One thing that separates humans from all other animals is our sense of consciousness, morality and our understanding of ethical principles. We think, ponder, and inquire everything that exists. We have a sense of self-awareness that no other organisms possess. When being able to access your mind this deeply, you suddenly find yourself thinking up different ideas that build a foundation for your perspective on the world. This is where personal philosophies are born and make themselves prominent. Friedrich Nietzsche's works describe perfectly his views on the world. His initially unpublished work "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" deals with epistemological questions. This involves language, truth, and even the formation of concepts. This may seem like a history of human thought, when in reality it's the dictation of the inconsequentiality of all human thought. 

Nietzsche separated his writing into two parts: the first dealing with the fact that humans are constantly "immersed in illusions and dreams" and how truth is merely a construct or a "peace pact" created by the human mind, and the second being a hypothetical scenario involving two men, one considered to be "rational" and the other "intuitive". Both of these sections paint a clear picture of what Nietzsche believed and how he viewed the world. He viewed the existence of man from a distance and "concludes by rejecting altogether the idea of a universal constant" (Gilb). Nietzsche lived during a time of waning religious acceptance and more dependence on sciences. The nineteenth century was a time of growth for the world, and philosophies like Nietzsche's became very prominent. These evocative styles of philosophy generated passionate reactions as it resonated with many people. Nietzsche believed his philosophies to be a countermovement to nihilism, which he thought plagued most of Europe. This is where many analysts of his work tend to disagree, some saying that Nietzsche was not in fact making a countermovement but a co-movement. His ideas of "god is dead" and his "campaign against Morality" both reflect his nihilistic nature. Nietzsche is now considered to be a nihilist as he rejected most religions and believed life was meaningless. Although this concept is quite morbid and saddening, it strikes up interesting ideas which are portrayed in his work. For example his inquiry on "Why is 'truth' considered 'good' and 'lies' 'bad'?" (Carolina Reader 180). According to Nietzsche "man, out of need and boredom, wants to exist socially, herd-fashion, he requires a peace pact and he endeavors to banish at least the very crudest bellum omni contra omnes [war of all against all] from his world." (Nietzsche 181-182). This is what he believes urges people to find "truth" even though it doesn't exist. "In the end, we distill from them a qualitas occulta [hidden quality] with the name of 'honesty'" (Nietzsche 183) which to him is pointless due to the fact that "nature is acquainted with no forms and no concepts, and likewise no species, but only with X which remains inaccessible and undefinable for us." (Nietzsche 183). We matter so little to the metaphysical world that there is literally no validity behind anything we do. Things like truth and language all are concepts made up by humans to try to "conquer" an unconquerable universe.

Stephen Gilb's analysis of Nietzsche and his work "On Truth and Lies in an Extra-Moral Sense" brings out many of Nietzsche's messages and ideas. Gilb believes that Nietzsche was important to the world of philosophy. Gilb states that "Writing in an age of rapid technological advancement and increased faith in empirical sciences as well as man-made catastrophes such as the Great Depression in the United States, Nietzsche calls into question the merit of these developments:" Gilb analyzed Nietzsche's metaphysical ideas further, that there are metaphysical arguments, and agreed with Nietzsche's conception that truth is impossible to achieve through language. Nietzsche's thoughts on truth reflect his skeptical lifestyle. He believed that truth is merely a concept made up by people as a sort of agreement on what is right according to them. There was no such thing as truth before humans invented knowledge, and there will be no truth after the demise of humanity. Gilb's thinks this sort of idea came from Nietzsche's rigorous studying of classical texts and philosophies, as well as more recent authors such as Heymann Steinthal. Gilb also believes that Nietzsche's ideals were important to the growing world around him in his time, stating that "the issues of human autonomy and the uniqueness of one's experience are of utmost importance in a modernist age of increased mechanization and standardization. Gilb refers Nietzsche's works more towards the actual world and less to the metaphysical sense of it, leaving a more literal interpretation and less acute thought on society. 

Nietzsche's works were regarded as great philosophical works for his time, and "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" would've been too had it been published before his death. Yet still when it was published post-mortem by his brother the message resonated with many, and paved the way for a new set of ideals in the modern world. Many people looked at Nietzsche's works as regulations on society, when in reality it goes much deeper and darker. Nietzsche isn't saying society is losing sight of what is true, he is saying there is no truth. With his nihilistic views kept in mind it is clear that as a philosopher Nietzsche believed that our existence is merely a pointless span of time where we are trapped in the confinements that society calls "life". Everything we have ever known is merely just a thought made up by someone that eventually turned into a constant, and those constants became our reality. We live a lie, and that is why the search for "truth" is a hopeless one. 

