[lit-ideas] Re: Erin's Course Dilemma
- From: "Phil Enns" <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 12:40:03 -0500
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
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