The Concealment of Truth in Literature: Nietzsche in the Context of Plato Meghan Subic College

The tradition of thinking about literature has evolved and expanded significantly in many different aspects over the years. In 380 BC Plato begins and suggests that language or representation generally puts one at a remove from the truth. Thousands of years later, in 1873 Friedrich Nietzsche writes and responds to these original platonic theories. Nietzsche agrees that one is removed from the truth in literature however he undermines Plato’s idea that based on a moral value, truth subjugates lying. Nietzsche argues that there really is no such thing as truth in language. In his work On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense, Nietzsche explains in depth that because of human nature and the reality of language, the truth can never be revealed in art. For the human species, it is crucial for survival that each of us feel as if our existence is important and that we matter, otherwise what would be the point to living.

In the cosmic perspective of things, humans are actually so infinitesimal that it is very hard to comprehend that any of us really do matter. Nietzsche agrees that humans are not necessarily significant in this life but in order for survival and motivation for future generations, this lie needs to be sustained through...