Nietzsche rejects Truth as an absolute that stands apart from any particular context or perspective. That is, Nietzsche is rejecting the notion that because something is true it is necessarily true for everyone. According to Nietzsche, science is the finest expression of this absolute notion of Truth. "To make it possible for this discipline [i.e. science] to begin, must there not be some prior conviction - even one that is so commanding and unconditional that it sacrifices all other convictions to itself? We see that science also rests on a faith; there simply is no science 'without presuppositions.' The question whether truth is needed must not only have been affirmed in advance, but affirmed to such a degree that the principle, the faith, the conviction finds expression: 'Nothing is needed more than truth, and in relation to it everything else has only second-rate value.'" (Nietzsche, _The Gay Science_ §344) And yet life is full of deceptions, illusions and lies, so that the decision to affirm truth to such a degree cannot be based on any calculation of utility (How would one measure the utility of truth against deception?) but is itself a moral decision. "Consequently, 'will to truth' does not mean 'I will not allow myself to be deceived' but - there is no alternative - 'I will not deceive, not even myself'; and with that we stand on moral ground. For you only have to ask yourself carefully, 'Why do you not want to deceive?' especially if it should seem - and it does seem! - as if life aimed at semblance, meaning error, deception, simulation, delusion, self-delusion, and when the great sweep of life has actually always shown itself to be on the side of the most unscrupulous polytropoi." (Nietzsche, _The Gay Science_ §344) As an alternative, Nietzsche affirms truth as an expression of a life, or a kind of life. "What life does require is belief in truth, but illusion is sufficient for this. That is to say, 'truths' do not establish themselves by means of logical proofs, but by means of their effects: proofs of strength. The true and the effective are taken to be identical; here too one submits to force. How then is one to explain the fact that any logical demonstration of truth occurred at all? In the struggle between 'truth' and 'truth' both sides seek an alliance with reflection. All actual striving for truth has come into the world through the struggle for a holy conviction - through the pathos of the struggle." (Nietzsche, "The Philosopher" §47) For Nietzsche, then, truth is not something that can be rejected or denied. Nietzsche acknowledges that he himself is driven by the fire lit by the Christian faith where truth is divine! (_The Gay Science_ §344) Life requires truth but different forms of life will express that truth differently. "Most of the conscious thinking of a philosopher is secretly guided and forced into certain channels by his instincts. Behind all logic and its seeming sovereignty of movement, too, there stand valuations or, more clearly, physiological demands for the preservation of a certain type of life. For example, that the definite should be worth more than the indefinite, and mere appearance worth less than 'truth' ..." (_Beyond Good and Evil_ §3) It makes no sense to claim that Nietzsche rejects truth, since any such claim would be an obvious performative contradiction. Instead Michael Chase would have been better off asking what claims about truth Nietzsche is rejecting. Nietzsche rejects any attempt to absolutize Truth, that is, to set it apart from life. In the place of this absolute Truth, Nietzsche locates truth as in the service of life. Here is where Nietzsche and Derrida differ. For Derrida, truth is what makes human life possible. For both Nietzsche and Derrida, truth is inescapable. Sincerely, Phil Enns Toronto, ON ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html