Metaphors vs. Concepts

After reading Nietzsche’s “On Truth and Lying in an Extra-Moral Sense,” I noticed several different binary oppositions, but the subject of metaphors and concepts caught my eye. The reason for this is most likely because we all have been previously introduced to this subject matter, but only had the opportunity to scratch the surface. After hearing what Nietzche has to say, I am able to form a different perspective and realize that there is more depth to the world of “metaphors and concepts,” as opposed to what we were able to learn in high school. According to Nietzsche, “any intuitive metaphor is individual and unique” that “always eludes any commentary,” whereas a concept “displays the rigid regularity of a Roman columbarium.” A metaphor is known as individual and unique because each person has their own personal experiences regardless of time, place, and object. We are the ones making the connections and using our imaginations. Concepts are very broad, general ideas that have been fabricated by humans over time “because of [their] desire for truth, for pure knowledge of things.” The dissimilar is forgotten and everyone categorizes every item or object. Nietzsche first points out that a “leaf is formed by arbitrarily dropping those individual differences, by forgetting the distinguishing factors,” which is a concept. All the particulars(metaphor) that a person may have analyzed about the leaf is no longer important. At a first glance, metaphors and concepts may seem similar through the comparisons made, but in actuality, they are complete opposites. One can refer to the metaphor as art and the concept as science. That is the whole purpose of Nietzche’s argument; he wants to show that all humans undergo this process without truly realizing that these “concepts” are ideas of human knowledge that are not essentially real or true.