Book five

sections 356–365

pp. 229-236

in: Monika Langer, Nietzsche's Gay science, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Abstract

In the preceding sections Nietzsche commented on the cheerful response of "free spirits' to God's death. He examined the meaning and consequences of God's death. He also drew attention to its implications for our conceptions of so-called knowledge and morality, and suggested conventional morality masks our weaknesses. Nietzsche conjectured consciousness is intrinsically social and our idea of so-called knowledge springs from our desire for the security of the familiar. He contended so-called knowledge of the familiar is the hardest to attain, because it entails recognizing the familiar as problematic.