Genealogy, Language, and Morality: Deconstructing Truth and Reality

Genealogical Method

Trace origins and assess how worldviews arise.

Genealogy of Language

A culture-critical conception of knowledge can deconstruct language.

Language, Reality, Truth

• Language is an approximation of reality.
• Truth is knowing objective and universal reality.
• Genealogy challenges language, asserting it stems from life experiences (e.g., pain, pleasure).
• Language doesn't mirror reality directly; it's a medium, an art form based on metaphor.

Logic

Violence against fundamental human instincts can't yield knowledge. We construct metaphors of reality, subjecting individuals to universal questions. Logic, however, invents order in chaos, reflecting our need for security. It's not objective, depending on individual experiences.

The Concept of Metaphor

Sensation (image) becomes a logical concept and then a word. Over time, we forget the metaphorical nature of concepts, accepting them as real through a 'gregarious peace pact'.

Gregarious Covenant

Language is a convention accepted by humans (culture). Grammatical logic and language reduce the world's diversity. This 'stability pact' designates trustees of truth, while the senses are deemed deceivers. Culture, through logic, diminishes diversity. Individuals accept terms based on established criteria.

Lie

A chosen group dictates metaphysical truths, tax policies, and obedience (like a flock of sheep). Alternative metaphors are dangerous to the stability pact and marginalized by society.

Perspectives

Genealogy of language leads to perspectivism: interpretations of the real world that simplify it. Interpretive pluralism acknowledges new life experiences, where truth has a functional role.

From Genealogy of Language to Morality

Pact signatories believe they possess the truth, defining good and bad, thus establishing morality.

Nihilism

Genealogy of Morality

Will Power

Active vs. passive. With the 'death of God', our will can create a new world in our image; we can become 'gods'.

Superman

New values. Triple metamorphosis (camel, lion, child) expresses the role of art. Two forms of beauty: Apollonian and Dionysian (creative force).

Eternal Return

A static world encompasses the past, becoming a continuous cycle. If repeated, it will be the new universal.