On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense

On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense

Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn (in English: "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense", also called "On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense"[1]) is an (initially) unpublished work of Friedrich Nietzsche written in 1873, one year after The Birth of Tragedy.[2] It deals largely with epistemological questions of truth and language, including the formation of concepts.

Every word immediately becomes a concept, inasmuch as it is not intended to serve as a reminder of the unique and wholly individualized original experience to which it owes its birth, but must at the same time fit innumerable, more or less similar cases—which means, strictly speaking, never equal—in other words, a lot of unequal cases. Every concept originates through our equating what is unequal.[3]

According to Paul F. Glenn, Nietzsche is arguing that "concepts are metaphors which do not correspond to reality."[4] Although all concepts are human inventions (created by common agreement to facilitate ease of communication), human beings forget this fact after inventing them, and come to believe that they are "true" and do correspond to reality.[4] Thus Nietzsche argues that "truth" is actually:

A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms—in short, a sum of human relations which have been enhanced, transposed, and embellished poetically and rhetorically, and which after long use seem firm, canonical, and obligatory to a people: truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are; metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins.[5]

These ideas about truth and its relation to human language have been particularly influential among postmodern theorists,[4] and "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" is one of the works most responsible for Nietzsche's reputation (albeit a contentious one) as "the godfather of postmodernism."[6]

Notes

  1. ^ Walter Kaufmann's translation, appearing in The Portable Nietzsche, 1976 edition. Viking Press.
  2. ^ Portable Nietzsche 42.
  3. ^ Portable Nietzsche 46.
  4. ^ a b c Glenn, Paul F. (2004-12). "The Politics of Truth: Power in Nietzsche's Epistemology". Political Research Quarterly 57 (4): 576. 
  5. ^ Portable Nietzsche 46-47.
  6. ^ Cahoone, Lawrence E. (2003). From modernism to postmodernism: an anthology. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 109. http://books.google.com/books?id=S5CaF_otgZcC&pg=PT107&lpg=PT107&dq=On+Truth+and+Lies+in+a+Nonmoral+Sense+postmodern&source=bl&ots=2PAF9zAVtj&sig=V-fEDCvIMy4ykdhap6vVSP3cARc&hl=en&ei=eTBfS5TWGYnOlAe24t3XCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CCEQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Truth — For other uses, see Truth (disambiguation). Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy, François Lemoyne, 1737 Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality …   Wikipedia

  • Relationship between Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Stirner — The philosophers Friedric …   Wikipedia

  • Apollonian and Dionysian — The Apollonian and Dionysian is a philosophical and literary concept, or dichotomy, based on certain features of ancient Greek mythology. Several Western philosophical and literary figures have invoked this dichotomy in critical and creative… …   Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Nietzsche and free will — The 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is known as a critic of Judeo Christian morality and religions in general. One of the arguments he raised against the truthfulness of these doctrines is that they base upon the concept of free will …   Wikipedia

  • Nietzsche and Philosophy — (French: Nietzsche et la philosophie) is a 1962 book by philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Its publication marked a significant turn in 20th century French philosophy, which had to that point not considered Friedrich Nietzsche a serious philosopher …   Wikipedia

  • My Sister and I (Nietzsche) — My Sister and I   Author(s) Friedrich Nietzsche (forgery) Genre(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Friedrich Nietzsche — Born October 15, 1844 Röcken bei Lützen, Prussia Died August 25, 1900(1900 08 25) (aged 55) Weimar, Saxony …   Wikipedia

  • Logic — For other uses, see Logic (disambiguation). Philosophy …   Wikipedia

  • On the Genealogy of Morality — On the Genealogy of Morals   Title page of the first edition …   Wikipedia

  • Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche — This article is about Nietzsche s philosophy. For the book by H.L. Mencken, see The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzschean redirects here. For the superhuman race from Andromeda, see Nietzschean (Andromeda). The cover for the first part… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”