Monday, February 2, 2009
Nietzsche’s Worlds of Reality and Perception
Nietzsche depicts the dualist complexity of human intellect in his work On Truth and Lying in an Extra-Moral Sense. He portrays how deception and arrogance in our assimilation of knowledge reflects human nature and our struggle for existence. He questions our perception of reality and claims "that arrogance associated with knowledge and sensation lays a binding fog over man’s eyes and senses and deceives him about the value of existence…" This concept of Nietzsche is reflected through the binary relationship between reality and the perceived, dream world. Nietzsche’s use of language portrays deception and arrogance as factors that cloud our intellect and thus our ability to sense and perceive reality correctly. The consequence of the human tendencies of deception and dissimulation creates a cloud over our intellect and prevents our ability to perceive the value of existence, as seen through the relationship between the real world and the world of perception.
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I think the motivation behind the "human tendencies" is also something to explore; for as much as arrogance and a natural leaning to deception are humanistic, Nietzsche seems to believe that there is an underlying necessity for us to create our own perception of reality (e.g., for survival among much more fit animals). I wonder why exactly might need to create this reality other that by mere tendency. But out instinct to better ourselves seems to be at work, for I do not think he considers our creating of perceptive realities is bad. I also really like the point you brought up about our inability to "perceive the value of existence;" that is very provocative and interesting.
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