Language and forms of life Nietzsche and Herder in the light of On truth and lies in a nonmoral sense

Abstract

In his early essay On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, Nietzsche questions the possibility of knowing reality through language. This paper compares and contrasts Herder’s and Nietzsche’s theories of the origin of language with the aim of elucidating the Nietzschean view. The study concludes with a  consideration of relevant passages on language in two works of Nietzsche’s late philosophy: The Gay Science (1882) and Beyond Good and Evil (1886).