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: i am very new to nietzsche (and philosophy in general), but am interested in what you've said regarding the disadvantage (or so i've interpreted) that language poses to us in our efforts to define (or at least begin to understand) "reality". : this a complex subject, so i'll just respond to and ask questions about what you've already written. please be patient with some of the questions or statements that arise which might seem trivial or of a fundamental nature. : : As a philologist, it is not surprising that Nietzsche exhibits a strong interest in language. However, it is perhaps unique that he speaks of language (specifically the assignment of names to things) as a kind of legislation. : That is, language conveys and reflects the societal valuations that direct the individual's interpretation of and behavior within the world (reality). : how is this conveyed specifically? i realize that certain terms ("selfish", "embarrassment", and other words that one might use to describe another's behavior) might reveal a sense of the speaker's belief system or methods of evaluation, but much of our communication ability rests on what we've been exposed to. : for instance, when we are first learning to speak, we are constantly "corrected" -- "no, that is a *flower*. can you say, 'flower'?" but once the foundation is set for physical reality, we begin reaching for words to describe the intangible. this is really where subjectivity lies, isn't it? we can all agree to call a tree a tree but become scathing in our insistence upon ways to describe the elements and causes of internal functions such as "pain" and "happiness". : to bring this back into the subject, i agree we are led by our own particular view of the world and will seek experiences which are relative to this framework, but our working language is so inferior to the value of experience (and the expression of behavior) that i'm not sure the study of language can bring us certain determinations about how a society is mentally structured. : >Clearly, according to N, the human mind (or the adoption of a particular language) does not create reality (BGE 16). Yet it does promote a certain interpretation of the world. Consider when N speaks of a "grammatical habit" predisposing one to assume that every activity must have an agent (BGE 17) : what are some of the grammatical habits that nietzsche enlightens us to? i plan on reading "beyond good and evil" after i'm through with "the birth of tragedy". : >This view of language, as shaping the interpretations of a people, becomes critical when one realizes that for Nietzsche interpretation is all one has. That is, unlike the common view, which supposes that language is a kind of interpretation that maps a concrete reality, : yes, i think this is what i was trying to say -- that certain experiences will shape reality as we go. we are a work in progress. but i do also agree that we can only find surface interpretations of reality which, consequently, turn out to be subjective by this nature. : >Thus the task which N strives toward is the creation of a "new language" which does not masquerade behind the illusion of Truth, a language which straightforwardly strives toward judgments which are "life-promoting…perhaps even species-cultivating."(BGE 4) : perhaps this only requires that we speak more *accurately* and alleviate superfluous terms from our vocabulary. problem is... who decides what goes? (maybe "superfluous" can go first and we can just use the word "unnessesary") :) : Like the "stronger and livelier thinkers" of which he speaks in BGE 10, N would have us relinquish some of our "securest possession(s)" (though not the body) to seek "ideas by which one could live better…more vigorously, and cheerfully, than by 'modern ideas.'" : voluntary simplicity... living simply so as to remove clutter from our physical environment in an attempt to align ourselves with our own internal reality? i'm in. : best regards, heyward

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