As an object of my analysis, I have chosen Friedrich Nietzsche’s article called On Truth and Lies in an Extra-Moral Sense (a Nonmoral Sense in some translations). It is one of his earliest works, written in 1873 and unpublished until his death (Gilb par. 1). Although it is not the most famous Nietzsche’s work, some critics believe that it is “a cornerstone of his thought” (Gilb par. 1). I find this article interesting since it questions the concepts, which the majority of people consider to be true by default; actually, he questions even the truth itself.
Description of Nietzsche’s Theory
The article starts with the following words: “In some remote corner of the universe, poured out and glittering in innumerable solar systems, there once was a star on which clever animals invented knowledge” (Nietzsche par. 1). From the very beginning, the readers realize that the author will tell about our insignificance, perhaps even ignorance. And this guess is correct.
Nietzsche explains how people are wrong thinking of themselves as the center of the universe. We have occupied only a tiny part of it and only for a very short time. We share our planet with numerous other creatures, and the fact that we are not able to communicate with those does not mean that they do not think of themselves as the center of the universe as well.
He states, “If we could communicate with the mosquito, then we would learn that he floats through the air with the same self-importance, feeling within itself the flying center of the world” (Nietzsche par. 2).
The main and only reason for people to think that they are superior to any other creature is that due to evolution, we have developed knowledge, abilities to think, remember, doubt, and so on. However, too often, we use those to pretend, deceive, and manipulate. And although the humankind is trying to dominate over other creatures and is continually exploiting the Earth, we actually have no idea how the world really works.
The way we get our knowledge and communicate is entirely subjective. People just take some stimulus, connect it with a particular image in their minds, give the characteristics to it, and create an idea or a concept, which later becomes the basis of language and knowledge. Naturally, every concept changes from individual to individual.
So, although people create ideas of language and knowledge, lie and truth, those are subjective and do not exist in nature or apart from men. Additionally, people tend to create particular categories of things, to which they refer similar objects. In reality, those do not exist, since every object is unique and should be considered separately.
My Critique of the Theory
I agree with many ideas, which Nietzsche describes in his On Truth and Lies in an Extra-Moral Sense, for example, with the fact that our existence is temporary and insignificant, and although we have developed an ability to think and learn, we do not have any idea about the real nature of things. I even agree that the concepts of truth and lie do not exist in nature.
However, here, I want to focus on the idea that every object in the universe should be considered individually. Nietzsche says that people group things with similar characteristics into particular categories and name them with the same words and the same concepts. To describe his point of view, the philosopher talks about the concept of leaf, which exists in people’s minds. When a person sees a leaf, it is absolutely obvious that he or she has never seen this particular leaf before.
However, since it is very similar to others and has similar characteristics, a person categorizes it with the rest of the leaves. So, a leaf people think of is “some kind of original form after which all leaves have been woven, marked, copied, colored, curled, and painted” (Nietzsche par. 8).
Every individual has their own understanding and their own “leaf,” which is why everyone little by little creates their own sense of truth and lies, as well as every other thing in the world (Nietzsche par. 8). However, since every object in the universe is individual, none of them can be taken as a foundation of the truth.
So, Nietzsche encourages people to consider and analyze all objects separately instead of categorizing them. Nevertheless, such categorization is necessary for us to communicate, understand each other, and even comprehend things at all. From the very childhood, we are taught that this is a cat, that is a tree, and so on.
If, instead of memorizing that, we would analyze every single cat we meet, we would not have much time to make sense of other things in the universe. At this point, I agree a lot more with Plato, who states that there are some perfect things, and all others are only their different representations (Vlach par. 4). Descartes had a very similar view in this regard, too (“Nietzsche’s On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense” par. 5). Actually, their theories are very close to categorization, which we have discussed before.
To conclude, On Truth and Lies in an Extra-Moral Sense is rather interesting, and it makes the readers think over many things in their lives. However, talking about the perception of things, Plato’s and Descartes’ theories seem more realistic.
Works Cited
Gilb, Stephen 2010, On Truth and Lies in an Extra-Moral Sense. Web.
Nietzsche, Frederich., On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense. Web.
Vlach, Michael 2012, Plato’s Theory of Forms. Web.
Nietzsche’s On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense 2015. Web.