On Truth and Lies the Extra-Moral Sense in Bloomington, MN

"On Truth and Lies in the Extra-Moral Sense" is a seminal essay in which Nietzsche explores Epistemology. Nietzsche comments on the cognitive constructs and the raw essence of human perceptual experience, positing that truths are but worn-out metaphors bereft of their original power. He argues that language, a human artifact laden with metaphor and metonymy, obscures rather than reveals reality, creating a distorted world in which "truths" are nothing more than anthropomorphic illusions that serve to anchor an otherwise chaotic existence. Nietzsche illustrates how societal norms shape perception and cognition so that what we call "truth" is more a matter of linguistic convention than a true reflection of reality. This text exposes the artifice embedded in human systems of knowledge, revealing the intellectual architecture of deception as an evolutionary and cultural necessity rather than a quest for objective understanding- a work of both Epistemology and Phenomenology. This essay was unpublished in his lifetime, but was discovered and published posthumously in 1896 by Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, who played a major role in editing and promoting his works after his death. This publication introduced Nietzsche's early thoughts on language, perception, and truth to a wider audience and significantly influenced modern existential and postmodern philosophical theories.
This new 2024 translation from the original German, Latin and Greek manuscript contains a new Afterword by the translator, a timeline of Nietzsche's life and works, an index with descriptions of his core concepts and summaries of his complete body of works. This translation is designed to allow the armchair philosopher to engage deeply with Nietzsche's works without having to be a full-time Academic. The language is modern and clean, with simplified sentence structures and diction to make Nietzsche's complex language and arguments as accessible as possible.