One paragraph in Nietzsche’s essay “On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense” really fascinated me. It begins with “Insofar as the individual wants to preserve himself against other individuals, in a natural state of affairs he employs the intellect mostly for simulation alone. But because man, out of need and boredom, wants to exist socially, herd-fashion, he requires a peace pact and he endeavors to banish at least the very crudest bellum omni contra omnes [war of all against all] from his world”(P6). According to Nietzsche, humans are social creatures who need approval from others in order to function within society. Society works because there is understanding that the truth is reliable. “This peace pact brings with it something that looks like the first step toward the attainment of this enigmatic urge for truth” (P6).

This paragraph also demonstrates the existence of lies because of truth. Similar to what we learned in class, there must be the concept of man for the word woman to have meaning. “For now that is fixed which henceforth shall be “truth”; that is, a regularly valid and obligatory designation of things is invented, and this linguistic legislation also furnishes the first laws of truth: for it is here that the contrast between truth and lie first originates”(P6).

I agree with his position that “men do not flee from being deceived as much as from being damaged by deception: what they hate at this stage is basically not the deception but the bad, hostile consequences of certain kinds of deceptions” (P6). Deception is not always known. People cannot react truthfully to a lie if the truth is unknown to them. However, if the lie has a negative consequence that personally affects the victim because the victim’s lack of knowing becomes his vulnerability, then it becomes a problem to society. According to Nietzsche, people try to hide an attitude of “war of all against all” until someone breaks that peace pact by violating the importance of truths. The consequences of a lie is judged more harshly by people than a simple lie.

This makes sense to me because if lies that were damaging to others were accepted, then society cannot function. People would not be able to trust each other for collaboration. Human interaction is what helps us succeed as a specie. A simple lie would not break that trust because there will be no effect on the human relationship. A lie with damaging consequences will break that peace pact agreed upon by members within society. That is why society will punish liars who damage others because of their deception.