Unified Composition of Form and Matter and the Problem of Unity of Intellect and object of intellection

Derek Parfit argues the central normative belief that “all suffering is bad in itself” is held by all of us and known by intuition. Furthermore, given the intuitive statue of this normative belief, he argues that in ideal conditions everyone, including ordinary people, thinkers and philosophers would agree on it. He, then, must show that Nietzsche, famous for his claims about the goodness of suffering, doesn’t fundamentally disagree with this belief. Parfit’s take on the issue is so simplistic, in my view, showing that Nietzsche’s relevant serious remarks can be reduced to an instrumentalist view on suffering. After considering Parfit’s paraphrases and interpretations of his arbitrary selection of Nietzsche’s remarks, I will show that Nietzsche’s real view about suffering should be understood under a psychological interpretation of the will to power as a second order drive or desire for overcoming resistance. Suffering itself is not anything except a resistance or an obstacle against our first order desires to be overcome by our active will to power, as an important constituent of it. And then the normative belief that “at least some suffering is good” finds its significance in Nietzsche’s philosophy, strongly contradicting Parfit’s position about the intuitive statue of the belief.