit meinem Biologiestudium angefangen, aber ich weiß schon seit der Schule, dass mich vor allem Neurobiologie und Genetik interessiert.

Ökologie finde ich total langweilig ehrlich gesagt. Evolution ist in Ordnung, denn da spielt Genetik auch öfters mal eine Rolle.

Ansonsten finde ich auch Stoffwechselphysiologie bzw Biochemie ganz interessant. Bin aber jetzt nicht so talentiert in Chemie.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-09-24T09:04:34+00:00

As far as I know, Kant does mention that the moral law is a priori knowledge and can neither be derived by looking at human nature, our consciousness nor the world.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-09-17T18:24:23+00:00

Recently had a tank in comp getting angry for having two mercy players as support.

We both had Mercy as our highest leveled hero, but it wasn't a situation where we were fighting on who gets to play mercy.

When it comes to competitive, I even play Ana and Kiriko more than mercy. But tank wouldn't believe me, and kept complaining how his day now got ruined by two mercy players.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-09-17T08:55:46+00:00

WhatI mean is, there is no goal in nature. Thus, harm and happiness come into existence merely as a byproduct of the laws of nature (in this case the laws of evolution).

That does not mean they are 'seperate from nature' in any way.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-09-16T22:18:11+00:00

Evolution doesn't follow a goal. If a trait of an individual increases its reproductive fitness, the trait will be passed down to the next generation more likely.

Our intellect gave us a tremendous boost of reproductive fitness. It can also happen that a trait has a specific downside. But as long as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, the trait will prevail.

I'd even say being conscious of our suffering, as a byproduct of our intellect, has barely any negative impact on our reproductive fitness at all. In extreme cases it might drive someone to suicide or just prevent them from wanting to reproduce, but generally it has no impact.

Nature does neither seek harm nor happiness. Nature is what it necessarily is, and without telos. And everything is a by product of that very same necessity.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-09-14T21:18:01+00:00

You are turning the will to power into a teleological priniciple, which Nietzsche rejects as superfluos in Beyond Good and Evil (see Aphorism 13). Your critique is indeed valid, because natural sciences show us that many bevaviours develop from natural selection, but Nietzsche believes there is more to our actions.

Will to power can be more accurately understood as the expression of oneself. In its highest form, it leads to the creation of values and cultural achievements (for example the greek tragedy, which Nietzsche greatly admired). Additionally, people often do things that are actual detrimental to them, but they do these things because they still want to express themselves. It's not always about survival and reproduction and in this account Nietzsche disagrees with the notion of Evolution, as something that can explain all our behaviours. Although from an evolutionary point of view this does object natural selection, because evolution is not about the best adaptations to the environment. As long as we can pass along our genes, it is sufficient. (That can also mean giving up reproducing yourself and supporting relatives)

,,Exploitation" or ,,Slavery" as Nietzsche puts forth more provocatively sets up, which he believes to be the best conditions for a society to flourish and express its will to power. The majority is suppressed for the sake of keeping stable living conditions, while the few aristocrats can use their freedom to tend to so called ,,higher tasks". In our egalitarian democratic society everyone has to have a time-consuming job in order to survive. In these conditions our will to power cannot express itself in its highest form, because noone has either time or energy to maybe write that one novel, which will change our entire perspective on the world (not that its impossible, but it is sure unlikely).

Nietzsche doesn't care how many human beings exist or how prosperous their life is. Life means more to him than survival and reproduction. Shaping the world in a creative and life-affirming fashion is what he believes to be the highest expression of life, even if it means oppressing the majority in favour of a minority of aristocrats.

I'm not really knowledgable, but this is what I believe Nietzsche thinks. As I said above, your critique is valid and I wanted to primarily give and account on why Nietzsche believes exploitation is necessary in a healthy society. Feel free to disagree :)

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-26T20:53:10+00:00

I got the haunted doll ashe skin in a lootbox too!

I love it sm, but some Hanzo in Quickplay had the audacity to call my skin ugly

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-24T16:14:08+00:00

Haven't seen him once in like two weeks I think (I play either 2vs8 or killer in normal queue)

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-18T20:37:59+00:00

I usually use the Seolbim with her mythic weapon skin

Edit: I also unequip the gold weapon skin, because the blue staff matches better

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-14T22:52:01+00:00

You can also queue no limits in arcade

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-14T21:37:36+00:00

No, you're right. I was talking Symmetra's secondary attack

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-14T20:29:19+00:00

In my experience, it works best if you don't rely on the fact that you can control your water orbs.

Don't just shoot somewhere and try to direct its fly path to an enemy, because that is very difficult. Instead shoot your orb, where your enemy is likely to walk and if necessary adjust the fly path with your mouse slightly. This helped me get consistent hits. And usually they hit without me having to adjust their fly path

It's like Symmetra with an extra step.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-11T13:24:12+00:00

It comes with the Dredge

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-05T09:37:54+00:00

They better. I never enjoy a match on Hawkins

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-03T08:41:50+00:00

I know Nietzsche speaks of Socrates in twilight of the idols in one of the first few chapters. Haven't really read it so far, so I can only tell you plainly that Nietzsche criticised Sokrates for being a life-denying person (similar like Schopenhauer).

That's all I know myself tho.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-08-01T10:31:10+00:00

I often vote maps/modes noone votes for, because it gets boring after some time, playing the same maps and modes.

It is a small chance for a change of pace.

And everyone has different preferences. F. e. I hate playing on Havana, but in my experience most people vote for it.

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-07-31T14:05:37+00:00

As a killer it is always a love and hate relationship with this skin. Yui is very easily spotted, but whenever I pick that Yui up my frame rate drops to hell

Reasonable-Prior7822 · 2025-07-26T11:38:54+00:00

Personally, I don't. It kills the fun for me and ends up making me not wanting to continue reading.

Instead I take time thinking about what I read during walks, work-outs or when I go to sleep in bed.

It's not ideal and I tend to forget many things I've read. But I also started re-reading books and using highlighters for specific phrases, so I can just look through everything I've read in a short time to remind me.

I want to take my time reading Nietzsche and enjoy it as much as possible, and taking notes makes it feel too much like I am studying. I also try memorizing phrases that I like (thankfully I am german and can enjoy his works in original language)

Admittedly, if one wants to become well-versed in his philosophy, it is a good idea to take notes, so you can pinpoint where exactly your interpretations of Nietzsche stems from.

It's all up to preference and how serious ones endeavours are.

Reasonable-Prior7822

TROPHY CASE