“In aestheticism the subject stops
expecting Reality to do things for him. But he remains in control, at least of
himself and his immediate experience. Nietzsche objected to the practices in
which people bow before their idols with an obsequious insincerity, but these were exercises in autonomy, even with the pretense
of submission. What Nietzsche does recommend is still an exercise in autonomy,
but with dignity. Pretense is abandoned.
False hopes are extinguished, their ashes carried to the mountain. The
subject is alone, and he knows he is alone. From this lonely place he justifies
existence by seeing it as beautiful.”
- Dr. Jerry L.
Sherman
Epistemic Pessimism in Nietzsche
