Human, All Too Human

'That's great title', said Zoe as she picked up my copy of Human, All Too Human. I agreed.

It's a book of aphorisms. Each aphorism is a self-contained philosophical thought. In fact, the form follows the philosophy. Nietzsche is saying that there's no grand over-arching Truth, only scattered nuggets of truth.

I'm sure anyone can make up some aphorisms. How hard can it be? What do you think of this:

A law is a good law if even those that break it, agree with it.

Profound eh? Let's test it. The law against burglary is a good law. If one were to ask a burglar if it's right that burglary is illegal, she'd probably say yes. The law against taking drugs is a bad law. If one were to ask a dope fiend if it's right that drugs are prohibited, she'd probably say no.

So for these two tests, the aphorism works! Case proven!