Intellectual Autonomy in the Age of Dogma: Lessons from Nietzsche
Introduction In his essay On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense , Friedrich Nietzsche radically challenges conventional ideas of truth and knowledge, arguing that human cognition distorts reality through metaphor and language. He claims that what we call "truth" is not a reflection of an objective reality, but rather a set of metaphors that have become fixed over time through cultural repetition. This article will examine Nietzsche’s ideas on truth and knowledge, exploring how they invite both interpretation and misinterpretation. Nietzsche remains one of the most influential thinkers in philosophy, particularly in relation to the concepts of truth, language, and power. His works challenge the foundations of Western thought by questioning whether we can ever access “reality” as it truly is, or whether our understanding is always filtered through cognitive and linguistic constructs. His insights have influenced existentialism, post-structuralism, and contemporary critiques