Nietzsche’s Critique of Truth, Morality, and Values
Nietzsche’s Critique of Truth and Knowledge
The classical conception of truth claims that the world possesses an inherent structure and objective truth. This view suggests that the truth of a proposition lies in its correspondence with reality. Truth, therefore, is independent of being known and exists within a fixed order that human knowledge can only reproduce.
Nietzsche rejects this conception. For him, there is no singular truth but rather multiple interpretations, some more life-affirming than others. Reality is not an objective truth to be discovered, but rather a subject of interpretation. Falsehood, therefore, is not an objection against a judgment. The possibilities of thought are limited by language, which serves as an instrument to organize relationships between individuals and between them and the world. What is considered true knowledge has become useful knowledge.
Nietzsche’s doctrine of perspectivism asserts that all knowledge is obtained from a particular perspective and a foundation of life that conditions it. This perspective is the lens through which knowledge operates. Failing to recognize this determination means ignoring the conditions upon which it is based.
Nietzsche’s Critique of Moral Values
Nietzsche deeply criticizes traditional metaphysical concepts, the cognitive methods that have produced them, and the moral values that inspire them. He proposes a transvaluation of all values that have dominated European culture.
Master Morality vs. Slave Morality
- Master Morality: This is the affirmative acceptance of life with all its tragic demands. Strong individuals, creators of their own destiny, cheerfully discharge their vital energy. This morality follows individualistic values that are self-imposed.
- Slave Morality: This arises from fear and feelings of inferiority. The hatred felt by slaves for those they fear engenders resentment, as they are incapable of direct action. They seek protection in the herd, finding comfort among the miserable like themselves. They label their own values as “good” and those of others as “bad.” Slaves eventually impose their values on the masters. With the help of religion, the weak can impose their own weakness, using words like love, compassion, resignation, and charity, while a deep hatred lives in the bottom of their hearts.
This reversal of values produces a bad conscience in strong individuals, causing them to worry about themselves. Bad conscience occurs when the strong individual’s instinctive energy cannot be discharged outwardly and is concentrated inward. The noblest spirits make themselves the object of self-punishment and guilt. Only the strong can suffer from this “disease” of conscience; the weak cannot experience the suffering of the powerful ascetics. The weak end up imposing values and rules of conduct based on love, goodness, and justice as if they were the result of conscious choice when, in fact, they had no other option. According to Nietzsche, this morality is born of a great lie.
The Devaluation of Life
Morality and religion have imposed their weakness in the name of a supposed transcendent, “real” world, promoting values that are contrary to life. This contempt for life in favor of another, higher life is common among moralists and religious figures. Nietzsche argues that Plato invented another world, the world of Ideas, which devalues earthly reality by moving it to a supposed true reality beyond the sensible world. Christianity has only continued this devaluation, despising this world in the name of another.
However, death is the ultimate truth, understood as knowledge of fixed-order concepts. There is no immutable truth, nor is there a real world beyond our world. The apparent world is the only real world, the world of events.