Abstract

The sixth chapter continues the analysis of our human valuing by treating a second key innovation: the formulation of values in words. Language belongs to the uniquely social character of human life. It is the community that “means” things when we speak and not individual selves, as we suppose. By this way that language “makes common,” it falsifies: our concepts equate unequals and are also false to our individual drives and affects. Language thereby changes how we have values: as worded, we hold them in common as “norms.” We accept them as “what one values” in our community. So they serve a “herding” function, which strengthens the group at the expense of members’ individuality. Nietzsche’s problem is how, given that his own words have “common” meanings, he can use them to express his individual thoughts. We will see the grounds but also the limits to his critique of our sociality.