How we think about perception and deception

The debate surrounding Odysseus’s role as a hero versus an antihero in The Odyssey is a controversial one. The way that Odysseus tells his own narrative in the story changes how readers perceive his actions. Odysseus is notoriously deceptive, with the first description of him in the book being “polytropos.” Philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche takes advantage of this narrative to make an argument on morality and how this quality of deceptiveness isn’t actually such a bad one.

Similarity in Tibaldi’s Painting 

Keegan Records’ post mirrors my thoughts on the duality of how Odysseus perceives himself versus how other people view him. Keegan analyzes the interpretation of Pellegrino Tibaldi in his painting for the Ceiling of the Palazzo Poggi; Tibaldi shows a scene of Odysseus stabbing the cyclops in the eye while his crew cowers in the background. He questioned Odysseus’s role as a hero individually compared to his crew, who should have been given more credit for their heroism as a team. This leads me to question Odysseus as a hero, or given his qualities such as deceptiveness and selfishness, if he is actually an antihero.

Some background on Fredrich Nietzsche and The Gay Science

Hold onto your hats; Nietzsche sets up quite the complex argument here. Fredrich Nietzsche, the late German philosopher, thinks about the idea of the will to truth in his book The Gay Science. The will to truth, in basic terms, is this idea that humanity is too obsessed about the search for absolute truth that we are completely unable to attain. Nietzsche famously claims in this book that “God is dead,” yet we still seem to rely on God in science/the search for absolute truth, even though that is assumed to be secular in nature. This turns into a moral argument; why are we placing such a heavy emphasis on finding solely the truth and nothing but the truth? Nietzsche points out that there are two sub-arguments that build this will to truth. First, there is the will not to be deceived, and the second is the will to not deceive. The will to not be deceived can be refuted with the fact that we are deceived through faculties such as the senses whereas the will not to deceive becomes a statement on morality. Nietzsche begins to argue that this idea of deceiving others may not be as bad as we have been groomed to believe, which is where Odysseus’ famous quality comes in.

From The Gay Science:

“For you only have to ask yourself carefully, “why do you not want to deceive?” especially if it should seem– and it does seem!– as if life aimed at semblance, meaning error, deception, self-delusion, and when the great sweep of life has actually always shown itself to be on the side of the most unscrupulous polytropoi.” (Section 344, p. 282)

What does this mean?

Let’s break this claim down into easier terms. The use of this specific word is important to his argument because he’s directly quoting The Odyssey in an attempt to use the qualities of Odysseus to build his argument. Nietzsche is introducing this idea of how deception is only bad because we have been raised to believe that deceiving others and ourselves is bad. Nietzsche is known to be an atheist; he believes that if God proves to not exist, then this idea of morality is subjective because there is no higher power to punish our own actions. He claims that life more often than not aligns itself with deception and uses the untranslated word “polytropoi” to build this argument. 

How does Odysseus deceive?

Nietzsche is using one of Odysseus’s defining features to strengthen his argument. Polytropos can mean “well traveled,” “many wandering,” or even “turning many ways,” depending on the way the translator chooses to interpret it. Our own copy of The Odyssey by Emily Wilson translates the word to “complicated.” The interpretation of “turning many ways” is how Nietzsche is using the word; his argument is one that is in favor of deception. Odysseus is one of the most famous deceivers of all time and is known for surviving his various endeavors because of this quality; this is seen especially in the scenes where he returns to Ithaca and is disguised as a beggar and when he yells out to the Cyclops that his name is “Nobody.” Nietzsche is referencing how Odysseus owed his survival to deception, therefore disproving that we would value the truth above all else. He is saying that we too would be like Odysseus and choose deception as opposed to dying for the truth.

The Odyssey through a new lens

Homer wrote The Odyssey about 800 years before the shaping of Christianity. Nietzsche’s use of Odysseus as an example is intentional as this text was not warped by the Christian religion. This continues to prove Nietzsche’s argument against reliance on truth, as it maintains reliance on the Christian God, and shows that governing our actions by allowing ourselves to deceive (as opposed to dying for the truth) can bring value to our lives. This new perspective allows readers to find value in Odysseus’s qualities that are not conventionally favorable and still admire him as a hero in his own story.

Odysseus disguised as a beggar, painting from Giuseppe Bottani (1775)

Anna Fellman is an economics and philosophy double major at Colgate University. She has read Nietzche’s The Gay Science and also Homer’s The Odyssey for this project in various classes throughout her education.