Friedrich Nietzsche’s assessments of François de La Rochefoucauld’s maxims through the Academic Sceptic argumentative method of pro and con and syntactic analysis

Abstract

Focusing on section I, 35 and I, 36 of Friedrich Nietzsche’s Human, All Too Human, as well as other related works, this paper examines Nietzsche’s evaluation of François de La Rochefoucauld’s psychological observation in the latter’s maxims. It argues that, in Nietzsche’s view, La Rochefoucauld’s perspicacity in detecting moral psychology is crystallized both in the form of maxim and the messages derived from psychological observation that are conveyed in the maxims. It contends that the readers’ reactions to these maxims also render their passions and desires tangible and intelligible for La Rochefoucauld’s and Nietzsche’s observations of their psyche. Furthermore, by exploring Nietzsche’s contrasting assessments of La Rochefoucauld’s maxims, we can also illuminate his own theory of moral psychology.