Frederich Nietzsche on Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense examines the formation of concepts in their most basic form. He asserts that every word is a concept due to the inherent nature of words as a means to describe or “…serve as a reminder of the unique and wholly individualized original experience to which it owes its birth”. The application of words to divulge the significance of a subject has to be unique; words cannot or rather should not have double meaning or else they fail to define an intended subject. Nietzsche compares the origin of concepts to leaves, He argues that “…the concept “leaf” is formed through an arbitrary abstraction”. Each leaf is unique, however when we speak of a leaf it is meant to define a broad and general idea, a concept. Nietzsche maintains that by principle there should be a standard leaf from which all leaves are derived. Therefore, a leaf is itself a concept from which an exact definition cannot be given.
In comparison, concepts are formed as a result of the lack of actual knowledge of a particular subject, so words act as a substitute for an uncertain definition. Nietzsche states that “We obtain the concept, as we do the form, by overlooking what is individual and actual…”, thus he reasons that elements such as these will always be unknown since there is no way to define words in relation to what they are applied to.
Frederich Nietzsche’s essay attempts to analyze the misconceptions of truth that occurs in common idea’s of what knowledge is. He also questions the purpose of knowledge; here he questions the value of words as a form of knowledge. Nietzsche argues that the knowledge that comes with words is limited because rather than a true definition words really provide abstract ideas. Nietzsche challenges the certainty of what categorizes as truth.
The question that I took away from Frederich Nietzsche’s essay is how much truth exists if what appears to be trivial in the world; words, can’t even qualify as truth? Nietzsche’s standard of truth appears to go beyond what can be practically understood.