“Judgments, value judgments concerning life, for or against, can in the last resort never be true: they possess value only as symptoms, they come into consideration only as symptoms – in themselves such judgments are stupidities.”
- October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900
- Born in Germany
- Philosopher, poet, and classical philologist
- With works such as “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” “Beyond Good and Evil,” and “The Genealogy of Morals,” he questioned traditional morality, religion, and truth, and had a major impact on modern philosophy.
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Quote
“Judgments, value judgments concerning life, for or against, can in the last resort never be true: they possess value only as symptoms, they come into consideration only as symptoms – in themselves such judgments are stupidities.”
Explanation
In this quote, Friedrich Nietzsche argues that value judgments—whether we deem life to be good or bad, valuable or worthless—are ultimately subjective and cannot be universally true. Nietzsche suggests that these judgments do not reflect objective truths about life, but instead reveal more about the individual or the society making them. They are, in essence, symptoms of a person’s or culture’s inner state—reflecting their emotional, psychological, or philosophical condition—rather than objective evaluations of the nature of existence itself. In Nietzsche’s view, value judgments such as “life is good” or “life is bad” are superficial and unreliable; they serve only as indicators of how individuals relate to the world, not as statements of universal truth.
Historically, Nietzsche critiqued moral absolutism and the idea that objective standards of good and evil could be applied to human life or actions. He believed that traditional moral systems often imposed values that suppressed individual freedom, creativity, and authenticity. According to Nietzsche, judgments about the worth of life or human existence are inherently biased by personal, cultural, and historical influences, which makes them ultimately arbitrary and limiting. The value of these judgments lies not in their objective truth but in the insights they provide into the condition of the person or culture making them.
In modern contexts, this quote can be seen as a critique of binary thinking or the tendency to make absolute moral judgments about life and experience. Whether in personal decisions, political debates, or cultural discussions, people often evaluate life through polarized views—whether something is good or bad, right or wrong—but Nietzsche urges us to see these judgments as reflections of individual perspectives rather than universal truths. His words encourage us to approach life with a greater degree of openness and self-awareness, recognizing that our judgments are influenced by our emotions, biases, and circumstances, and that true understanding comes from recognizing the complexity of existence beyond simplistic evaluations.
