Nietzsche called us, in the modern West, the Don Juans of cognition, hungrily acquiring what we take to be understanding, but acquiring only knowledge ‘about’ (wissen), not knowledge ‘of’ (kennen) – and passing everything through the mill of our categorising mentality.17 He that would love, must love individuals, not generalities. You can admire or be attracted to womanhood, or manhood, but you cannot love them.
