What then is truth? A movable host of metaphors…
“What then is truth? A movable host of metaphors, metonymies, and anthropomorphisms: in short, a sum of human relations which have been poetically and rhetorically intensified, transferred, and embellished, and which, after long usage, seem to a people to be fixed, canonical, and binding. Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions — they are metaphors that have become worn out and have been drained of sensuous force.”
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
Truth is a construct of language and metaphor that becomes solidified over time, masking its fluid nature.
In simple terms: Truth is a worn‑out metaphor that feels fixed.
Key Takeaway
Question assumptions about what you accept as truth.
Themes
philosophy
language
perception
Mood
skeptical
reflective
Type
philosophical
critical
When to use this quote
- academic debate
- media analysis
- personal belief evaluation
Key Concepts
metaphor
social construct
relativism
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you identify when a belief is a metaphor?
- What happens when you challenge a "fixed" truth?
A Different Perspective
Truth can be useful even if it is a metaphor.