"What, then, is truth? 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."
Truth is the smooth, cool stone; and your hand holding it. Truth grasped at can be mystified, as we see here, but there is nothing confusing about a truth grasped.
Quick afterthought - I certainly don't wish anyone to think I feel entitled to dismiss Friedrich Nietzshe (or as I call him, "Nietzsch") in so cool a fashion!
I think what Friedrich is talking about here is not truth at all, but received wisdom or dogma: those taken-for-true propositions that we are handed whole, and that we assume to be true in lieu of taking the trouble to examine them closely.
But even there, it's not as mysterious as he makes it. Some of these dogmas are indeed true, some aren't. But we can discover for ourselves which "received truths" are open to investigation and confirmation, and which - when examined - appear to lack reason or basis. Dogma from a reliable authority has value: for otherwise, must we not busy ourselves in endless investigations and confirmations of trivialities? If an authority we hold generally reliable has vouched: "This has been tested and proved, in this way - " we may find it useful to accept a few received truths, without each of us feeling the burning need to trouble to re-prove key elements of quantum theory ourselves, for instance.
Question: I'd love to repost this because I love the idea, and I was wondering if it was an original thought or if you'd gotten it somewhere so that I can give appropriate credit.
Thank you, Meredith! I'd be happy for you to repost with an attibution referring back here. Either the web address (URL) or a link would be perfectly acceptable!
The specific wording here came from the top of my head. I'm sure that in the history of thinkers struggling over ideas of truth and originality, the basic idea has probably occurred in some form to others! It would be pretty funny if it hadn't - I would then be in the odd position of warning against the limitations of original thought using an entirely original thought!
At first I was pretty sure that's what you meant, and that you were gently spoofing me. :-) But whether or no, I always like to give a "straight man" sincere response, just in case!
5 comments:
"What, then, is truth? 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."
— Friedrich Nietzsche
One of the very persons alluded to in the post!
Truth is the smooth, cool stone; and your hand holding it. Truth grasped at can be mystified, as we see here, but there is nothing confusing about a truth grasped.
Quick afterthought - I certainly don't wish anyone to think I feel entitled to dismiss Friedrich Nietzshe (or as I call him, "Nietzsch") in so cool a fashion!
I think what Friedrich is talking about here is not truth at all, but received wisdom or dogma: those taken-for-true propositions that we are handed whole, and that we assume to be true in lieu of taking the trouble to examine them closely.
But even there, it's not as mysterious as he makes it. Some of these dogmas are indeed true, some aren't. But we can discover for ourselves which "received truths" are open to investigation and confirmation, and which - when examined - appear to lack reason or basis. Dogma from a reliable authority has value: for otherwise, must we not busy ourselves in endless investigations and confirmations of trivialities? If an authority we hold generally reliable has vouched: "This has been tested and proved, in this way - " we may find it useful to accept a few received truths, without each of us feeling the burning need to trouble to re-prove key elements of quantum theory ourselves, for instance.
Sorry about the flip dismissal there, Nietzsch!
Question: I'd love to repost this because I love the idea, and I was wondering if it was an original thought or if you'd gotten it somewhere so that I can give appropriate credit.
Thank you, Meredith! I'd be happy for you to repost with an attibution referring back here. Either the web address (URL) or a link would be perfectly acceptable!
The specific wording here came from the top of my head. I'm sure that in the history of thinkers struggling over ideas of truth and originality, the basic idea has probably occurred in some form to others! It would be pretty funny if it hadn't - I would then be in the odd position of warning against the limitations of original thought using an entirely original thought!
At first I was pretty sure that's what you meant, and that you were gently spoofing me. :-) But whether or no, I always like to give a "straight man" sincere response, just in case!
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