“ It is not sufficient to use the same words in order to understand one another: we must also employ the same words for the same kind of internal experiences, we must in the end have experiences IN COMMON. ”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1886). copy citation
| Author | Friedrich Nietzsche |
|---|---|
| Source | Beyond Good and Evil |
| Topic | understanding words sharing |
| Date | 1886 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Helen Zimmern |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm |
Context
“What, after all, is ignobleness?—Words are vocal symbols for ideas; ideas, however, are more or less definite mental symbols for frequently returning and concurring sensations, for groups of sensations. It is not sufficient to use the same words in order to understand one another: we must also employ the same words for the same kind of internal experiences, we must in the end have experiences IN COMMON. On this account the people of one nation understand one another better than those belonging to different nations, even when they use the same language; or rather, when people have lived long together under similar conditions (of climate, soil, danger, requirement, toil) there ORIGINATES therefrom an entity that "understands itself"—namely, a nation.”
source
Meaning and analysis
