“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
