Nietzsche’s Liars -1
In the Epigrams and Interludes of his book, Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche writes, “In speaking about ‘truthfulness’, perhaps no one yet has been sufficiently truthful” (72). This paradox of a statement is the beginning of a concept that Nietzsche touches on throughout this book. The fact is that humanity, as a whole, is in a constantly lying. Nietzsche’s rhetoric use of inversion and repetition only furthers his idea into the concept that lying is a constant while drawing in the reader. People, as a group, lie both to each other and to themselves but it is societally expected. They anticipate for others to lie to them and so in turn, lie to each other. Denial is simply another form of lying; whether it is on purpose or accidental, people lie to themselves. Humanity now constantly uses these types of lying due to both their own choice and training by society and previous generation.
Nietzsche advances this argument by using inversion and repetition in tandem. The first half of this quote is turned on its head while keeping an element of repetition. Nietzsche uses words with similar meanings but turns the idea on its head by the end of the phrase. He draws attention to the oddity of the phrase and makes it impossible to continue without further considering the phrase. “The more abstract the truth you wish to teach us, the more you must entice our senses into learning it” (p.66). The repetition in this quote is clear to see with words such as teach and learn. The inversion, conversely, is not as easily discovered as it centers around teach and entice. The word teach comes with the connotation that what is being taught is true but the word entice doesn’t hold that implication. Entice has the idea that it will draw a person along no matter the extent of their willingness or of the idea’s truth. Nietzsche uses both inversion and repetition to draw the reader in with suspicion and confidence. The duality of these reactions should be off putting; however, Nietzsche utilizes this to convince the reader to be trusting with their wariness. Nietzsche continues to use these techniques while constructing his argument that humanity is filled with liars.
Lying takes many forms; people lie both to each other and to themselves. Lying to others, although considered immoral, is common and anticipated. It is not rare enough for people to disregard it as a possibility when talking to others. People are suspicious of lying; it is understood how universally wielded. “It is true that we lie with our mouth; but with the grimace* we make when we do so, we still end up telling the truth” (71). Grimace is this case translates to maul or literally muzzle (186). Nietzsche’s rhetoric technique of combining inversion and repetition is used here, completely in content. To begin understanding this quote, it is necessary to break it down into separate components before contemplating it as a whole. The first part sates people lie while speaking before it flips to say the actual action of moving their face while lying shows that they are is lying. Nietzsche uses repetitive words but places them in different contexts to create a different meaning. Simply put, Nietzsche states that people may lie with their mouth, but it is also their facial expressions that prove they are lying. Denial, whether purposeful or unintentional, is another form of lying. The most familiar form of denial is when it is conscious. Examples of this are when people repress memories, or deny facts that are harmful to their psyche. “ ‘I have done that,’ says my memory. I cannot have done that —says my pride and remains unshakeable. Finally—memory yields” (p.58). Nietzsche employs inversion and repetition within the internal dialogue. He uses almost the same phrase but negates it and completely changes the meaning with context creating a clash between memory and pride within the language connecting to the action. A person makes the choice to not believe what could wreck their view and throw their world into a tailspin. Denial is seen as a way to prevent further injuring oneself but it can be also seen as another form of lying. On the other hand, unintentional denial is another matter entirely. Denying something without an action, may seem similar to the previous form of denial. The main difference is how they are rooted to reality. The first type is surrounding actions and concrete ideas and the second, unconscious type is completely out of touch with reality. “What we do when dreaming, we also do when awake: we first dream up the person we are interacting with—and instantly forget that we have done so” (p. 67). Nietzsche creates confusion and confidence using repetition and inversion within the quote to blur the lines between dream and reality, and the line linking truth and lies. This type of denial takes the person completely out of reality and allows them to float along unaware of their new detachment from the ground. Denial, in general, is viewed as an unhealthy coping mechanism and as wrong as lying to others. It is seen as immoral but accepted as a fixture in society. Lying both to others and themselves is commonplace. It is viewed as wrong but it’s expected that a person will both practice and come into contact with those who practice them
Going even beyond the many ways people lie, Nietzsche also touches upon how people became so accustomed to lying through their actions and the previous generation. Nietzsche indicates that people are trained to act this way through society and choice. This concept is stated exceptionally well by Jean-Paul Sartre, “Existence Precedes Essence.” When a person is born into the world, they are a blank slate. They create themselves through actions and reflecting societal expectations. These two facets contribute to a cyclical logic that perpetuates humans constantly lying. Humans both make the choice and are trained to expect and liberally practice lying. “Human beings (complex, mendacious, artificial, impenetrable animals, and disturbing to other animals less because of their strength than because of their cunning and cleverness) invented the good conscience so that they could enjoy their souls by simplifying them; and all of morality is one long, bold falsification that enables us to take what pleasure we can in observing the soul” (p. 174). Nietzsche describes how humans came to falsify their souls, or take up lying with enthusiasm. He practices inversion and repetition through utilizing many words that have positive connotations such as enjoy and pleasure, but on the other hand he describes humans as mendacious, which is an adjective for untruthful or false. He uses positive words but then twists them with negative words such as mendacious, and falsification to change the meaning so that they no longer had a good connotation. The line between lies and truth is blurred and so are the moral implications. Although it is considered immoral to lie, its commonplace and anticipated, many people do not have a heavy conscience from the act of lying. Falsifying their souls, as Nietzsche calls it, is simply easier that being truthful; humanity made that choice and has been lying ever since. This transcends generations as people both makes the choice and also train the next generation. Nietzsche brings up the point that it is difficult to not reflect a person’s surroundings; humans mirror their environment in manner, diction, and attitude. “Anyone who fights with monsters should take care that he does not in the process become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes back into you” (p. 68). Nietzsche turns this content on its head with repetition and inversion; both sections show that interaction affects both the person and object, whether that is becoming a monster or an abyss returning their gaze. Fighting the monster is a metaphor for facing an environment that a person deems wrong with aggression; while the Abyss is the same situation, a person interacts with it in a neutral manner. Both ambivalence and hostility do not stop an environment from affecting its habitants. Humanity came into a constant action of lying through both its choice to take up lying and the ability of society to condition the inhabitants to participate in the idea that lying expected and accepted.
People are in a constant action of lying to both others and to themselves. Lying to others and denial, both conscious and unconscious, are viewed as immoral but it is well-known and actively used. It is claimed that lying is wrong but with huge masses of people practicing it; this concept of immorality appears to be hypocrisy. People grow up learning that lying is wrong but also observing others constantly lying. They make a choice and are taught by the previous generation. Action and inhabitance contributes to perpetuating the fact that humanity is in a relentlessly filled with people lying. The real issue to address is how lying can be wrong when huge numbers of people lie constantly. There is no blanket statement that lying is either good or bad, that decision depends entirely on the context of an event. “We use our basic principles to tyrannize or justify or honor or scold or conceal our habits—two people with the same principles probably intend something basically different by them” (p. 60). Nietzsche’s inversion and repetition is clearly at work. Nietzsche uses a string of words that have a similar look and feel but in fact they are contrary. Tyrannize and justify are clear opposites but the next three are interesting. He uses two to negate honor, stopping the flow; Nietzsche not only turn the content on its head, he stops the flow of the sentence sharply, completely changing the tone while describing the two people. A person lying for their own personal gain can clearly be stated using lying immorally. However, a person without a selfish motive is a much more complicated quandary. It is still possible for a person to lie with the right intentions and still cause harm. With humanity now filled with liars, the clear line between when it is or is not immoral to lie has blurred. According to Nietzsche, society doesn’t exist in stark black and white, but rather it holds infinite shades of grey and peoples’ intentions are the only ways to make a choice on when lying is immoral.
Works Cited:
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Trans. Marion Faber. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
Current form last edited on 4/2/15
Written during a class focusing on the different forms of rhetoric. Spoken aloud and presented at a Symposium for the honor class.