Nietzsche on Knowledge and Truth: Excerpt from the Gay Science

Nietzsche's explanation of the origin of knowledge is one that deduces most attempts to error and misdirection. Nietzsche begins his account by attacking all past endeavours of intellect by asserting that, "over immense periods of time the intellect produced nothing but errors"(169). He continues by characterizing the progression of theories as "erroneous articles of faith, which were continually inherited"(169). He also systematically denies most of the early epistemological philosophers' claims of primary qualities, the existence of equal things, and the will being of a free nature. Th…