Response to Nietzsche’s Truth and Lies in a Non-moral Sense
What critique can you construct of the relationship among language, truth and knowledge as is presented in the essay?
The author predicts that a lack of a sense of unworldly identity will result in the people attempting to clutch at straws in a bid to give a sense of meaning to their lives. Nietzsche would rather chart his own course and embraces nihilism. This essay presents the author’s belief that humanity has lost its values. The development of science slowly displaces resulting in a society that has no belief in a supernatural power greater than they are.
Nietzsche’s work focuses on the generation of an inner will power. One that propels a man to live for a greater cause. A cause that he chooses without coercion or the influence of others. Of greater importance to the author I the sublimated will to power and not the power to master others (Notes). The truth is relative and so is one’s will. Everything which distinguishes man from the animals depends upon this ability to volatilize perceptual metaphors in a schema, and thus to dissolve an image into a concept.
To him, the truth should not be objective. It is not right to only think that the truth of a matter can only be deduced in one way. It is said that there is only light and darkness; no grey areas. You are either good or evil. To Nietzsche, this is a fallacy. One that leads to the deceit of millions and creates prejudice, distrust and discord in society. So why have it? As such, the author believes that there are many truths and we must be open to them. Scholars of Nietzsche’s essay have argued that he was not suggesting that there are many truths but that there is one truth which no one has been able to understand yet (Notes). Just as an elephant is three dimensional, so is the truth. One cannot fully understand it unless they look at it from all angles. Other scholars believe that this essay reflects Nietzsche’s view that the truth is in itself a lie (Notes). Rather than it have many sides to it, it is nothing more than a point of view. Power is real and he who has it can create the truth. That is true reality.
To him it denies humanity the chance to embrace themselves as they are both good and evil. The promise of a life hereafter causes people to limit how they live their lives resulting in a life that is unsatisfactory and to some extent, fake. The concept of sin itself causes humanity to be ashamed of their instincts and sexuality (Notes). The concept of faith in what cannot be seen discourrages skepticism, a desire to discover the unknown ans the concept of pity causes people to cherish weakness (Notes). He arrgues that each person people has an equally divided theoretical place that he or she sees and henceforth thinks that fact stresses that each that an abstract god be sought only inside his own domain. Truth in his eyes is relative, knowledge is a necessity and language is a means to the propagation of both. However, giving Nieszche’s depressing life story, one wonders why they should be quick to agree with a man that never really lived as a free man. He was imprisoned by his own thoughts and limited because of his prejudices. Rather than seek to find the common denominator in all the precepts, values and morals that define truth and lies, he was drawn to seeking his own truth. A truth that can only be beneficial to himself. That in itself reflects a poverty of the mind. He chose to live in his own world rather than embrace the one he lived in small wonder that he lost his sanity.
What examples can be drawn from the Matrix-film that relate to the above relationship?
An illustration that can be used to reflect on contrasting views with Nietzsche’s perception of the relationship between knowledge, truth and language is the movie, the Matrix. The movie is filled with symbolism from the start and one cannot help but pick out the elements of imagination that reflect in the film. From the belief that Neo is the saviour to the lack of control that all human beings have, the movie depicts language, truth and knowledge. They are all puppets in a big masterpiece, controlled by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Wu). The AI allows them to believe that they live on earth and that everything is as it was. But for Morpheus and his team of rebels, they have chosen to go against what is regarded as normal. They choose to pursue their own truth. That is what Nietzsche was writing about in the late 19th century (Over).
Nietzsche’s free thinking ability can be equated to how Morpheus and his crew view the Matrix. It is created to keep them from reality. Therefore, truth is relative and not absolute. Neo feels that he is not in control of his life. This is what propels him to choose to join Morpheus. The iron however is that if he was in control, he would have no need to search for anything. The answers that Neo seeks slowly come to him as he continues to search for his own understanding of the truth.
A significant refection that sheds light on the existent perceptions of truth as we know it is reflected on when Morpheus says that the Matrix is everywhere. Most of the people are not ready to be unplugged from the system because they have become dependent on it (Over). So much so that they will fight to protect it (Over).
As Nietzsche states that God is dead, in the matrix, the AI is god. It controls human beings and feeds off of them. It creates a virtual world in the minds of all the people that it controls. The result is a warped sense of truth and reality. This is similar to Nietzsche’s view of truth. To him, there is no real truth; it is a creation of one’s beliefs and reality.
The matrix is built on the theme of truth versus reality. One cannot believe that their reality is the truth because they do not control it. To define truth, one must control reality. This is not far from Nietzsche’s philosophy on truth. However, an amazing paradox is while in the matrix, the unworldly undertones are quite intense, Nietzsche opts to disregard religion all together.
Works Cited
Notes, Spark. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). 2 December 2013 <http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/nietzsche/themes.html>.
Over, Shawn. Movie Review: The Matrix, Not Far From Truth. 27 May 2013. 2 December 2013 <http://www.arizonadailyindependent.com/2013/05/27/movie-review-matric-not-far-from-truth/>.
Wu, Frank. Movie Review of The Matrix. 4 February 1999. 2 December 2013 <http://www.frankwu.com/matrix.html>.