diff options
Diffstat (limited to '4363-h/4363-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | 4363-h/4363-h.htm | 6914 |
1 files changed, 6914 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/4363-h/4363-h.htm b/4363-h/4363-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..40a7971 --- /dev/null +++ b/4363-h/4363-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6914 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beyond Good and Evil + +Author: Friedrich Nietzsche + +Translator: Helen Zimmern + +Release Date: December 7, 2009 [EBook #4363] +Last Updated: February 4, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL *** + + + + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, David Widger and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Friedrich Nietzsche + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Helen Zimmern + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <div class="mynote"> + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION: + <p> + The following is a reprint of the Helen Zimmern translation from German + into English of "Beyond Good and Evil," as published in The Complete + Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (1909-1913). Some adaptations from the + original text were made to format it into an e-text. Italics in the + original book are capitalized in this e-text, except for most foreign + language phrases that were italicized. Original footnotes are put in + brackets [ ] at the points where they are cited in the text. Some + spellings were altered. "To-day" and "To-morrow" are spelled "today" and + "tomorrow." Some words containing the letters "ise" in the original + text, such as "idealise," had these letters changed to "ize," such as + "idealize." "Sceptic" was changed to "skeptic." + </p> + <br /> + </div> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <p> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </p> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </td> + <td> + PREJUDICES OF PHILOSOPHERS + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE FREE SPIRIT + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE RELIGIOUS MOOD + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </td> + <td> + APOPHTHEGMS AND INTERLUDES + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </td> + <td> + THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORALS + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </td> + <td> + WE SCHOLARS + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </td> + <td> + OUR VIRTUES + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </td> + <td> + PEOPLES AND COUNTRIES + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </td> + <td> + WHAT IS NOBLE? + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> FROM THE HEIGHTS </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + SUPPOSING that Truth is a woman—what then? Is there not ground for + suspecting that all philosophers, in so far as they have been dogmatists, + have failed to understand women—that the terrible seriousness and + clumsy importunity with which they have usually paid their addresses to + Truth, have been unskilled and unseemly methods for winning a woman? + Certainly she has never allowed herself to be won; and at present every + kind of dogma stands with sad and discouraged mien—IF, indeed, it + stands at all! For there are scoffers who maintain that it has fallen, + that all dogma lies on the ground—nay more, that it is at its last + gasp. But to speak seriously, there are good grounds for hoping that all + dogmatizing in philosophy, whatever solemn, whatever conclusive and + decided airs it has assumed, may have been only a noble puerilism and + tyronism; and probably the time is at hand when it will be once and again + understood WHAT has actually sufficed for the basis of such imposing and + absolute philosophical edifices as the dogmatists have hitherto reared: + perhaps some popular superstition of immemorial time (such as the + soul-superstition, which, in the form of subject- and ego-superstition, + has not yet ceased doing mischief): perhaps some play upon words, a + deception on the part of grammar, or an audacious generalization of very + restricted, very personal, very human—all-too-human facts. The + philosophy of the dogmatists, it is to be hoped, was only a promise for + thousands of years afterwards, as was astrology in still earlier times, in + the service of which probably more labour, gold, acuteness, and patience + have been spent than on any actual science hitherto: we owe to it, and to + its "super-terrestrial" pretensions in Asia and Egypt, the grand style of + architecture. It seems that in order to inscribe themselves upon the heart + of humanity with everlasting claims, all great things have first to wander + about the earth as enormous and awe-inspiring caricatures: dogmatic + philosophy has been a caricature of this kind—for instance, the + Vedanta doctrine in Asia, and Platonism in Europe. Let us not be + ungrateful to it, although it must certainly be confessed that the worst, + the most tiresome, and the most dangerous of errors hitherto has been a + dogmatist error—namely, Plato's invention of Pure Spirit and the + Good in Itself. But now when it has been surmounted, when Europe, rid of + this nightmare, can again draw breath freely and at least enjoy a + healthier—sleep, we, WHOSE DUTY IS WAKEFULNESS ITSELF, are the heirs + of all the strength which the struggle against this error has fostered. It + amounted to the very inversion of truth, and the denial of the PERSPECTIVE—the + fundamental condition—of life, to speak of Spirit and the Good as + Plato spoke of them; indeed one might ask, as a physician: "How did such a + malady attack that finest product of antiquity, Plato? Had the wicked + Socrates really corrupted him? Was Socrates after all a corrupter of + youths, and deserved his hemlock?" But the struggle against Plato, or—to + speak plainer, and for the "people"—the struggle against the + ecclesiastical oppression of millenniums of Christianity (FOR CHRISTIANITY + IS PLATONISM FOR THE "PEOPLE"), produced in Europe a magnificent tension + of soul, such as had not existed anywhere previously; with such a tensely + strained bow one can now aim at the furthest goals. As a matter of fact, + the European feels this tension as a state of distress, and twice attempts + have been made in grand style to unbend the bow: once by means of + Jesuitism, and the second time by means of democratic enlightenment—which, + with the aid of liberty of the press and newspaper-reading, might, in + fact, bring it about that the spirit would not so easily find itself in + "distress"! (The Germans invented gunpowder—all credit to them! but + they again made things square—they invented printing.) But we, who + are neither Jesuits, nor democrats, nor even sufficiently Germans, we GOOD + EUROPEANS, and free, VERY free spirits—we have it still, all the + distress of spirit and all the tension of its bow! And perhaps also the + arrow, the duty, and, who knows? THE GOAL TO AIM AT.... + </p> + <p> + Sils Maria Upper Engadine, JUNE, 1885. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. PREJUDICES OF PHILOSOPHERS + </h2> + <p> + 1. The Will to Truth, which is to tempt us to many a hazardous enterprise, + the famous Truthfulness of which all philosophers have hitherto spoken + with respect, what questions has this Will to Truth not laid before us! + What strange, perplexing, questionable questions! It is already a long + story; yet it seems as if it were hardly commenced. Is it any wonder if we + at last grow distrustful, lose patience, and turn impatiently away? That + this Sphinx teaches us at last to ask questions ourselves? WHO is it + really that puts questions to us here? WHAT really is this "Will to Truth" + in us? In fact we made a long halt at the question as to the origin of + this Will—until at last we came to an absolute standstill before a + yet more fundamental question. We inquired about the VALUE of this Will. + Granted that we want the truth: WHY NOT RATHER untruth? And uncertainty? + Even ignorance? The problem of the value of truth presented itself before + us—or was it we who presented ourselves before the problem? Which of + us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous + of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that it + at last seems to us as if the problem had never been propounded before, as + if we were the first to discern it, get a sight of it, and RISK RAISING + it? For there is risk in raising it, perhaps there is no greater risk. + </p> + <p> + 2. "HOW COULD anything originate out of its opposite? For example, truth + out of error? or the Will to Truth out of the will to deception? or the + generous deed out of selfishness? or the pure sun-bright vision of the + wise man out of covetousness? Such genesis is impossible; whoever dreams + of it is a fool, nay, worse than a fool; things of the highest value must + have a different origin, an origin of THEIR own—in this transitory, + seductive, illusory, paltry world, in this turmoil of delusion and + cupidity, they cannot have their source. But rather in the lap of Being, + in the intransitory, in the concealed God, in the 'Thing-in-itself—THERE + must be their source, and nowhere else!"—This mode of reasoning + discloses the typical prejudice by which metaphysicians of all times can + be recognized, this mode of valuation is at the back of all their logical + procedure; through this "belief" of theirs, they exert themselves for + their "knowledge," for something that is in the end solemnly christened + "the Truth." The fundamental belief of metaphysicians is THE BELIEF IN + ANTITHESES OF VALUES. It never occurred even to the wariest of them to + doubt here on the very threshold (where doubt, however, was most + necessary); though they had made a solemn vow, "DE OMNIBUS DUBITANDUM." + For it may be doubted, firstly, whether antitheses exist at all; and + secondly, whether the popular valuations and antitheses of value upon + which metaphysicians have set their seal, are not perhaps merely + superficial estimates, merely provisional perspectives, besides being + probably made from some corner, perhaps from below—"frog + perspectives," as it were, to borrow an expression current among painters. + In spite of all the value which may belong to the true, the positive, and + the unselfish, it might be possible that a higher and more fundamental + value for life generally should be assigned to pretence, to the will to + delusion, to selfishness, and cupidity. It might even be possible that + WHAT constitutes the value of those good and respected things, consists + precisely in their being insidiously related, knotted, and crocheted to + these evil and apparently opposed things—perhaps even in being + essentially identical with them. Perhaps! But who wishes to concern + himself with such dangerous "Perhapses"! For that investigation one must + await the advent of a new order of philosophers, such as will have other + tastes and inclinations, the reverse of those hitherto prevalent—philosophers + of the dangerous "Perhaps" in every sense of the term. And to speak in all + seriousness, I see such new philosophers beginning to appear. + </p> + <p> + 3. Having kept a sharp eye on philosophers, and having read between their + lines long enough, I now say to myself that the greater part of conscious + thinking must be counted among the instinctive functions, and it is so + even in the case of philosophical thinking; one has here to learn anew, as + one learned anew about heredity and "innateness." As little as the act of + birth comes into consideration in the whole process and procedure of + heredity, just as little is "being-conscious" OPPOSED to the instinctive + in any decisive sense; the greater part of the conscious thinking of a + philosopher is secretly influenced by his instincts, and forced into + definite channels. And behind all logic and its seeming sovereignty of + movement, there are valuations, or to speak more plainly, physiological + demands, for the maintenance of a definite mode of life For example, that + the certain is worth more than the uncertain, that illusion is less + valuable than "truth" such valuations, in spite of their regulative + importance for US, might notwithstanding be only superficial valuations, + special kinds of <i>niaiserie</i>, such as may be necessary for the + maintenance of beings such as ourselves. Supposing, in effect, that man is + not just the "measure of things." + </p> + <p> + 4. The falseness of an opinion is not for us any objection to it: it is + here, perhaps, that our new language sounds most strangely. The question + is, how far an opinion is life-furthering, life-preserving, + species-preserving, perhaps species-rearing, and we are fundamentally + inclined to maintain that the falsest opinions (to which the synthetic + judgments a priori belong), are the most indispensable to us, that without + a recognition of logical fictions, without a comparison of reality with + the purely IMAGINED world of the absolute and immutable, without a + constant counterfeiting of the world by means of numbers, man could not + live—that the renunciation of false opinions would be a renunciation + of life, a negation of life. TO RECOGNISE UNTRUTH AS A CONDITION OF LIFE; + that is certainly to impugn the traditional ideas of value in a dangerous + manner, and a philosophy which ventures to do so, has thereby alone placed + itself beyond good and evil. + </p> + <p> + 5. That which causes philosophers to be regarded half-distrustfully and + half-mockingly, is not the oft-repeated discovery how innocent they are—how + often and easily they make mistakes and lose their way, in short, how + childish and childlike they are,—but that there is not enough honest + dealing with them, whereas they all raise a loud and virtuous outcry when + the problem of truthfulness is even hinted at in the remotest manner. They + all pose as though their real opinions had been discovered and attained + through the self-evolving of a cold, pure, divinely indifferent dialectic + (in contrast to all sorts of mystics, who, fairer and foolisher, talk of + "inspiration"), whereas, in fact, a prejudiced proposition, idea, or + "suggestion," which is generally their heart's desire abstracted and + refined, is defended by them with arguments sought out after the event. + They are all advocates who do not wish to be regarded as such, generally + astute defenders, also, of their prejudices, which they dub "truths,"—and + VERY far from having the conscience which bravely admits this to itself, + very far from having the good taste of the courage which goes so far as to + let this be understood, perhaps to warn friend or foe, or in cheerful + confidence and self-ridicule. The spectacle of the Tartuffery of old Kant, + equally stiff and decent, with which he entices us into the dialectic + by-ways that lead (more correctly mislead) to his "categorical imperative"—makes + us fastidious ones smile, we who find no small amusement in spying out the + subtle tricks of old moralists and ethical preachers. Or, still more so, + the hocus-pocus in mathematical form, by means of which Spinoza has, as it + were, clad his philosophy in mail and mask—in fact, the "love of HIS + wisdom," to translate the term fairly and squarely—in order thereby + to strike terror at once into the heart of the assailant who should dare + to cast a glance on that invincible maiden, that Pallas Athene:—how + much of personal timidity and vulnerability does this masquerade of a + sickly recluse betray! + </p> + <p> + 6. It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till + now has consisted of—namely, the confession of its originator, and a + species of involuntary and unconscious auto-biography; and moreover that + the moral (or immoral) purpose in every philosophy has constituted the + true vital germ out of which the entire plant has always grown. Indeed, to + understand how the abstrusest metaphysical assertions of a philosopher + have been arrived at, it is always well (and wise) to first ask oneself: + "What morality do they (or does he) aim at?" Accordingly, I do not believe + that an "impulse to knowledge" is the father of philosophy; but that + another impulse, here as elsewhere, has only made use of knowledge (and + mistaken knowledge!) as an instrument. But whoever considers the + fundamental impulses of man with a view to determining how far they may + have here acted as INSPIRING GENII (or as demons and cobolds), will find + that they have all practiced philosophy at one time or another, and that + each one of them would have been only too glad to look upon itself as the + ultimate end of existence and the legitimate LORD over all the other + impulses. For every impulse is imperious, and as SUCH, attempts to + philosophize. To be sure, in the case of scholars, in the case of really + scientific men, it may be otherwise—"better," if you will; there + there may really be such a thing as an "impulse to knowledge," some kind + of small, independent clock-work, which, when well wound up, works away + industriously to that end, WITHOUT the rest of the scholarly impulses + taking any material part therein. The actual "interests" of the scholar, + therefore, are generally in quite another direction—in the family, + perhaps, or in money-making, or in politics; it is, in fact, almost + indifferent at what point of research his little machine is placed, and + whether the hopeful young worker becomes a good philologist, a mushroom + specialist, or a chemist; he is not CHARACTERISED by becoming this or + that. In the philosopher, on the contrary, there is absolutely nothing + impersonal; and above all, his morality furnishes a decided and decisive + testimony as to WHO HE IS,—that is to say, in what order the deepest + impulses of his nature stand to each other. + </p> + <p> + 7. How malicious philosophers can be! I know of nothing more stinging than + the joke Epicurus took the liberty of making on Plato and the Platonists; + he called them Dionysiokolakes. In its original sense, and on the face of + it, the word signifies "Flatterers of Dionysius"—consequently, + tyrants' accessories and lick-spittles; besides this, however, it is as + much as to say, "They are all ACTORS, there is nothing genuine about them" + (for Dionysiokolax was a popular name for an actor). And the latter is + really the malignant reproach that Epicurus cast upon Plato: he was + annoyed by the grandiose manner, the mise en scene style of which Plato + and his scholars were masters—of which Epicurus was not a master! + He, the old school-teacher of Samos, who sat concealed in his little + garden at Athens, and wrote three hundred books, perhaps out of rage and + ambitious envy of Plato, who knows! Greece took a hundred years to find + out who the garden-god Epicurus really was. Did she ever find out? + </p> + <p> + 8. There is a point in every philosophy at which the "conviction" of the + philosopher appears on the scene; or, to put it in the words of an ancient + mystery: + </p> + <p> + Adventavit asinus, Pulcher et fortissimus. + </p> + <p> + 9. You desire to LIVE "according to Nature"? Oh, you noble Stoics, what + fraud of words! Imagine to yourselves a being like Nature, boundlessly + extravagant, boundlessly indifferent, without purpose or consideration, + without pity or justice, at once fruitful and barren and uncertain: + imagine to yourselves INDIFFERENCE as a power—how COULD you live in + accordance with such indifference? To live—is not that just + endeavouring to be otherwise than this Nature? Is not living valuing, + preferring, being unjust, being limited, endeavouring to be different? And + granted that your imperative, "living according to Nature," means actually + the same as "living according to life"—how could you do DIFFERENTLY? + Why should you make a principle out of what you yourselves are, and must + be? In reality, however, it is quite otherwise with you: while you pretend + to read with rapture the canon of your law in Nature, you want something + quite the contrary, you extraordinary stage-players and self-deluders! In + your pride you wish to dictate your morals and ideals to Nature, to Nature + herself, and to incorporate them therein; you insist that it shall be + Nature "according to the Stoa," and would like everything to be made after + your own image, as a vast, eternal glorification and generalism of + Stoicism! With all your love for truth, you have forced yourselves so + long, so persistently, and with such hypnotic rigidity to see Nature + FALSELY, that is to say, Stoically, that you are no longer able to see it + otherwise—and to crown all, some unfathomable superciliousness gives + you the Bedlamite hope that BECAUSE you are able to tyrannize over + yourselves—Stoicism is self-tyranny—Nature will also allow + herself to be tyrannized over: is not the Stoic a PART of Nature?... But + this is an old and everlasting story: what happened in old times with the + Stoics still happens today, as soon as ever a philosophy begins to believe + in itself. It always creates the world in its own image; it cannot do + otherwise; philosophy is this tyrannical impulse itself, the most + spiritual Will to Power, the will to "creation of the world," the will to + the causa prima. + </p> + <p> + 10. The eagerness and subtlety, I should even say craftiness, with which + the problem of "the real and the apparent world" is dealt with at present + throughout Europe, furnishes food for thought and attention; and he who + hears only a "Will to Truth" in the background, and nothing else, cannot + certainly boast of the sharpest ears. In rare and isolated cases, it may + really have happened that such a Will to Truth—a certain extravagant + and adventurous pluck, a metaphysician's ambition of the forlorn hope—has + participated therein: that which in the end always prefers a handful of + "certainty" to a whole cartload of beautiful possibilities; there may even + be puritanical fanatics of conscience, who prefer to put their last trust + in a sure nothing, rather than in an uncertain something. But that is + Nihilism, and the sign of a despairing, mortally wearied soul, + notwithstanding the courageous bearing such a virtue may display. It + seems, however, to be otherwise with stronger and livelier thinkers who + are still eager for life. In that they side AGAINST appearance, and speak + superciliously of "perspective," in that they rank the credibility of + their own bodies about as low as the credibility of the ocular evidence + that "the earth stands still," and thus, apparently, allowing with + complacency their securest possession to escape (for what does one at + present believe in more firmly than in one's body?),—who knows if + they are not really trying to win back something which was formerly an + even securer possession, something of the old domain of the faith of + former times, perhaps the "immortal soul," perhaps "the old God," in + short, ideas by which they could live better, that is to say, more + vigorously and more joyously, than by "modern ideas"? There is DISTRUST of + these modern ideas in this mode of looking at things, a disbelief in all + that has been constructed yesterday and today; there is perhaps some + slight admixture of satiety and scorn, which can no longer endure the + BRIC-A-BRAC of ideas of the most varied origin, such as so-called + Positivism at present throws on the market; a disgust of the more refined + taste at the village-fair motleyness and patchiness of all these + reality-philosophasters, in whom there is nothing either new or true, + except this motleyness. Therein it seems to me that we should agree with + those skeptical anti-realists and knowledge-microscopists of the present + day; their instinct, which repels them from MODERN reality, is + unrefuted... what do their retrograde by-paths concern us! The main thing + about them is NOT that they wish to go "back," but that they wish to get + AWAY therefrom. A little MORE strength, swing, courage, and artistic + power, and they would be OFF—and not back! + </p> + <p> + 11. It seems to me that there is everywhere an attempt at present to + divert attention from the actual influence which Kant exercised on German + philosophy, and especially to ignore prudently the value which he set upon + himself. Kant was first and foremost proud of his Table of Categories; + with it in his hand he said: "This is the most difficult thing that could + ever be undertaken on behalf of metaphysics." Let us only understand this + "could be"! He was proud of having DISCOVERED a new faculty in man, the + faculty of synthetic judgment a priori. Granting that he deceived himself + in this matter; the development and rapid flourishing of German philosophy + depended nevertheless on his pride, and on the eager rivalry of the + younger generation to discover if possible something—at all events + "new faculties"—of which to be still prouder!—But let us + reflect for a moment—it is high time to do so. "How are synthetic + judgments a priori POSSIBLE?" Kant asks himself—and what is really + his answer? "BY MEANS OF A MEANS (faculty)"—but unfortunately not in + five words, but so circumstantially, imposingly, and with such display of + German profundity and verbal flourishes, that one altogether loses sight + of the comical niaiserie allemande involved in such an answer. People were + beside themselves with delight over this new faculty, and the jubilation + reached its climax when Kant further discovered a moral faculty in man—for + at that time Germans were still moral, not yet dabbling in the "Politics + of hard fact." Then came the honeymoon of German philosophy. All the young + theologians of the Tubingen institution went immediately into the groves—all + seeking for "faculties." And what did they not find—in that + innocent, rich, and still youthful period of the German spirit, to which + Romanticism, the malicious fairy, piped and sang, when one could not yet + distinguish between "finding" and "inventing"! Above all a faculty for the + "transcendental"; Schelling christened it, intellectual intuition, and + thereby gratified the most earnest longings of the naturally + pious-inclined Germans. One can do no greater wrong to the whole of this + exuberant and eccentric movement (which was really youthfulness, + notwithstanding that it disguised itself so boldly, in hoary and senile + conceptions), than to take it seriously, or even treat it with moral + indignation. Enough, however—the world grew older, and the dream + vanished. A time came when people rubbed their foreheads, and they still + rub them today. People had been dreaming, and first and foremost—old + Kant. "By means of a means (faculty)"—he had said, or at least meant + to say. But, is that—an answer? An explanation? Or is it not rather + merely a repetition of the question? How does opium induce sleep? "By + means of a means (faculty)," namely the virtus dormitiva, replies the + doctor in Moliere, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Quia est in eo virtus dormitiva, + Cujus est natura sensus assoupire. +</pre> + <p> + But such replies belong to the realm of comedy, and it is high time to + replace the Kantian question, "How are synthetic judgments a PRIORI + possible?" by another question, "Why is belief in such judgments + necessary?"—in effect, it is high time that we should understand + that such judgments must be believed to be true, for the sake of the + preservation of creatures like ourselves; though they still might + naturally be false judgments! Or, more plainly spoken, and roughly and + readily—synthetic judgments a priori should not "be possible" at + all; we have no right to them; in our mouths they are nothing but false + judgments. Only, of course, the belief in their truth is necessary, as + plausible belief and ocular evidence belonging to the perspective view of + life. And finally, to call to mind the enormous influence which "German + philosophy"—I hope you understand its right to inverted commas + (goosefeet)?—has exercised throughout the whole of Europe, there is + no doubt that a certain VIRTUS DORMITIVA had a share in it; thanks to + German philosophy, it was a delight to the noble idlers, the virtuous, the + mystics, the artiste, the three-fourths Christians, and the political + obscurantists of all nations, to find an antidote to the still + overwhelming sensualism which overflowed from the last century into this, + in short—"sensus assoupire."... + </p> + <p> + 12. As regards materialistic atomism, it is one of the best-refuted + theories that have been advanced, and in Europe there is now perhaps no + one in the learned world so unscholarly as to attach serious signification + to it, except for convenient everyday use (as an abbreviation of the means + of expression)—thanks chiefly to the Pole Boscovich: he and the Pole + Copernicus have hitherto been the greatest and most successful opponents + of ocular evidence. For while Copernicus has persuaded us to believe, + contrary to all the senses, that the earth does NOT stand fast, Boscovich + has taught us to abjure the belief in the last thing that "stood fast" of + the earth—the belief in "substance," in "matter," in the + earth-residuum, and particle-atom: it is the greatest triumph over the + senses that has hitherto been gained on earth. One must, however, go still + further, and also declare war, relentless war to the knife, against the + "atomistic requirements" which still lead a dangerous after-life in places + where no one suspects them, like the more celebrated "metaphysical + requirements": one must also above all give the finishing stroke to that + other and more portentous atomism which Christianity has taught best and + longest, the SOUL-ATOMISM. Let it be permitted to designate by this + expression the belief which regards the soul as something indestructible, + eternal, indivisible, as a monad, as an atomon: this belief ought to be + expelled from science! Between ourselves, it is not at all necessary to + get rid of "the soul" thereby, and thus renounce one of the oldest and + most venerated hypotheses—as happens frequently to the clumsiness of + naturalists, who can hardly touch on the soul without immediately losing + it. But the way is open for new acceptations and refinements of the + soul-hypothesis; and such conceptions as "mortal soul," and "soul of + subjective multiplicity," and "soul as social structure of the instincts + and passions," want henceforth to have legitimate rights in science. In + that the NEW psychologist is about to put an end to the superstitions + which have hitherto flourished with almost tropical luxuriance around the + idea of the soul, he is really, as it were, thrusting himself into a new + desert and a new distrust—it is possible that the older + psychologists had a merrier and more comfortable time of it; eventually, + however, he finds that precisely thereby he is also condemned to INVENT—and, + who knows? perhaps to DISCOVER the new. + </p> + <p> + 13. Psychologists should bethink themselves before putting down the + instinct of self-preservation as the cardinal instinct of an organic + being. A living thing seeks above all to DISCHARGE its strength—life + itself is WILL TO POWER; self-preservation is only one of the indirect and + most frequent RESULTS thereof. In short, here, as everywhere else, let us + beware of SUPERFLUOUS teleological principles!—one of which is the + instinct of self-preservation (we owe it to Spinoza's inconsistency). It + is thus, in effect, that method ordains, which must be essentially economy + of principles. + </p> + <p> + 14. It is perhaps just dawning on five or six minds that natural + philosophy is only a world-exposition and world-arrangement (according to + us, if I may say so!) and NOT a world-explanation; but in so far as it is + based on belief in the senses, it is regarded as more, and for a long time + to come must be regarded as more—namely, as an explanation. It has + eyes and fingers of its own, it has ocular evidence and palpableness of + its own: this operates fascinatingly, persuasively, and CONVINCINGLY upon + an age with fundamentally plebeian tastes—in fact, it follows + instinctively the canon of truth of eternal popular sensualism. What is + clear, what is "explained"? Only that which can be seen and felt—one + must pursue every problem thus far. Obversely, however, the charm of the + Platonic mode of thought, which was an ARISTOCRATIC mode, consisted + precisely in RESISTANCE to obvious sense-evidence—perhaps among men + who enjoyed even stronger and more fastidious senses than our + contemporaries, but who knew how to find a higher triumph in remaining + masters of them: and this by means of pale, cold, grey conceptional + networks which they threw over the motley whirl of the senses—the + mob of the senses, as Plato said. In this overcoming of the world, and + interpreting of the world in the manner of Plato, there was an ENJOYMENT + different from that which the physicists of today offer us—and + likewise the Darwinists and anti-teleologists among the physiological + workers, with their principle of the "smallest possible effort," and the + greatest possible blunder. "Where there is nothing more to see or to + grasp, there is also nothing more for men to do"—that is certainly + an imperative different from the Platonic one, but it may notwithstanding + be the right imperative for a hardy, laborious race of machinists and + bridge-builders of the future, who have nothing but ROUGH work to perform. + </p> + <p> + 15. To study physiology with a clear conscience, one must insist on the + fact that the sense-organs are not phenomena in the sense of the + idealistic philosophy; as such they certainly could not be causes! + Sensualism, therefore, at least as regulative hypothesis, if not as + heuristic principle. What? And others say even that the external world is + the work of our organs? But then our body, as a part of this external + world, would be the work of our organs! But then our organs themselves + would be the work of our organs! It seems to me that this is a complete + REDUCTIO AD ABSURDUM, if the conception CAUSA SUI is something + fundamentally absurd. Consequently, the external world is NOT the work of + our organs—? + </p> + <p> + 16. There are still harmless self-observers who believe that there are + "immediate certainties"; for instance, "I think," or as the superstition + of Schopenhauer puts it, "I will"; as though cognition here got hold of + its object purely and simply as "the thing in itself," without any + falsification taking place either on the part of the subject or the + object. I would repeat it, however, a hundred times, that "immediate + certainty," as well as "absolute knowledge" and the "thing in itself," + involve a CONTRADICTIO IN ADJECTO; we really ought to free ourselves from + the misleading significance of words! The people on their part may think + that cognition is knowing all about things, but the philosopher must say + to himself: "When I analyze the process that is expressed in the sentence, + 'I think,' I find a whole series of daring assertions, the argumentative + proof of which would be difficult, perhaps impossible: for instance, that + it is <i>I</i> who think, that there must necessarily be something that + thinks, that thinking is an activity and operation on the part of a being + who is thought of as a cause, that there is an 'ego,' and finally, that it + is already determined what is to be designated by thinking—that I + KNOW what thinking is. For if I had not already decided within myself what + it is, by what standard could I determine whether that which is just + happening is not perhaps 'willing' or 'feeling'? In short, the assertion + 'I think,' assumes that I COMPARE my state at the present moment with + other states of myself which I know, in order to determine what it is; on + account of this retrospective connection with further 'knowledge,' it has, + at any rate, no immediate certainty for me."—In place of the + "immediate certainty" in which the people may believe in the special case, + the philosopher thus finds a series of metaphysical questions presented to + him, veritable conscience questions of the intellect, to wit: "Whence did + I get the notion of 'thinking'? Why do I believe in cause and effect? What + gives me the right to speak of an 'ego,' and even of an 'ego' as cause, + and finally of an 'ego' as cause of thought?" He who ventures to answer + these metaphysical questions at once by an appeal to a sort of INTUITIVE + perception, like the person who says, "I think, and know that this, at + least, is true, actual, and certain"—will encounter a smile and two + notes of interrogation in a philosopher nowadays. "Sir," the philosopher + will perhaps give him to understand, "it is improbable that you are not + mistaken, but why should it be the truth?" + </p> + <p> + 17. With regard to the superstitions of logicians, I shall never tire of + emphasizing a small, terse fact, which is unwillingly recognized by these + credulous minds—namely, that a thought comes when "it" wishes, and + not when "I" wish; so that it is a PERVERSION of the facts of the case to + say that the subject "I" is the condition of the predicate "think." ONE + thinks; but that this "one" is precisely the famous old "ego," is, to put + it mildly, only a supposition, an assertion, and assuredly not an + "immediate certainty." After all, one has even gone too far with this "one + thinks"—even the "one" contains an INTERPRETATION of the process, + and does not belong to the process itself. One infers here according to + the usual grammatical formula—"To think is an activity; every + activity requires an agency that is active; consequently"... It was pretty + much on the same lines that the older atomism sought, besides the + operating "power," the material particle wherein it resides and out of + which it operates—the atom. More rigorous minds, however, learnt at + last to get along without this "earth-residuum," and perhaps some day we + shall accustom ourselves, even from the logician's point of view, to get + along without the little "one" (to which the worthy old "ego" has refined + itself). + </p> + <p> + 18. It is certainly not the least charm of a theory that it is refutable; + it is precisely thereby that it attracts the more subtle minds. It seems + that the hundred-times-refuted theory of the "free will" owes its + persistence to this charm alone; some one is always appearing who feels + himself strong enough to refute it. + </p> + <p> + 19. Philosophers are accustomed to speak of the will as though it were the + best-known thing in the world; indeed, Schopenhauer has given us to + understand that the will alone is really known to us, absolutely and + completely known, without deduction or addition. But it again and again + seems to me that in this case Schopenhauer also only did what philosophers + are in the habit of doing—he seems to have adopted a POPULAR + PREJUDICE and exaggerated it. Willing seems to me to be above all + something COMPLICATED, something that is a unity only in name—and it + is precisely in a name that popular prejudice lurks, which has got the + mastery over the inadequate precautions of philosophers in all ages. So + let us for once be more cautious, let us be "unphilosophical": let us say + that in all willing there is firstly a plurality of sensations, namely, + the sensation of the condition "AWAY FROM WHICH we go," the sensation of + the condition "TOWARDS WHICH we go," the sensation of this "FROM" and + "TOWARDS" itself, and then besides, an accompanying muscular sensation, + which, even without our putting in motion "arms and legs," commences its + action by force of habit, directly we "will" anything. Therefore, just as + sensations (and indeed many kinds of sensations) are to be recognized as + ingredients of the will, so, in the second place, thinking is also to be + recognized; in every act of the will there is a ruling thought;—and + let us not imagine it possible to sever this thought from the "willing," + as if the will would then remain over! In the third place, the will is not + only a complex of sensation and thinking, but it is above all an EMOTION, + and in fact the emotion of the command. That which is termed "freedom of + the will" is essentially the emotion of supremacy in respect to him who + must obey: "I am free, 'he' must obey"—this consciousness is + inherent in every will; and equally so the straining of the attention, the + straight look which fixes itself exclusively on one thing, the + unconditional judgment that "this and nothing else is necessary now," the + inward certainty that obedience will be rendered—and whatever else + pertains to the position of the commander. A man who WILLS commands + something within himself which renders obedience, or which he believes + renders obedience. But now let us notice what is the strangest thing about + the will,—this affair so extremely complex, for which the people + have only one name. Inasmuch as in the given circumstances we are at the + same time the commanding AND the obeying parties, and as the obeying party + we know the sensations of constraint, impulsion, pressure, resistance, and + motion, which usually commence immediately after the act of will; inasmuch + as, on the other hand, we are accustomed to disregard this duality, and to + deceive ourselves about it by means of the synthetic term "I": a whole + series of erroneous conclusions, and consequently of false judgments about + the will itself, has become attached to the act of willing—to such a + degree that he who wills believes firmly that willing SUFFICES for action. + Since in the majority of cases there has only been exercise of will when + the effect of the command—consequently obedience, and therefore + action—was to be EXPECTED, the APPEARANCE has translated itself into + the sentiment, as if there were a NECESSITY OF EFFECT; in a word, he who + wills believes with a fair amount of certainty that will and action are + somehow one; he ascribes the success, the carrying out of the willing, to + the will itself, and thereby enjoys an increase of the sensation of power + which accompanies all success. "Freedom of Will"—that is the + expression for the complex state of delight of the person exercising + volition, who commands and at the same time identifies himself with the + executor of the order—who, as such, enjoys also the triumph over + obstacles, but thinks within himself that it was really his own will that + overcame them. In this way the person exercising volition adds the + feelings of delight of his successful executive instruments, the useful + "underwills" or under-souls—indeed, our body is but a social + structure composed of many souls—to his feelings of delight as + commander. L'EFFET C'EST MOI. what happens here is what happens in every + well-constructed and happy commonwealth, namely, that the governing class + identifies itself with the successes of the commonwealth. In all willing + it is absolutely a question of commanding and obeying, on the basis, as + already said, of a social structure composed of many "souls", on which + account a philosopher should claim the right to include willing-as-such + within the sphere of morals—regarded as the doctrine of the + relations of supremacy under which the phenomenon of "life" manifests + itself. + </p> + <p> + 20. That the separate philosophical ideas are not anything optional or + autonomously evolving, but grow up in connection and relationship with + each other, that, however suddenly and arbitrarily they seem to appear in + the history of thought, they nevertheless belong just as much to a system + as the collective members of the fauna of a Continent—is betrayed in + the end by the circumstance: how unfailingly the most diverse philosophers + always fill in again a definite fundamental scheme of POSSIBLE + philosophies. Under an invisible spell, they always revolve once more in + the same orbit, however independent of each other they may feel themselves + with their critical or systematic wills, something within them leads them, + something impels them in definite order the one after the other—to + wit, the innate methodology and relationship of their ideas. Their + thinking is, in fact, far less a discovery than a re-recognizing, a + remembering, a return and a home-coming to a far-off, ancient + common-household of the soul, out of which those ideas formerly grew: + philosophizing is so far a kind of atavism of the highest order. The + wonderful family resemblance of all Indian, Greek, and German + philosophizing is easily enough explained. In fact, where there is + affinity of language, owing to the common philosophy of grammar—I + mean owing to the unconscious domination and guidance of similar + grammatical functions—it cannot but be that everything is prepared + at the outset for a similar development and succession of philosophical + systems, just as the way seems barred against certain other possibilities + of world-interpretation. It is highly probable that philosophers within + the domain of the Ural-Altaic languages (where the conception of the + subject is least developed) look otherwise "into the world," and will be + found on paths of thought different from those of the Indo-Germans and + Mussulmans, the spell of certain grammatical functions is ultimately also + the spell of PHYSIOLOGICAL valuations and racial conditions.—So much + by way of rejecting Locke's superficiality with regard to the origin of + ideas. + </p> + <p> + 21. The CAUSA SUI is the best self-contradiction that has yet been + conceived, it is a sort of logical violation and unnaturalness; but the + extravagant pride of man has managed to entangle itself profoundly and + frightfully with this very folly. The desire for "freedom of will" in the + superlative, metaphysical sense, such as still holds sway, unfortunately, + in the minds of the half-educated, the desire to bear the entire and + ultimate responsibility for one's actions oneself, and to absolve God, the + world, ancestors, chance, and society therefrom, involves nothing less + than to be precisely this CAUSA SUI, and, with more than Munchausen + daring, to pull oneself up into existence by the hair, out of the slough + of nothingness. If any one should find out in this manner the crass + stupidity of the celebrated conception of "free will" and put it out of + his head altogether, I beg of him to carry his "enlightenment" a step + further, and also put out of his head the contrary of this monstrous + conception of "free will": I mean "non-free will," which is tantamount to + a misuse of cause and effect. One should not wrongly MATERIALISE "cause" + and "effect," as the natural philosophers do (and whoever like them + naturalize in thinking at present), according to the prevailing mechanical + doltishness which makes the cause press and push until it "effects" its + end; one should use "cause" and "effect" only as pure CONCEPTIONS, that is + to say, as conventional fictions for the purpose of designation and mutual + understanding,—NOT for explanation. In "being-in-itself" there is + nothing of "casual-connection," of "necessity," or of "psychological + non-freedom"; there the effect does NOT follow the cause, there "law" does + not obtain. It is WE alone who have devised cause, sequence, reciprocity, + relativity, constraint, number, law, freedom, motive, and purpose; and + when we interpret and intermix this symbol-world, as "being-in-itself," + with things, we act once more as we have always acted—MYTHOLOGICALLY. + The "non-free will" is mythology; in real life it is only a question of + STRONG and WEAK wills.—It is almost always a symptom of what is + lacking in himself, when a thinker, in every "causal-connection" and + "psychological necessity," manifests something of compulsion, indigence, + obsequiousness, oppression, and non-freedom; it is suspicious to have such + feelings—the person betrays himself. And in general, if I have + observed correctly, the "non-freedom of the will" is regarded as a problem + from two entirely opposite standpoints, but always in a profoundly + PERSONAL manner: some will not give up their "responsibility," their + belief in THEMSELVES, the personal right to THEIR merits, at any price + (the vain races belong to this class); others on the contrary, do not wish + to be answerable for anything, or blamed for anything, and owing to an + inward self-contempt, seek to GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS, no matter how. The + latter, when they write books, are in the habit at present of taking the + side of criminals; a sort of socialistic sympathy is their favourite + disguise. And as a matter of fact, the fatalism of the weak-willed + embellishes itself surprisingly when it can pose as "la religion de la + souffrance humaine"; that is ITS "good taste." + </p> + <p> + 22. Let me be pardoned, as an old philologist who cannot desist from the + mischief of putting his finger on bad modes of interpretation, but + "Nature's conformity to law," of which you physicists talk so proudly, as + though—why, it exists only owing to your interpretation and bad + "philology." It is no matter of fact, no "text," but rather just a naively + humanitarian adjustment and perversion of meaning, with which you make + abundant concessions to the democratic instincts of the modern soul! + "Everywhere equality before the law—Nature is not different in that + respect, nor better than we": a fine instance of secret motive, in which + the vulgar antagonism to everything privileged and autocratic—likewise + a second and more refined atheism—is once more disguised. "Ni dieu, + ni maitre"—that, also, is what you want; and therefore "Cheers for + natural law!"—is it not so? But, as has been said, that is + interpretation, not text; and somebody might come along, who, with + opposite intentions and modes of interpretation, could read out of the + same "Nature," and with regard to the same phenomena, just the + tyrannically inconsiderate and relentless enforcement of the claims of + power—an interpreter who should so place the unexceptionalness and + unconditionalness of all "Will to Power" before your eyes, that almost + every word, and the word "tyranny" itself, would eventually seem + unsuitable, or like a weakening and softening metaphor—as being too + human; and who should, nevertheless, end by asserting the same about this + world as you do, namely, that it has a "necessary" and "calculable" + course, NOT, however, because laws obtain in it, but because they are + absolutely LACKING, and every power effects its ultimate consequences + every moment. Granted that this also is only interpretation—and you + will be eager enough to make this objection?—well, so much the + better. + </p> + <p> + 23. All psychology hitherto has run aground on moral prejudices and + timidities, it has not dared to launch out into the depths. In so far as + it is allowable to recognize in that which has hitherto been written, + evidence of that which has hitherto been kept silent, it seems as if + nobody had yet harboured the notion of psychology as the Morphology and + DEVELOPMENT-DOCTRINE OF THE WILL TO POWER, as I conceive of it. The power + of moral prejudices has penetrated deeply into the most intellectual + world, the world apparently most indifferent and unprejudiced, and has + obviously operated in an injurious, obstructive, blinding, and distorting + manner. A proper physio-psychology has to contend with unconscious + antagonism in the heart of the investigator, it has "the heart" against it + even a doctrine of the reciprocal conditionalness of the "good" and the + "bad" impulses, causes (as refined immorality) distress and aversion in a + still strong and manly conscience—still more so, a doctrine of the + derivation of all good impulses from bad ones. If, however, a person + should regard even the emotions of hatred, envy, covetousness, and + imperiousness as life-conditioning emotions, as factors which must be + present, fundamentally and essentially, in the general economy of life + (which must, therefore, be further developed if life is to be further + developed), he will suffer from such a view of things as from + sea-sickness. And yet this hypothesis is far from being the strangest and + most painful in this immense and almost new domain of dangerous knowledge, + and there are in fact a hundred good reasons why every one should keep + away from it who CAN do so! On the other hand, if one has once drifted + hither with one's bark, well! very good! now let us set our teeth firmly! + let us open our eyes and keep our hand fast on the helm! We sail away + right OVER morality, we crush out, we destroy perhaps the remains of our + own morality by daring to make our voyage thither—but what do WE + matter. Never yet did a PROFOUNDER world of insight reveal itself to + daring travelers and adventurers, and the psychologist who thus "makes a + sacrifice"—it is not the sacrifizio dell' intelletto, on the + contrary!—will at least be entitled to demand in return that + psychology shall once more be recognized as the queen of the sciences, for + whose service and equipment the other sciences exist. For psychology is + once more the path to the fundamental problems. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. THE FREE SPIRIT + </h2> + <p> + 24. O sancta simplicitas! In what strange simplification and + falsification man lives! One can never cease wondering when once one has + got eyes for beholding this marvel! How we have made everything around us + clear and free and easy and simple! how we have been able to give our + senses a passport to everything superficial, our thoughts a godlike desire + for wanton pranks and wrong inferences!—how from the beginning, we + have contrived to retain our ignorance in order to enjoy an almost + inconceivable freedom, thoughtlessness, imprudence, heartiness, and gaiety—in + order to enjoy life! And only on this solidified, granite-like foundation + of ignorance could knowledge rear itself hitherto, the will to knowledge + on the foundation of a far more powerful will, the will to ignorance, to + the uncertain, to the untrue! Not as its opposite, but—as its + refinement! It is to be hoped, indeed, that LANGUAGE, here as elsewhere, + will not get over its awkwardness, and that it will continue to talk of + opposites where there are only degrees and many refinements of gradation; + it is equally to be hoped that the incarnated Tartuffery of morals, which + now belongs to our unconquerable "flesh and blood," will turn the words + round in the mouths of us discerning ones. Here and there we understand + it, and laugh at the way in which precisely the best knowledge seeks most + to retain us in this SIMPLIFIED, thoroughly artificial, suitably imagined, + and suitably falsified world: at the way in which, whether it will or not, + it loves error, because, as living itself, it loves life! + </p> + <p> + 25. After such a cheerful commencement, a serious word would fain be + heard; it appeals to the most serious minds. Take care, ye philosophers + and friends of knowledge, and beware of martyrdom! Of suffering "for the + truth's sake"! even in your own defense! It spoils all the innocence and + fine neutrality of your conscience; it makes you headstrong against + objections and red rags; it stupefies, animalizes, and brutalizes, when in + the struggle with danger, slander, suspicion, expulsion, and even worse + consequences of enmity, ye have at last to play your last card as + protectors of truth upon earth—as though "the Truth" were such an + innocent and incompetent creature as to require protectors! and you of all + people, ye knights of the sorrowful countenance, Messrs Loafers and + Cobweb-spinners of the spirit! Finally, ye know sufficiently well that it + cannot be of any consequence if YE just carry your point; ye know that + hitherto no philosopher has carried his point, and that there might be a + more laudable truthfulness in every little interrogative mark which you + place after your special words and favourite doctrines (and occasionally + after yourselves) than in all the solemn pantomime and trumping games + before accusers and law-courts! Rather go out of the way! Flee into + concealment! And have your masks and your ruses, that ye may be mistaken + for what you are, or somewhat feared! And pray, don't forget the garden, + the garden with golden trellis-work! And have people around you who are as + a garden—or as music on the waters at eventide, when already the day + becomes a memory. Choose the GOOD solitude, the free, wanton, lightsome + solitude, which also gives you the right still to remain good in any sense + whatsoever! How poisonous, how crafty, how bad, does every long war make + one, which cannot be waged openly by means of force! How PERSONAL does a + long fear make one, a long watching of enemies, of possible enemies! These + pariahs of society, these long-pursued, badly-persecuted ones—also + the compulsory recluses, the Spinozas or Giordano Brunos—always + become in the end, even under the most intellectual masquerade, and + perhaps without being themselves aware of it, refined vengeance-seekers + and poison-Brewers (just lay bare the foundation of Spinoza's ethics and + theology!), not to speak of the stupidity of moral indignation, which is + the unfailing sign in a philosopher that the sense of philosophical humour + has left him. The martyrdom of the philosopher, his "sacrifice for the + sake of truth," forces into the light whatever of the agitator and actor + lurks in him; and if one has hitherto contemplated him only with artistic + curiosity, with regard to many a philosopher it is easy to understand the + dangerous desire to see him also in his deterioration (deteriorated into a + "martyr," into a stage-and-tribune-bawler). Only, that it is necessary + with such a desire to be clear WHAT spectacle one will see in any case—merely + a satyric play, merely an epilogue farce, merely the continued proof that + the long, real tragedy IS AT AN END, supposing that every philosophy has + been a long tragedy in its origin. + </p> + <p> + 26. Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, + where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority—where he may + forget "men who are the rule," as their exception;—exclusive only of + the case in which he is pushed straight to such men by a still stronger + instinct, as a discerner in the great and exceptional sense. Whoever, in + intercourse with men, does not occasionally glisten in all the green and + grey colours of distress, owing to disgust, satiety, sympathy, gloominess, + and solitariness, is assuredly not a man of elevated tastes; supposing, + however, that he does not voluntarily take all this burden and disgust + upon himself, that he persistently avoids it, and remains, as I said, + quietly and proudly hidden in his citadel, one thing is then certain: he + was not made, he was not predestined for knowledge. For as such, he would + one day have to say to himself: "The devil take my good taste! but 'the + rule' is more interesting than the exception—than myself, the + exception!" And he would go DOWN, and above all, he would go "inside." The + long and serious study of the AVERAGE man—and consequently much + disguise, self-overcoming, familiarity, and bad intercourse (all + intercourse is bad intercourse except with one's equals):—that + constitutes a necessary part of the life-history of every philosopher; + perhaps the most disagreeable, odious, and disappointing part. If he is + fortunate, however, as a favourite child of knowledge should be, he will + meet with suitable auxiliaries who will shorten and lighten his task; I + mean so-called cynics, those who simply recognize the animal, the + commonplace and "the rule" in themselves, and at the same time have so + much spirituality and ticklishness as to make them talk of themselves and + their like BEFORE WITNESSES—sometimes they wallow, even in books, as + on their own dung-hill. Cynicism is the only form in which base souls + approach what is called honesty; and the higher man must open his ears to + all the coarser or finer cynicism, and congratulate himself when the clown + becomes shameless right before him, or the scientific satyr speaks out. + There are even cases where enchantment mixes with the disgust—namely, + where by a freak of nature, genius is bound to some such indiscreet + billy-goat and ape, as in the case of the Abbe Galiani, the profoundest, + acutest, and perhaps also filthiest man of his century—he was far + profounder than Voltaire, and consequently also, a good deal more silent. + It happens more frequently, as has been hinted, that a scientific head is + placed on an ape's body, a fine exceptional understanding in a base soul, + an occurrence by no means rare, especially among doctors and moral + physiologists. And whenever anyone speaks without bitterness, or rather + quite innocently, of man as a belly with two requirements, and a head with + one; whenever any one sees, seeks, and WANTS to see only hunger, sexual + instinct, and vanity as the real and only motives of human actions; in + short, when any one speaks "badly"—and not even "ill"—of man, + then ought the lover of knowledge to hearken attentively and diligently; + he ought, in general, to have an open ear wherever there is talk without + indignation. For the indignant man, and he who perpetually tears and + lacerates himself with his own teeth (or, in place of himself, the world, + God, or society), may indeed, morally speaking, stand higher than the + laughing and self-satisfied satyr, but in every other sense he is the more + ordinary, more indifferent, and less instructive case. And no one is such + a LIAR as the indignant man. + </p> + <p> + 27. It is difficult to be understood, especially when one thinks and lives + gangasrotogati [Footnote: Like the river Ganges: presto.] among those only + who think and live otherwise—namely, kurmagati [Footnote: Like the + tortoise: lento.], or at best "froglike," mandeikagati [Footnote: Like the + frog: staccato.] (I do everything to be "difficultly understood" myself!)—and + one should be heartily grateful for the good will to some refinement of + interpretation. As regards "the good friends," however, who are always too + easy-going, and think that as friends they have a right to ease, one does + well at the very first to grant them a play-ground and romping-place for + misunderstanding—one can thus laugh still; or get rid of them + altogether, these good friends—and laugh then also! + </p> + <p> + 28. What is most difficult to render from one language into another is the + TEMPO of its style, which has its basis in the character of the race, or + to speak more physiologically, in the average TEMPO of the assimilation of + its nutriment. There are honestly meant translations, which, as + involuntary vulgarizations, are almost falsifications of the original, + merely because its lively and merry TEMPO (which overleaps and obviates + all dangers in word and expression) could not also be rendered. A German + is almost incapacitated for PRESTO in his language; consequently also, as + may be reasonably inferred, for many of the most delightful and daring + NUANCES of free, free-spirited thought. And just as the buffoon and satyr + are foreign to him in body and conscience, so Aristophanes and Petronius + are untranslatable for him. Everything ponderous, viscous, and pompously + clumsy, all long-winded and wearying species of style, are developed in + profuse variety among Germans—pardon me for stating the fact that + even Goethe's prose, in its mixture of stiffness and elegance, is no + exception, as a reflection of the "good old time" to which it belongs, and + as an expression of German taste at a time when there was still a "German + taste," which was a rococo-taste in moribus et artibus. Lessing is an + exception, owing to his histrionic nature, which understood much, and was + versed in many things; he who was not the translator of Bayle to no + purpose, who took refuge willingly in the shadow of Diderot and Voltaire, + and still more willingly among the Roman comedy-writers—Lessing + loved also free-spiritism in the TEMPO, and flight out of Germany. But how + could the German language, even in the prose of Lessing, imitate the TEMPO + of Machiavelli, who in his "Principe" makes us breathe the dry, fine air + of Florence, and cannot help presenting the most serious events in a + boisterous allegrissimo, perhaps not without a malicious artistic sense of + the contrast he ventures to present—long, heavy, difficult, + dangerous thoughts, and a TEMPO of the gallop, and of the best, wantonest + humour? Finally, who would venture on a German translation of Petronius, + who, more than any great musician hitherto, was a master of PRESTO in + invention, ideas, and words? What matter in the end about the swamps of + the sick, evil world, or of the "ancient world," when like him, one has + the feet of a wind, the rush, the breath, the emancipating scorn of a + wind, which makes everything healthy, by making everything RUN! And with + regard to Aristophanes—that transfiguring, complementary genius, for + whose sake one PARDONS all Hellenism for having existed, provided one has + understood in its full profundity ALL that there requires pardon and + transfiguration; there is nothing that has caused me to meditate more on + PLATO'S secrecy and sphinx-like nature, than the happily preserved petit + fait that under the pillow of his death-bed there was found no "Bible," + nor anything Egyptian, Pythagorean, or Platonic—but a book of + Aristophanes. How could even Plato have endured life—a Greek life + which he repudiated—without an Aristophanes! + </p> + <p> + 29. It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a + privilege of the strong. And whoever attempts it, even with the best + right, but without being OBLIGED to do so, proves that he is probably not + only strong, but also daring beyond measure. He enters into a labyrinth, + he multiplies a thousandfold the dangers which life in itself already + brings with it; not the least of which is that no one can see how and + where he loses his way, becomes isolated, and is torn piecemeal by some + minotaur of conscience. Supposing such a one comes to grief, it is so far + from the comprehension of men that they neither feel it, nor sympathize + with it. And he cannot any longer go back! He cannot even go back again to + the sympathy of men! + </p> + <p> + 30. Our deepest insights must—and should—appear as follies, + and under certain circumstances as crimes, when they come unauthorizedly + to the ears of those who are not disposed and predestined for them. The + exoteric and the esoteric, as they were formerly distinguished by + philosophers—among the Indians, as among the Greeks, Persians, and + Mussulmans, in short, wherever people believed in gradations of rank and + NOT in equality and equal rights—are not so much in + contradistinction to one another in respect to the exoteric class, + standing without, and viewing, estimating, measuring, and judging from the + outside, and not from the inside; the more essential distinction is that + the class in question views things from below upwards—while the + esoteric class views things FROM ABOVE DOWNWARDS. There are heights of the + soul from which tragedy itself no longer appears to operate tragically; + and if all the woe in the world were taken together, who would dare to + decide whether the sight of it would NECESSARILY seduce and constrain to + sympathy, and thus to a doubling of the woe?... That which serves the + higher class of men for nourishment or refreshment, must be almost poison + to an entirely different and lower order of human beings. The virtues of + the common man would perhaps mean vice and weakness in a philosopher; it + might be possible for a highly developed man, supposing him to degenerate + and go to ruin, to acquire qualities thereby alone, for the sake of which + he would have to be honoured as a saint in the lower world into which he + had sunk. There are books which have an inverse value for the soul and the + health according as the inferior soul and the lower vitality, or the + higher and more powerful, make use of them. In the former case they are + dangerous, disturbing, unsettling books, in the latter case they are + herald-calls which summon the bravest to THEIR bravery. Books for the + general reader are always ill-smelling books, the odour of paltry people + clings to them. Where the populace eat and drink, and even where they + reverence, it is accustomed to stink. One should not go into churches if + one wishes to breathe PURE air. + </p> + <p> + 31. In our youthful years we still venerate and despise without the art of + NUANCE, which is the best gain of life, and we have rightly to do hard + penance for having fallen upon men and things with Yea and Nay. Everything + is so arranged that the worst of all tastes, THE TASTE FOR THE + UNCONDITIONAL, is cruelly befooled and abused, until a man learns to + introduce a little art into his sentiments, and prefers to try conclusions + with the artificial, as do the real artists of life. The angry and + reverent spirit peculiar to youth appears to allow itself no peace, until + it has suitably falsified men and things, to be able to vent its passion + upon them: youth in itself even, is something falsifying and deceptive. + Later on, when the young soul, tortured by continual disillusions, finally + turns suspiciously against itself—still ardent and savage even in + its suspicion and remorse of conscience: how it upbraids itself, how + impatiently it tears itself, how it revenges itself for its long + self-blinding, as though it had been a voluntary blindness! In this + transition one punishes oneself by distrust of one's sentiments; one + tortures one's enthusiasm with doubt, one feels even the good conscience + to be a danger, as if it were the self-concealment and lassitude of a more + refined uprightness; and above all, one espouses upon principle the cause + AGAINST "youth."—A decade later, and one comprehends that all this + was also still—youth! + </p> + <p> + 32. Throughout the longest period of human history—one calls it the + prehistoric period—the value or non-value of an action was inferred + from its CONSEQUENCES; the action in itself was not taken into + consideration, any more than its origin; but pretty much as in China at + present, where the distinction or disgrace of a child redounds to its + parents, the retro-operating power of success or failure was what induced + men to think well or ill of an action. Let us call this period the + PRE-MORAL period of mankind; the imperative, "Know thyself!" was then + still unknown.—In the last ten thousand years, on the other hand, on + certain large portions of the earth, one has gradually got so far, that + one no longer lets the consequences of an action, but its origin, decide + with regard to its worth: a great achievement as a whole, an important + refinement of vision and of criterion, the unconscious effect of the + supremacy of aristocratic values and of the belief in "origin," the mark + of a period which may be designated in the narrower sense as the MORAL + one: the first attempt at self-knowledge is thereby made. Instead of the + consequences, the origin—what an inversion of perspective! And + assuredly an inversion effected only after long struggle and wavering! To + be sure, an ominous new superstition, a peculiar narrowness of + interpretation, attained supremacy precisely thereby: the origin of an + action was interpreted in the most definite sense possible, as origin out + of an INTENTION; people were agreed in the belief that the value of an + action lay in the value of its intention. The intention as the sole origin + and antecedent history of an action: under the influence of this prejudice + moral praise and blame have been bestowed, and men have judged and even + philosophized almost up to the present day.—Is it not possible, + however, that the necessity may now have arisen of again making up our + minds with regard to the reversing and fundamental shifting of values, + owing to a new self-consciousness and acuteness in man—is it not + possible that we may be standing on the threshold of a period which to + begin with, would be distinguished negatively as ULTRA-MORAL: nowadays + when, at least among us immoralists, the suspicion arises that the + decisive value of an action lies precisely in that which is NOT + INTENTIONAL, and that all its intentionalness, all that is seen, sensible, + or "sensed" in it, belongs to its surface or skin—which, like every + skin, betrays something, but CONCEALS still more? In short, we believe + that the intention is only a sign or symptom, which first requires an + explanation—a sign, moreover, which has too many interpretations, + and consequently hardly any meaning in itself alone: that morality, in the + sense in which it has been understood hitherto, as intention-morality, has + been a prejudice, perhaps a prematureness or preliminariness, probably + something of the same rank as astrology and alchemy, but in any case + something which must be surmounted. The surmounting of morality, in a + certain sense even the self-mounting of morality—let that be the + name for the long-secret labour which has been reserved for the most + refined, the most upright, and also the most wicked consciences of today, + as the living touchstones of the soul. + </p> + <p> + 33. It cannot be helped: the sentiment of surrender, of sacrifice for + one's neighbour, and all self-renunciation-morality, must be mercilessly + called to account, and brought to judgment; just as the aesthetics of + "disinterested contemplation," under which the emasculation of art + nowadays seeks insidiously enough to create itself a good conscience. + There is far too much witchery and sugar in the sentiments "for others" + and "NOT for myself," for one not needing to be doubly distrustful here, + and for one asking promptly: "Are they not perhaps—DECEPTIONS?"—That + they PLEASE—him who has them, and him who enjoys their fruit, and + also the mere spectator—that is still no argument in their FAVOUR, + but just calls for caution. Let us therefore be cautious! + </p> + <p> + 34. At whatever standpoint of philosophy one may place oneself nowadays, + seen from every position, the ERRONEOUSNESS of the world in which we think + we live is the surest and most certain thing our eyes can light upon: we + find proof after proof thereof, which would fain allure us into surmises + concerning a deceptive principle in the "nature of things." He, however, + who makes thinking itself, and consequently "the spirit," responsible for + the falseness of the world—an honourable exit, which every conscious + or unconscious advocatus dei avails himself of—he who regards this + world, including space, time, form, and movement, as falsely DEDUCED, + would have at least good reason in the end to become distrustful also of + all thinking; has it not hitherto been playing upon us the worst of scurvy + tricks? and what guarantee would it give that it would not continue to do + what it has always been doing? In all seriousness, the innocence of + thinkers has something touching and respect-inspiring in it, which even + nowadays permits them to wait upon consciousness with the request that it + will give them HONEST answers: for example, whether it be "real" or not, + and why it keeps the outer world so resolutely at a distance, and other + questions of the same description. The belief in "immediate certainties" + is a MORAL NAIVETE which does honour to us philosophers; but—we have + now to cease being "MERELY moral" men! Apart from morality, such belief is + a folly which does little honour to us! If in middle-class life an + ever-ready distrust is regarded as the sign of a "bad character," and + consequently as an imprudence, here among us, beyond the middle-class + world and its Yeas and Nays, what should prevent our being imprudent and + saying: the philosopher has at length a RIGHT to "bad character," as the + being who has hitherto been most befooled on earth—he is now under + OBLIGATION to distrustfulness, to the wickedest squinting out of every + abyss of suspicion.—Forgive me the joke of this gloomy grimace and + turn of expression; for I myself have long ago learned to think and + estimate differently with regard to deceiving and being deceived, and I + keep at least a couple of pokes in the ribs ready for the blind rage with + which philosophers struggle against being deceived. Why NOT? It is nothing + more than a moral prejudice that truth is worth more than semblance; it + is, in fact, the worst proved supposition in the world. So much must be + conceded: there could have been no life at all except upon the basis of + perspective estimates and semblances; and if, with the virtuous enthusiasm + and stupidity of many philosophers, one wished to do away altogether with + the "seeming world"—well, granted that YOU could do that,—at + least nothing of your "truth" would thereby remain! Indeed, what is it + that forces us in general to the supposition that there is an essential + opposition of "true" and "false"? Is it not enough to suppose degrees of + seemingness, and as it were lighter and darker shades and tones of + semblance—different valeurs, as the painters say? Why might not the + world WHICH CONCERNS US—be a fiction? And to any one who suggested: + "But to a fiction belongs an originator?"—might it not be bluntly + replied: WHY? May not this "belong" also belong to the fiction? Is it not + at length permitted to be a little ironical towards the subject, just as + towards the predicate and object? Might not the philosopher elevate + himself above faith in grammar? All respect to governesses, but is it not + time that philosophy should renounce governess-faith? + </p> + <p> + 35. O Voltaire! O humanity! O idiocy! There is something ticklish in "the + truth," and in the SEARCH for the truth; and if man goes about it too + humanely—"il ne cherche le vrai que pour faire le bien"—I + wager he finds nothing! + </p> + <p> + 36. Supposing that nothing else is "given" as real but our world of + desires and passions, that we cannot sink or rise to any other "reality" + but just that of our impulses—for thinking is only a relation of + these impulses to one another:—are we not permitted to make the + attempt and to ask the question whether this which is "given" does not + SUFFICE, by means of our counterparts, for the understanding even of the + so-called mechanical (or "material") world? I do not mean as an illusion, + a "semblance," a "representation" (in the Berkeleyan and Schopenhauerian + sense), but as possessing the same degree of reality as our emotions + themselves—as a more primitive form of the world of emotions, in + which everything still lies locked in a mighty unity, which afterwards + branches off and develops itself in organic processes (naturally also, + refines and debilitates)—as a kind of instinctive life in which all + organic functions, including self-regulation, assimilation, nutrition, + secretion, and change of matter, are still synthetically united with one + another—as a PRIMARY FORM of life?—In the end, it is not only + permitted to make this attempt, it is commanded by the conscience of + LOGICAL METHOD. Not to assume several kinds of causality, so long as the + attempt to get along with a single one has not been pushed to its furthest + extent (to absurdity, if I may be allowed to say so): that is a morality + of method which one may not repudiate nowadays—it follows "from its + definition," as mathematicians say. The question is ultimately whether we + really recognize the will as OPERATING, whether we believe in the + causality of the will; if we do so—and fundamentally our belief IN + THIS is just our belief in causality itself—we MUST make the attempt + to posit hypothetically the causality of the will as the only causality. + "Will" can naturally only operate on "will"—and not on "matter" (not + on "nerves," for instance): in short, the hypothesis must be hazarded, + whether will does not operate on will wherever "effects" are recognized—and + whether all mechanical action, inasmuch as a power operates therein, is + not just the power of will, the effect of will. Granted, finally, that we + succeeded in explaining our entire instinctive life as the development and + ramification of one fundamental form of will—namely, the Will to + Power, as my thesis puts it; granted that all organic functions could be + traced back to this Will to Power, and that the solution of the problem of + generation and nutrition—it is one problem—could also be found + therein: one would thus have acquired the right to define ALL active force + unequivocally as WILL TO POWER. The world seen from within, the world + defined and designated according to its "intelligible character"—it + would simply be "Will to Power," and nothing else. + </p> + <p> + 37. "What? Does not that mean in popular language: God is disproved, but + not the devil?"—On the contrary! On the contrary, my friends! And + who the devil also compels you to speak popularly! + </p> + <p> + 38. As happened finally in all the enlightenment of modern times with the + French Revolution (that terrible farce, quite superfluous when judged + close at hand, into which, however, the noble and visionary spectators of + all Europe have interpreted from a distance their own indignation and + enthusiasm so long and passionately, UNTIL THE TEXT HAS DISAPPEARED UNDER + THE INTERPRETATION), so a noble posterity might once more misunderstand + the whole of the past, and perhaps only thereby make ITS aspect endurable.—Or + rather, has not this already happened? Have not we ourselves been—that + "noble posterity"? And, in so far as we now comprehend this, is it not—thereby + already past? + </p> + <p> + 39. Nobody will very readily regard a doctrine as true merely because it + makes people happy or virtuous—excepting, perhaps, the amiable + "Idealists," who are enthusiastic about the good, true, and beautiful, and + let all kinds of motley, coarse, and good-natured desirabilities swim + about promiscuously in their pond. Happiness and virtue are no arguments. + It is willingly forgotten, however, even on the part of thoughtful minds, + that to make unhappy and to make bad are just as little counter-arguments. + A thing could be TRUE, although it were in the highest degree injurious + and dangerous; indeed, the fundamental constitution of existence might be + such that one succumbed by a full knowledge of it—so that the + strength of a mind might be measured by the amount of "truth" it could + endure—or to speak more plainly, by the extent to which it REQUIRED + truth attenuated, veiled, sweetened, damped, and falsified. But there is + no doubt that for the discovery of certain PORTIONS of truth the wicked + and unfortunate are more favourably situated and have a greater likelihood + of success; not to speak of the wicked who are happy—a species about + whom moralists are silent. Perhaps severity and craft are more favourable + conditions for the development of strong, independent spirits and + philosophers than the gentle, refined, yielding good-nature, and habit of + taking things easily, which are prized, and rightly prized in a learned + man. Presupposing always, to begin with, that the term "philosopher" be + not confined to the philosopher who writes books, or even introduces HIS + philosophy into books!—Stendhal furnishes a last feature of the + portrait of the free-spirited philosopher, which for the sake of German + taste I will not omit to underline—for it is OPPOSED to German + taste. "Pour etre bon philosophe," says this last great psychologist, "il + faut etre sec, clair, sans illusion. Un banquier, qui a fait fortune, a + une partie du caractere requis pour faire des decouvertes en philosophie, + c'est-a-dire pour voir clair dans ce qui est." + </p> + <p> + 40. Everything that is profound loves the mask: the profoundest things + have a hatred even of figure and likeness. Should not the CONTRARY only be + the right disguise for the shame of a God to go about in? A question worth + asking!—it would be strange if some mystic has not already ventured + on the same kind of thing. There are proceedings of such a delicate nature + that it is well to overwhelm them with coarseness and make them + unrecognizable; there are actions of love and of an extravagant + magnanimity after which nothing can be wiser than to take a stick and + thrash the witness soundly: one thereby obscures his recollection. Many a + one is able to obscure and abuse his own memory, in order at least to have + vengeance on this sole party in the secret: shame is inventive. They are + not the worst things of which one is most ashamed: there is not only + deceit behind a mask—there is so much goodness in craft. I could + imagine that a man with something costly and fragile to conceal, would + roll through life clumsily and rotundly like an old, green, heavily-hooped + wine-cask: the refinement of his shame requiring it to be so. A man who + has depths in his shame meets his destiny and his delicate decisions upon + paths which few ever reach, and with regard to the existence of which his + nearest and most intimate friends may be ignorant; his mortal danger + conceals itself from their eyes, and equally so his regained security. + Such a hidden nature, which instinctively employs speech for silence and + concealment, and is inexhaustible in evasion of communication, DESIRES and + insists that a mask of himself shall occupy his place in the hearts and + heads of his friends; and supposing he does not desire it, his eyes will + some day be opened to the fact that there is nevertheless a mask of him + there—and that it is well to be so. Every profound spirit needs a + mask; nay, more, around every profound spirit there continually grows a + mask, owing to the constantly false, that is to say, SUPERFICIAL + interpretation of every word he utters, every step he takes, every sign of + life he manifests. + </p> + <p> + 41. One must subject oneself to one's own tests that one is destined for + independence and command, and do so at the right time. One must not avoid + one's tests, although they constitute perhaps the most dangerous game one + can play, and are in the end tests made only before ourselves and before + no other judge. Not to cleave to any person, be it even the dearest—every + person is a prison and also a recess. Not to cleave to a fatherland, be it + even the most suffering and necessitous—it is even less difficult to + detach one's heart from a victorious fatherland. Not to cleave to a + sympathy, be it even for higher men, into whose peculiar torture and + helplessness chance has given us an insight. Not to cleave to a science, + though it tempt one with the most valuable discoveries, apparently + specially reserved for us. Not to cleave to one's own liberation, to the + voluptuous distance and remoteness of the bird, which always flies further + aloft in order always to see more under it—the danger of the flier. + Not to cleave to our own virtues, nor become as a whole a victim to any of + our specialties, to our "hospitality" for instance, which is the danger of + dangers for highly developed and wealthy souls, who deal prodigally, + almost indifferently with themselves, and push the virtue of liberality so + far that it becomes a vice. One must know how TO CONSERVE ONESELF—the + best test of independence. + </p> + <p> + 42. A new order of philosophers is appearing; I shall venture to baptize + them by a name not without danger. As far as I understand them, as far as + they allow themselves to be understood—for it is their nature to + WISH to remain something of a puzzle—these philosophers of the + future might rightly, perhaps also wrongly, claim to be designated as + "tempters." This name itself is after all only an attempt, or, if it be + preferred, a temptation. + </p> + <p> + 43. Will they be new friends of "truth," these coming philosophers? Very + probably, for all philosophers hitherto have loved their truths. But + assuredly they will not be dogmatists. It must be contrary to their pride, + and also contrary to their taste, that their truth should still be truth + for every one—that which has hitherto been the secret wish and + ultimate purpose of all dogmatic efforts. "My opinion is MY opinion: + another person has not easily a right to it"—such a philosopher of + the future will say, perhaps. One must renounce the bad taste of wishing + to agree with many people. "Good" is no longer good when one's neighbour + takes it into his mouth. And how could there be a "common good"! The + expression contradicts itself; that which can be common is always of small + value. In the end things must be as they are and have always been—the + great things remain for the great, the abysses for the profound, the + delicacies and thrills for the refined, and, to sum up shortly, everything + rare for the rare. + </p> + <p> + 44. Need I say expressly after all this that they will be free, VERY free + spirits, these philosophers of the future—as certainly also they + will not be merely free spirits, but something more, higher, greater, and + fundamentally different, which does not wish to be misunderstood and + mistaken? But while I say this, I feel under OBLIGATION almost as much to + them as to ourselves (we free spirits who are their heralds and + forerunners), to sweep away from ourselves altogether a stupid old + prejudice and misunderstanding, which, like a fog, has too long made the + conception of "free spirit" obscure. In every country of Europe, and the + same in America, there is at present something which makes an abuse of + this name a very narrow, prepossessed, enchained class of spirits, who + desire almost the opposite of what our intentions and instincts prompt—not + to mention that in respect to the NEW philosophers who are appearing, they + must still more be closed windows and bolted doors. Briefly and + regrettably, they belong to the LEVELLERS, these wrongly named "free + spirits"—as glib-tongued and scribe-fingered slaves of the + democratic taste and its "modern ideas" all of them men without solitude, + without personal solitude, blunt honest fellows to whom neither courage + nor honourable conduct ought to be denied, only, they are not free, and + are ludicrously superficial, especially in their innate partiality for + seeing the cause of almost ALL human misery and failure in the old forms + in which society has hitherto existed—a notion which happily inverts + the truth entirely! What they would fain attain with all their strength, + is the universal, green-meadow happiness of the herd, together with + security, safety, comfort, and alleviation of life for every one, their + two most frequently chanted songs and doctrines are called "Equality of + Rights" and "Sympathy with All Sufferers"—and suffering itself is + looked upon by them as something which must be DONE AWAY WITH. We opposite + ones, however, who have opened our eye and conscience to the question how + and where the plant "man" has hitherto grown most vigorously, believe that + this has always taken place under the opposite conditions, that for this + end the dangerousness of his situation had to be increased enormously, his + inventive faculty and dissembling power (his "spirit") had to develop into + subtlety and daring under long oppression and compulsion, and his Will to + Life had to be increased to the unconditioned Will to Power—we + believe that severity, violence, slavery, danger in the street and in the + heart, secrecy, stoicism, tempter's art and devilry of every kind,—that + everything wicked, terrible, tyrannical, predatory, and serpentine in man, + serves as well for the elevation of the human species as its opposite—we + do not even say enough when we only say THIS MUCH, and in any case we find + ourselves here, both with our speech and our silence, at the OTHER extreme + of all modern ideology and gregarious desirability, as their antipodes + perhaps? What wonder that we "free spirits" are not exactly the most + communicative spirits? that we do not wish to betray in every respect WHAT + a spirit can free itself from, and WHERE perhaps it will then be driven? + And as to the import of the dangerous formula, "Beyond Good and Evil," + with which we at least avoid confusion, we ARE something else than + "libres-penseurs," "liben pensatori" "free-thinkers," and whatever these + honest advocates of "modern ideas" like to call themselves. Having been at + home, or at least guests, in many realms of the spirit, having escaped + again and again from the gloomy, agreeable nooks in which preferences and + prejudices, youth, origin, the accident of men and books, or even the + weariness of travel seemed to confine us, full of malice against the + seductions of dependency which he concealed in honours, money, positions, + or exaltation of the senses, grateful even for distress and the + vicissitudes of illness, because they always free us from some rule, and + its "prejudice," grateful to the God, devil, sheep, and worm in us, + inquisitive to a fault, investigators to the point of cruelty, with + unhesitating fingers for the intangible, with teeth and stomachs for the + most indigestible, ready for any business that requires sagacity and acute + senses, ready for every adventure, owing to an excess of "free will", with + anterior and posterior souls, into the ultimate intentions of which it is + difficult to pry, with foregrounds and backgrounds to the end of which no + foot may run, hidden ones under the mantles of light, appropriators, + although we resemble heirs and spendthrifts, arrangers and collectors from + morning till night, misers of our wealth and our full-crammed drawers, + economical in learning and forgetting, inventive in scheming, sometimes + proud of tables of categories, sometimes pedants, sometimes night-owls of + work even in full day, yea, if necessary, even scarecrows—and it is + necessary nowadays, that is to say, inasmuch as we are the born, sworn, + jealous friends of SOLITUDE, of our own profoundest midnight and midday + solitude—such kind of men are we, we free spirits! And perhaps ye + are also something of the same kind, ye coming ones? ye NEW philosophers? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. THE RELIGIOUS MOOD + </h2> + <p> + 45. The human soul and its limits, the range of man's inner experiences + hitherto attained, the heights, depths, and distances of these + experiences, the entire history of the soul UP TO THE PRESENT TIME, and + its still unexhausted possibilities: this is the preordained + hunting-domain for a born psychologist and lover of a "big hunt". But how + often must he say despairingly to himself: "A single individual! alas, + only a single individual! and this great forest, this virgin forest!" So + he would like to have some hundreds of hunting assistants, and fine + trained hounds, that he could send into the history of the human soul, to + drive HIS game together. In vain: again and again he experiences, + profoundly and bitterly, how difficult it is to find assistants and dogs + for all the things that directly excite his curiosity. The evil of sending + scholars into new and dangerous hunting-domains, where courage, sagacity, + and subtlety in every sense are required, is that they are no longer + serviceable just when the "BIG hunt," and also the great danger commences,—it + is precisely then that they lose their keen eye and nose. In order, for + instance, to divine and determine what sort of history the problem of + KNOWLEDGE AND CONSCIENCE has hitherto had in the souls of homines + religiosi, a person would perhaps himself have to possess as profound, as + bruised, as immense an experience as the intellectual conscience of + Pascal; and then he would still require that wide-spread heaven of clear, + wicked spirituality, which, from above, would be able to oversee, arrange, + and effectively formulize this mass of dangerous and painful experiences.—But + who could do me this service! And who would have time to wait for such + servants!—they evidently appear too rarely, they are so improbable + at all times! Eventually one must do everything ONESELF in order to know + something; which means that one has MUCH to do!—But a curiosity like + mine is once for all the most agreeable of vices—pardon me! I mean + to say that the love of truth has its reward in heaven, and already upon + earth. + </p> + <p> + 46. Faith, such as early Christianity desired, and not infrequently + achieved in the midst of a skeptical and southernly free-spirited world, + which had centuries of struggle between philosophical schools behind it + and in it, counting besides the education in tolerance which the Imperium + Romanum gave—this faith is NOT that sincere, austere slave-faith by + which perhaps a Luther or a Cromwell, or some other northern barbarian of + the spirit remained attached to his God and Christianity, it is much + rather the faith of Pascal, which resembles in a terrible manner a + continuous suicide of reason—a tough, long-lived, worm-like reason, + which is not to be slain at once and with a single blow. The Christian + faith from the beginning, is sacrifice the sacrifice of all freedom, all + pride, all self-confidence of spirit, it is at the same time subjection, + self-derision, and self-mutilation. There is cruelty and religious + Phoenicianism in this faith, which is adapted to a tender, many-sided, and + very fastidious conscience, it takes for granted that the subjection of + the spirit is indescribably PAINFUL, that all the past and all the habits + of such a spirit resist the absurdissimum, in the form of which "faith" + comes to it. Modern men, with their obtuseness as regards all Christian + nomenclature, have no longer the sense for the terribly superlative + conception which was implied to an antique taste by the paradox of the + formula, "God on the Cross". Hitherto there had never and nowhere been + such boldness in inversion, nor anything at once so dreadful, questioning, + and questionable as this formula: it promised a transvaluation of all + ancient values—It was the Orient, the PROFOUND Orient, it was the + Oriental slave who thus took revenge on Rome and its noble, light-minded + toleration, on the Roman "Catholicism" of non-faith, and it was always not + the faith, but the freedom from the faith, the half-stoical and smiling + indifference to the seriousness of the faith, which made the slaves + indignant at their masters and revolt against them. "Enlightenment" causes + revolt, for the slave desires the unconditioned, he understands nothing + but the tyrannous, even in morals, he loves as he hates, without NUANCE, + to the very depths, to the point of pain, to the point of sickness—his + many HIDDEN sufferings make him revolt against the noble taste which seems + to DENY suffering. The skepticism with regard to suffering, fundamentally + only an attitude of aristocratic morality, was not the least of the + causes, also, of the last great slave-insurrection which began with the + French Revolution. + </p> + <p> + 47. Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we + find it connected with three dangerous prescriptions as to regimen: + solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence—but without its being + possible to determine with certainty which is cause and which is effect, + or IF any relation at all of cause and effect exists there. This latter + doubt is justified by the fact that one of the most regular symptoms among + savage as well as among civilized peoples is the most sudden and excessive + sensuality, which then with equal suddenness transforms into penitential + paroxysms, world-renunciation, and will-renunciation, both symptoms + perhaps explainable as disguised epilepsy? But nowhere is it MORE + obligatory to put aside explanations around no other type has there grown + such a mass of absurdity and superstition, no other type seems to have + been more interesting to men and even to philosophers—perhaps it is + time to become just a little indifferent here, to learn caution, or, + better still, to look AWAY, TO GO AWAY—Yet in the background of the + most recent philosophy, that of Schopenhauer, we find almost as the + problem in itself, this terrible note of interrogation of the religious + crisis and awakening. How is the negation of will POSSIBLE? how is the + saint possible?—that seems to have been the very question with which + Schopenhauer made a start and became a philosopher. And thus it was a + genuine Schopenhauerian consequence, that his most convinced adherent + (perhaps also his last, as far as Germany is concerned), namely, Richard + Wagner, should bring his own life-work to an end just here, and should + finally put that terrible and eternal type upon the stage as Kundry, type + vecu, and as it loved and lived, at the very time that the mad-doctors in + almost all European countries had an opportunity to study the type close + at hand, wherever the religious neurosis—or as I call it, "the + religious mood"—made its latest epidemical outbreak and display as + the "Salvation Army"—If it be a question, however, as to what has + been so extremely interesting to men of all sorts in all ages, and even to + philosophers, in the whole phenomenon of the saint, it is undoubtedly the + appearance of the miraculous therein—namely, the immediate + SUCCESSION OF OPPOSITES, of states of the soul regarded as morally + antithetical: it was believed here to be self-evident that a "bad man" was + all at once turned into a "saint," a good man. The hitherto existing + psychology was wrecked at this point, is it not possible it may have + happened principally because psychology had placed itself under the + dominion of morals, because it BELIEVED in oppositions of moral values, + and saw, read, and INTERPRETED these oppositions into the text and facts + of the case? What? "Miracle" only an error of interpretation? A lack of + philology? + </p> + <p> + 48. It seems that the Latin races are far more deeply attached to their + Catholicism than we Northerners are to Christianity generally, and that + consequently unbelief in Catholic countries means something quite + different from what it does among Protestants—namely, a sort of + revolt against the spirit of the race, while with us it is rather a return + to the spirit (or non-spirit) of the race. + </p> + <p> + We Northerners undoubtedly derive our origin from barbarous races, even as + regards our talents for religion—we have POOR talents for it. One + may make an exception in the case of the Celts, who have theretofore + furnished also the best soil for Christian infection in the North: the + Christian ideal blossomed forth in France as much as ever the pale sun of + the north would allow it. How strangely pious for our taste are still + these later French skeptics, whenever there is any Celtic blood in their + origin! How Catholic, how un-German does Auguste Comte's Sociology seem to + us, with the Roman logic of its instincts! How Jesuitical, that amiable + and shrewd cicerone of Port Royal, Sainte-Beuve, in spite of all his + hostility to Jesuits! And even Ernest Renan: how inaccessible to us + Northerners does the language of such a Renan appear, in whom every + instant the merest touch of religious thrill throws his refined voluptuous + and comfortably couching soul off its balance! Let us repeat after him + these fine sentences—and what wickedness and haughtiness is + immediately aroused by way of answer in our probably less beautiful but + harder souls, that is to say, in our more German souls!—"DISONS DONC + HARDIMENT QUE LA RELIGION EST UN PRODUIT DE L'HOMME NORMAL, QUE L'HOMME + EST LE PLUS DANS LE VRAI QUANT IL EST LE PLUS RELIGIEUX ET LE PLUS ASSURE + D'UNE DESTINEE INFINIE.... C'EST QUAND IL EST BON QU'IL VEUT QUE LA VIRTU + CORRESPONDE A UN ORDER ETERNAL, C'EST QUAND IL CONTEMPLE LES CHOSES D'UNE + MANIERE DESINTERESSEE QU'IL TROUVE LA MORT REVOLTANTE ET ABSURDE. COMMENT + NE PAS SUPPOSER QUE C'EST DANS CES MOMENTS-LA, QUE L'HOMME VOIT LE + MIEUX?"... These sentences are so extremely ANTIPODAL to my ears and + habits of thought, that in my first impulse of rage on finding them, I + wrote on the margin, "LA NIAISERIE RELIGIEUSE PAR EXCELLENCE!"—until + in my later rage I even took a fancy to them, these sentences with their + truth absolutely inverted! It is so nice and such a distinction to have + one's own antipodes! + </p> + <p> + 49. That which is so astonishing in the religious life of the ancient + Greeks is the irrestrainable stream of GRATITUDE which it pours forth—it + is a very superior kind of man who takes SUCH an attitude towards nature + and life.—Later on, when the populace got the upper hand in Greece, + FEAR became rampant also in religion; and Christianity was preparing + itself. + </p> + <p> + 50. The passion for God: there are churlish, honest-hearted, and + importunate kinds of it, like that of Luther—the whole of + Protestantism lacks the southern DELICATEZZA. There is an Oriental + exaltation of the mind in it, like that of an undeservedly favoured or + elevated slave, as in the case of St. Augustine, for instance, who lacks + in an offensive manner, all nobility in bearing and desires. There is a + feminine tenderness and sensuality in it, which modestly and unconsciously + longs for a UNIO MYSTICA ET PHYSICA, as in the case of Madame de Guyon. In + many cases it appears, curiously enough, as the disguise of a girl's or + youth's puberty; here and there even as the hysteria of an old maid, also + as her last ambition. The Church has frequently canonized the woman in + such a case. + </p> + <p> + 51. The mightiest men have hitherto always bowed reverently before the + saint, as the enigma of self-subjugation and utter voluntary privation—why + did they thus bow? They divined in him—and as it were behind the + questionableness of his frail and wretched appearance—the superior + force which wished to test itself by such a subjugation; the strength of + will, in which they recognized their own strength and love of power, and + knew how to honour it: they honoured something in themselves when they + honoured the saint. In addition to this, the contemplation of the saint + suggested to them a suspicion: such an enormity of self-negation and + anti-naturalness will not have been coveted for nothing—they have + said, inquiringly. There is perhaps a reason for it, some very great + danger, about which the ascetic might wish to be more accurately informed + through his secret interlocutors and visitors? In a word, the mighty ones + of the world learned to have a new fear before him, they divined a new + power, a strange, still unconquered enemy:—it was the "Will to + Power" which obliged them to halt before the saint. They had to question + him. + </p> + <p> + 52. In the Jewish "Old Testament," the book of divine justice, there are + men, things, and sayings on such an immense scale, that Greek and Indian + literature has nothing to compare with it. One stands with fear and + reverence before those stupendous remains of what man was formerly, and + one has sad thoughts about old Asia and its little out-pushed peninsula + Europe, which would like, by all means, to figure before Asia as the + "Progress of Mankind." To be sure, he who is himself only a slender, tame + house-animal, and knows only the wants of a house-animal (like our + cultured people of today, including the Christians of "cultured" + Christianity), need neither be amazed nor even sad amid those ruins—the + taste for the Old Testament is a touchstone with respect to "great" and + "small": perhaps he will find that the New Testament, the book of grace, + still appeals more to his heart (there is much of the odour of the + genuine, tender, stupid beadsman and petty soul in it). To have bound up + this New Testament (a kind of ROCOCO of taste in every respect) along with + the Old Testament into one book, as the "Bible," as "The Book in Itself," + is perhaps the greatest audacity and "sin against the Spirit" which + literary Europe has upon its conscience. + </p> + <p> + 53. Why Atheism nowadays? "The father" in God is thoroughly refuted; + equally so "the judge," "the rewarder." Also his "free will": he does not + hear—and even if he did, he would not know how to help. The worst is + that he seems incapable of communicating himself clearly; is he uncertain?—This + is what I have made out (by questioning and listening at a variety of + conversations) to be the cause of the decline of European theism; it + appears to me that though the religious instinct is in vigorous growth,—it + rejects the theistic satisfaction with profound distrust. + </p> + <p> + 54. What does all modern philosophy mainly do? Since Descartes—and + indeed more in defiance of him than on the basis of his procedure—an + ATTENTAT has been made on the part of all philosophers on the old + conception of the soul, under the guise of a criticism of the subject and + predicate conception—that is to say, an ATTENTAT on the fundamental + presupposition of Christian doctrine. Modern philosophy, as + epistemological skepticism, is secretly or openly ANTI-CHRISTIAN, although + (for keener ears, be it said) by no means anti-religious. Formerly, in + effect, one believed in "the soul" as one believed in grammar and the + grammatical subject: one said, "I" is the condition, "think" is the + predicate and is conditioned—to think is an activity for which one + MUST suppose a subject as cause. The attempt was then made, with marvelous + tenacity and subtlety, to see if one could not get out of this net,—to + see if the opposite was not perhaps true: "think" the condition, and "I" + the conditioned; "I," therefore, only a synthesis which has been MADE by + thinking itself. KANT really wished to prove that, starting from the + subject, the subject could not be proved—nor the object either: the + possibility of an APPARENT EXISTENCE of the subject, and therefore of "the + soul," may not always have been strange to him,—the thought which + once had an immense power on earth as the Vedanta philosophy. + </p> + <p> + 55. There is a great ladder of religious cruelty, with many rounds; but + three of these are the most important. Once on a time men sacrificed human + beings to their God, and perhaps just those they loved the best—to + this category belong the firstling sacrifices of all primitive religions, + and also the sacrifice of the Emperor Tiberius in the Mithra-Grotto on the + Island of Capri, that most terrible of all Roman anachronisms. Then, + during the moral epoch of mankind, they sacrificed to their God the + strongest instincts they possessed, their "nature"; THIS festal joy shines + in the cruel glances of ascetics and "anti-natural" fanatics. Finally, + what still remained to be sacrificed? Was it not necessary in the end for + men to sacrifice everything comforting, holy, healing, all hope, all faith + in hidden harmonies, in future blessedness and justice? Was it not + necessary to sacrifice God himself, and out of cruelty to themselves to + worship stone, stupidity, gravity, fate, nothingness? To sacrifice God for + nothingness—this paradoxical mystery of the ultimate cruelty has + been reserved for the rising generation; we all know something thereof + already. + </p> + <p> + 56. Whoever, like myself, prompted by some enigmatical desire, has long + endeavoured to go to the bottom of the question of pessimism and free it + from the half-Christian, half-German narrowness and stupidity in which it + has finally presented itself to this century, namely, in the form of + Schopenhauer's philosophy; whoever, with an Asiatic and super-Asiatic eye, + has actually looked inside, and into the most world-renouncing of all + possible modes of thought—beyond good and evil, and no longer like + Buddha and Schopenhauer, under the dominion and delusion of morality,—whoever + has done this, has perhaps just thereby, without really desiring it, + opened his eyes to behold the opposite ideal: the ideal of the most + world-approving, exuberant, and vivacious man, who has not only learnt to + compromise and arrange with that which was and is, but wishes to have it + again AS IT WAS AND IS, for all eternity, insatiably calling out da capo, + not only to himself, but to the whole piece and play; and not only the + play, but actually to him who requires the play—and makes it + necessary; because he always requires himself anew—and makes himself + necessary.—What? And this would not be—circulus vitiosus deus? + </p> + <p> + 57. The distance, and as it were the space around man, grows with the + strength of his intellectual vision and insight: his world becomes + profounder; new stars, new enigmas, and notions are ever coming into view. + Perhaps everything on which the intellectual eye has exercised its + acuteness and profundity has just been an occasion for its exercise, + something of a game, something for children and childish minds. Perhaps + the most solemn conceptions that have caused the most fighting and + suffering, the conceptions "God" and "sin," will one day seem to us of no + more importance than a child's plaything or a child's pain seems to an old + man;—and perhaps another plaything and another pain will then be + necessary once more for "the old man"—always childish enough, an + eternal child! + </p> + <p> + 58. Has it been observed to what extent outward idleness, or + semi-idleness, is necessary to a real religious life (alike for its + favourite microscopic labour of self-examination, and for its soft + placidity called "prayer," the state of perpetual readiness for the + "coming of God"), I mean the idleness with a good conscience, the idleness + of olden times and of blood, to which the aristocratic sentiment that work + is DISHONOURING—that it vulgarizes body and soul—is not quite + unfamiliar? And that consequently the modern, noisy, time-engrossing, + conceited, foolishly proud laboriousness educates and prepares for + "unbelief" more than anything else? Among these, for instance, who are at + present living apart from religion in Germany, I find "free-thinkers" of + diversified species and origin, but above all a majority of those in whom + laboriousness from generation to generation has dissolved the religious + instincts; so that they no longer know what purpose religions serve, and + only note their existence in the world with a kind of dull astonishment. + They feel themselves already fully occupied, these good people, be it by + their business or by their pleasures, not to mention the "Fatherland," and + the newspapers, and their "family duties"; it seems that they have no time + whatever left for religion; and above all, it is not obvious to them + whether it is a question of a new business or a new pleasure—for it + is impossible, they say to themselves, that people should go to church + merely to spoil their tempers. They are by no means enemies of religious + customs; should certain circumstances, State affairs perhaps, require + their participation in such customs, they do what is required, as so many + things are done—with a patient and unassuming seriousness, and + without much curiosity or discomfort;—they live too much apart and + outside to feel even the necessity for a FOR or AGAINST in such matters. + Among those indifferent persons may be reckoned nowadays the majority of + German Protestants of the middle classes, especially in the great + laborious centres of trade and commerce; also the majority of laborious + scholars, and the entire University personnel (with the exception of the + theologians, whose existence and possibility there always gives + psychologists new and more subtle puzzles to solve). On the part of pious, + or merely church-going people, there is seldom any idea of HOW MUCH + good-will, one might say arbitrary will, is now necessary for a German + scholar to take the problem of religion seriously; his whole profession + (and as I have said, his whole workmanlike laboriousness, to which he is + compelled by his modern conscience) inclines him to a lofty and almost + charitable serenity as regards religion, with which is occasionally + mingled a slight disdain for the "uncleanliness" of spirit which he takes + for granted wherever any one still professes to belong to the Church. It + is only with the help of history (NOT through his own personal experience, + therefore) that the scholar succeeds in bringing himself to a respectful + seriousness, and to a certain timid deference in presence of religions; + but even when his sentiments have reached the stage of gratitude towards + them, he has not personally advanced one step nearer to that which still + maintains itself as Church or as piety; perhaps even the contrary. The + practical indifference to religious matters in the midst of which he has + been born and brought up, usually sublimates itself in his case into + circumspection and cleanliness, which shuns contact with religious men and + things; and it may be just the depth of his tolerance and humanity which + prompts him to avoid the delicate trouble which tolerance itself brings + with it.—Every age has its own divine type of naivete, for the + discovery of which other ages may envy it: and how much naivete—adorable, + childlike, and boundlessly foolish naivete is involved in this belief of + the scholar in his superiority, in the good conscience of his tolerance, + in the unsuspecting, simple certainty with which his instinct treats the + religious man as a lower and less valuable type, beyond, before, and ABOVE + which he himself has developed—he, the little arrogant dwarf and + mob-man, the sedulously alert, head-and-hand drudge of "ideas," of "modern + ideas"! + </p> + <p> + 59. Whoever has seen deeply into the world has doubtless divined what + wisdom there is in the fact that men are superficial. It is their + preservative instinct which teaches them to be flighty, lightsome, and + false. Here and there one finds a passionate and exaggerated adoration of + "pure forms" in philosophers as well as in artists: it is not to be + doubted that whoever has NEED of the cult of the superficial to that + extent, has at one time or another made an unlucky dive BENEATH it. + Perhaps there is even an order of rank with respect to those burnt + children, the born artists who find the enjoyment of life only in trying + to FALSIFY its image (as if taking wearisome revenge on it), one might + guess to what degree life has disgusted them, by the extent to which they + wish to see its image falsified, attenuated, ultrified, and deified,—one + might reckon the homines religiosi among the artists, as their HIGHEST + rank. It is the profound, suspicious fear of an incurable pessimism which + compels whole centuries to fasten their teeth into a religious + interpretation of existence: the fear of the instinct which divines that + truth might be attained TOO soon, before man has become strong enough, + hard enough, artist enough.... Piety, the "Life in God," regarded in this + light, would appear as the most elaborate and ultimate product of the FEAR + of truth, as artist-adoration and artist-intoxication in presence of the + most logical of all falsifications, as the will to the inversion of truth, + to untruth at any price. Perhaps there has hitherto been no more effective + means of beautifying man than piety, by means of it man can become so + artful, so superficial, so iridescent, and so good, that his appearance no + longer offends. + </p> + <p> + 60. To love mankind FOR GOD'S SAKE—this has so far been the noblest + and remotest sentiment to which mankind has attained. That love to + mankind, without any redeeming intention in the background, is only an + ADDITIONAL folly and brutishness, that the inclination to this love has + first to get its proportion, its delicacy, its gram of salt and sprinkling + of ambergris from a higher inclination—whoever first perceived and + "experienced" this, however his tongue may have stammered as it attempted + to express such a delicate matter, let him for all time be holy and + respected, as the man who has so far flown highest and gone astray in the + finest fashion! + </p> + <p> + 61. The philosopher, as WE free spirits understand him—as the man of + the greatest responsibility, who has the conscience for the general + development of mankind,—will use religion for his disciplining and + educating work, just as he will use the contemporary political and + economic conditions. The selecting and disciplining influence—destructive, + as well as creative and fashioning—which can be exercised by means + of religion is manifold and varied, according to the sort of people placed + under its spell and protection. For those who are strong and independent, + destined and trained to command, in whom the judgment and skill of a + ruling race is incorporated, religion is an additional means for + overcoming resistance in the exercise of authority—as a bond which + binds rulers and subjects in common, betraying and surrendering to the + former the conscience of the latter, their inmost heart, which would fain + escape obedience. And in the case of the unique natures of noble origin, + if by virtue of superior spirituality they should incline to a more + retired and contemplative life, reserving to themselves only the more + refined forms of government (over chosen disciples or members of an + order), religion itself may be used as a means for obtaining peace from + the noise and trouble of managing GROSSER affairs, and for securing + immunity from the UNAVOIDABLE filth of all political agitation. The + Brahmins, for instance, understood this fact. With the help of a religious + organization, they secured to themselves the power of nominating kings for + the people, while their sentiments prompted them to keep apart and + outside, as men with a higher and super-regal mission. At the same time + religion gives inducement and opportunity to some of the subjects to + qualify themselves for future ruling and commanding the slowly ascending + ranks and classes, in which, through fortunate marriage customs, + volitional power and delight in self-control are on the increase. To them + religion offers sufficient incentives and temptations to aspire to higher + intellectuality, and to experience the sentiments of authoritative + self-control, of silence, and of solitude. Asceticism and Puritanism are + almost indispensable means of educating and ennobling a race which seeks + to rise above its hereditary baseness and work itself upwards to future + supremacy. And finally, to ordinary men, to the majority of the people, + who exist for service and general utility, and are only so far entitled to + exist, religion gives invaluable contentedness with their lot and + condition, peace of heart, ennoblement of obedience, additional social + happiness and sympathy, with something of transfiguration and + embellishment, something of justification of all the commonplaceness, all + the meanness, all the semi-animal poverty of their souls. Religion, + together with the religious significance of life, sheds sunshine over such + perpetually harassed men, and makes even their own aspect endurable to + them, it operates upon them as the Epicurean philosophy usually operates + upon sufferers of a higher order, in a refreshing and refining manner, + almost TURNING suffering TO ACCOUNT, and in the end even hallowing and + vindicating it. There is perhaps nothing so admirable in Christianity and + Buddhism as their art of teaching even the lowest to elevate themselves by + piety to a seemingly higher order of things, and thereby to retain their + satisfaction with the actual world in which they find it difficult enough + to live—this very difficulty being necessary. + </p> + <p> + 62. To be sure—to make also the bad counter-reckoning against such + religions, and to bring to light their secret dangers—the cost is + always excessive and terrible when religions do NOT operate as an + educational and disciplinary medium in the hands of the philosopher, but + rule voluntarily and PARAMOUNTLY, when they wish to be the final end, and + not a means along with other means. Among men, as among all other animals, + there is a surplus of defective, diseased, degenerating, infirm, and + necessarily suffering individuals; the successful cases, among men also, + are always the exception; and in view of the fact that man is THE ANIMAL + NOT YET PROPERLY ADAPTED TO HIS ENVIRONMENT, the rare exception. But worse + still. The higher the type a man represents, the greater is the + improbability that he will SUCCEED; the accidental, the law of + irrationality in the general constitution of mankind, manifests itself + most terribly in its destructive effect on the higher orders of men, the + conditions of whose lives are delicate, diverse, and difficult to + determine. What, then, is the attitude of the two greatest religions + above-mentioned to the SURPLUS of failures in life? They endeavour to + preserve and keep alive whatever can be preserved; in fact, as the + religions FOR SUFFERERS, they take the part of these upon principle; they + are always in favour of those who suffer from life as from a disease, and + they would fain treat every other experience of life as false and + impossible. However highly we may esteem this indulgent and preservative + care (inasmuch as in applying to others, it has applied, and applies also + to the highest and usually the most suffering type of man), the hitherto + PARAMOUNT religions—to give a general appreciation of them—are + among the principal causes which have kept the type of "man" upon a lower + level—they have preserved too much THAT WHICH SHOULD HAVE PERISHED. + One has to thank them for invaluable services; and who is sufficiently + rich in gratitude not to feel poor at the contemplation of all that the + "spiritual men" of Christianity have done for Europe hitherto! But when + they had given comfort to the sufferers, courage to the oppressed and + despairing, a staff and support to the helpless, and when they had allured + from society into convents and spiritual penitentiaries the broken-hearted + and distracted: what else had they to do in order to work systematically + in that fashion, and with a good conscience, for the preservation of all + the sick and suffering, which means, in deed and in truth, to work for the + DETERIORATION OF THE EUROPEAN RACE? To REVERSE all estimates of value—THAT + is what they had to do! And to shatter the strong, to spoil great hopes, + to cast suspicion on the delight in beauty, to break down everything + autonomous, manly, conquering, and imperious—all instincts which are + natural to the highest and most successful type of "man"—into + uncertainty, distress of conscience, and self-destruction; forsooth, to + invert all love of the earthly and of supremacy over the earth, into + hatred of the earth and earthly things—THAT is the task the Church + imposed on itself, and was obliged to impose, until, according to its + standard of value, "unworldliness," "unsensuousness," and "higher man" + fused into one sentiment. If one could observe the strangely painful, + equally coarse and refined comedy of European Christianity with the + derisive and impartial eye of an Epicurean god, I should think one would + never cease marvelling and laughing; does it not actually seem that some + single will has ruled over Europe for eighteen centuries in order to make + a SUBLIME ABORTION of man? He, however, who, with opposite requirements + (no longer Epicurean) and with some divine hammer in his hand, could + approach this almost voluntary degeneration and stunting of mankind, as + exemplified in the European Christian (Pascal, for instance), would he not + have to cry aloud with rage, pity, and horror: "Oh, you bunglers, + presumptuous pitiful bunglers, what have you done! Was that a work for + your hands? How you have hacked and botched my finest stone! What have you + presumed to do!"—I should say that Christianity has hitherto been + the most portentous of presumptions. Men, not great enough, nor hard + enough, to be entitled as artists to take part in fashioning MAN; men, not + sufficiently strong and far-sighted to ALLOW, with sublime + self-constraint, the obvious law of the thousandfold failures and + perishings to prevail; men, not sufficiently noble to see the radically + different grades of rank and intervals of rank that separate man from man:—SUCH + men, with their "equality before God," have hitherto swayed the destiny of + Europe; until at last a dwarfed, almost ludicrous species has been + produced, a gregarious animal, something obliging, sickly, mediocre, the + European of the present day. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. APOPHTHEGMS AND INTERLUDES + </h2> + <p> + 63. He who is a thorough teacher takes things seriously—and even + himself—only in relation to his pupils. + </p> + <p> + 64. "Knowledge for its own sake"—that is the last snare laid by + morality: we are thereby completely entangled in morals once more. + </p> + <p> + 65. The charm of knowledge would be small, were it not so much shame has + to be overcome on the way to it. + </p> + <p> + 65A. We are most dishonourable towards our God: he is not PERMITTED to + sin. + </p> + <p> + 66. The tendency of a person to allow himself to be degraded, robbed, + deceived, and exploited might be the diffidence of a God among men. + </p> + <p> + 67. Love to one only is a barbarity, for it is exercised at the expense of + all others. Love to God also! + </p> + <p> + 68. "I did that," says my memory. "I could not have done that," says my + pride, and remains inexorable. Eventually—the memory yields. + </p> + <p> + 69. One has regarded life carelessly, if one has failed to see the hand + that—kills with leniency. + </p> + <p> + 70. If a man has character, he has also his typical experience, which + always recurs. + </p> + <p> + 71. THE SAGE AS ASTRONOMER.—So long as thou feelest the stars as an + "above thee," thou lackest the eye of the discerning one. + </p> + <p> + 72. It is not the strength, but the duration of great sentiments that + makes great men. + </p> + <p> + 73. He who attains his ideal, precisely thereby surpasses it. + </p> + <p> + 73A. Many a peacock hides his tail from every eye—and calls it his + pride. + </p> + <p> + 74. A man of genius is unbearable, unless he possess at least two things + besides: gratitude and purity. + </p> + <p> + 75. The degree and nature of a man's sensuality extends to the highest + altitudes of his spirit. + </p> + <p> + 76. Under peaceful conditions the militant man attacks himself. + </p> + <p> + 77. With his principles a man seeks either to dominate, or justify, or + honour, or reproach, or conceal his habits: two men with the same + principles probably seek fundamentally different ends therewith. + </p> + <p> + 78. He who despises himself, nevertheless esteems himself thereby, as a + despiser. + </p> + <p> + 79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays + its sediment: its dregs come up. + </p> + <p> + 80. A thing that is explained ceases to concern us—What did the God + mean who gave the advice, "Know thyself!" Did it perhaps imply "Cease to + be concerned about thyself! become objective!"—And Socrates?—And + the "scientific man"? + </p> + <p> + 81. It is terrible to die of thirst at sea. Is it necessary that you + should so salt your truth that it will no longer—quench thirst? + </p> + <p> + 82. "Sympathy for all"—would be harshness and tyranny for THEE, my + good neighbour. + </p> + <p> + 83. INSTINCT—When the house is on fire one forgets even the dinner—Yes, + but one recovers it from among the ashes. + </p> + <p> + 84. Woman learns how to hate in proportion as she—forgets how to + charm. + </p> + <p> + 85. The same emotions are in man and woman, but in different TEMPO, on + that account man and woman never cease to misunderstand each other. + </p> + <p> + 86. In the background of all their personal vanity, women themselves have + still their impersonal scorn—for "woman". + </p> + <p> + 87. FETTERED HEART, FREE SPIRIT—When one firmly fetters one's heart + and keeps it prisoner, one can allow one's spirit many liberties: I said + this once before But people do not believe it when I say so, unless they + know it already. + </p> + <p> + 88. One begins to distrust very clever persons when they become + embarrassed. + </p> + <p> + 89. Dreadful experiences raise the question whether he who experiences + them is not something dreadful also. + </p> + <p> + 90. Heavy, melancholy men turn lighter, and come temporarily to their + surface, precisely by that which makes others heavy—by hatred and + love. + </p> + <p> + 91. So cold, so icy, that one burns one's finger at the touch of him! + Every hand that lays hold of him shrinks back!—And for that very + reason many think him red-hot. + </p> + <p> + 92. Who has not, at one time or another—sacrificed himself for the + sake of his good name? + </p> + <p> + 93. In affability there is no hatred of men, but precisely on that account + a great deal too much contempt of men. + </p> + <p> + 94. The maturity of man—that means, to have reacquired the + seriousness that one had as a child at play. + </p> + <p> + 95. To be ashamed of one's immorality is a step on the ladder at the end + of which one is ashamed also of one's morality. + </p> + <p> + 96. One should part from life as Ulysses parted from Nausicaa—blessing + it rather than in love with it. + </p> + <p> + 97. What? A great man? I always see merely the play-actor of his own + ideal. + </p> + <p> + 98. When one trains one's conscience, it kisses one while it bites. + </p> + <p> + 99. THE DISAPPOINTED ONE SPEAKS—"I listened for the echo and I heard + only praise." + </p> + <p> + 100. We all feign to ourselves that we are simpler than we are, we thus + relax ourselves away from our fellows. + </p> + <p> + 101. A discerning one might easily regard himself at present as the + animalization of God. + </p> + <p> + 102. Discovering reciprocal love should really disenchant the lover with + regard to the beloved. "What! She is modest enough to love even you? Or + stupid enough? Or—or—-" + </p> + <p> + 103. THE DANGER IN HAPPINESS.—"Everything now turns out best for me, + I now love every fate:—who would like to be my fate?" + </p> + <p> + 104. Not their love of humanity, but the impotence of their love, prevents + the Christians of today—burning us. + </p> + <p> + 105. The pia fraus is still more repugnant to the taste (the "piety") of + the free spirit (the "pious man of knowledge") than the impia fraus. Hence + the profound lack of judgment, in comparison with the Church, + characteristic of the type "free spirit"—as ITS non-freedom. + </p> + <p> + 106. By means of music the very passions enjoy themselves. + </p> + <p> + 107. A sign of strong character, when once the resolution has been taken, + to shut the ear even to the best counter-arguments. Occasionally, + therefore, a will to stupidity. + </p> + <p> + 108. There is no such thing as moral phenomena, but only a moral + interpretation of phenomena. + </p> + <p> + 109. The criminal is often enough not equal to his deed: he extenuates and + maligns it. + </p> + <p> + 110. The advocates of a criminal are seldom artists enough to turn the + beautiful terribleness of the deed to the advantage of the doer. + </p> + <p> + 111. Our vanity is most difficult to wound just when our pride has been + wounded. + </p> + <p> + 112. To him who feels himself preordained to contemplation and not to + belief, all believers are too noisy and obtrusive; he guards against them. + </p> + <p> + 113. "You want to prepossess him in your favour? Then you must be + embarrassed before him." + </p> + <p> + 114. The immense expectation with regard to sexual love, and the coyness + in this expectation, spoils all the perspectives of women at the outset. + </p> + <p> + 115. Where there is neither love nor hatred in the game, woman's play is + mediocre. + </p> + <p> + 116. The great epochs of our life are at the points when we gain courage + to rebaptize our badness as the best in us. + </p> + <p> + 117. The will to overcome an emotion, is ultimately only the will of + another, or of several other, emotions. + </p> + <p> + 118. There is an innocence of admiration: it is possessed by him to whom + it has not yet occurred that he himself may be admired some day. + </p> + <p> + 119. Our loathing of dirt may be so great as to prevent our cleaning + ourselves—"justifying" ourselves. + </p> + <p> + 120. Sensuality often forces the growth of love too much, so that its root + remains weak, and is easily torn up. + </p> + <p> + 121. It is a curious thing that God learned Greek when he wished to turn + author—and that he did not learn it better. + </p> + <p> + 122. To rejoice on account of praise is in many cases merely politeness of + heart—and the very opposite of vanity of spirit. + </p> + <p> + 123. Even concubinage has been corrupted—by marriage. + </p> + <p> + 124. He who exults at the stake, does not triumph over pain, but because + of the fact that he does not feel pain where he expected it. A parable. + </p> + <p> + 125. When we have to change an opinion about any one, we charge heavily to + his account the inconvenience he thereby causes us. + </p> + <p> + 126. A nation is a detour of nature to arrive at six or seven great men.—Yes, + and then to get round them. + </p> + <p> + 127. In the eyes of all true women science is hostile to the sense of + shame. They feel as if one wished to peep under their skin with it—or + worse still! under their dress and finery. + </p> + <p> + 128. The more abstract the truth you wish to teach, the more must you + allure the senses to it. + </p> + <p> + 129. The devil has the most extensive perspectives for God; on that + account he keeps so far away from him:—the devil, in effect, as the + oldest friend of knowledge. + </p> + <p> + 130. What a person IS begins to betray itself when his talent decreases,—when + he ceases to show what he CAN do. Talent is also an adornment; an + adornment is also a concealment. + </p> + <p> + 131. The sexes deceive themselves about each other: the reason is that in + reality they honour and love only themselves (or their own ideal, to + express it more agreeably). Thus man wishes woman to be peaceable: but in + fact woman is ESSENTIALLY unpeaceable, like the cat, however well she may + have assumed the peaceable demeanour. + </p> + <p> + 132. One is punished best for one's virtues. + </p> + <p> + 133. He who cannot find the way to HIS ideal, lives more frivolously and + shamelessly than the man without an ideal. + </p> + <p> + 134. From the senses originate all trustworthiness, all good conscience, + all evidence of truth. + </p> + <p> + 135. Pharisaism is not a deterioration of the good man; a considerable + part of it is rather an essential condition of being good. + </p> + <p> + 136. The one seeks an accoucheur for his thoughts, the other seeks some + one whom he can assist: a good conversation thus originates. + </p> + <p> + 137. In intercourse with scholars and artists one readily makes mistakes + of opposite kinds: in a remarkable scholar one not infrequently finds a + mediocre man; and often, even in a mediocre artist, one finds a very + remarkable man. + </p> + <p> + 138. We do the same when awake as when dreaming: we only invent and + imagine him with whom we have intercourse—and forget it immediately. + </p> + <p> + 139. In revenge and in love woman is more barbarous than man. + </p> + <p> + 140. ADVICE AS A RIDDLE.—"If the band is not to break, bite it first—secure + to make!" + </p> + <p> + 141. The belly is the reason why man does not so readily take himself for + a God. + </p> + <p> + 142. The chastest utterance I ever heard: "Dans le veritable amour c'est + l'ame qui enveloppe le corps." + </p> + <p> + 143. Our vanity would like what we do best to pass precisely for what is + most difficult to us.—Concerning the origin of many systems of + morals. + </p> + <p> + 144. When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is generally something + wrong with her sexual nature. Barrenness itself conduces to a certain + virility of taste; man, indeed, if I may say so, is "the barren animal." + </p> + <p> + 145. Comparing man and woman generally, one may say that woman would not + have the genius for adornment, if she had not the instinct for the + SECONDARY role. + </p> + <p> + 146. He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become + a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze + into thee. + </p> + <p> + 147. From old Florentine novels—moreover, from life: Buona femmina e + mala femmina vuol bastone.—Sacchetti, Nov. 86. + </p> + <p> + 148. To seduce their neighbour to a favourable opinion, and afterwards to + believe implicitly in this opinion of their neighbour—who can do + this conjuring trick so well as women? + </p> + <p> + 149. That which an age considers evil is usually an unseasonable echo of + what was formerly considered good—the atavism of an old ideal. + </p> + <p> + 150. Around the hero everything becomes a tragedy; around the demigod + everything becomes a satyr-play; and around God everything becomes—what? + perhaps a "world"? + </p> + <p> + 151. It is not enough to possess a talent: one must also have your + permission to possess it;—eh, my friends? + </p> + <p> + 152. "Where there is the tree of knowledge, there is always Paradise": so + say the most ancient and the most modern serpents. + </p> + <p> + 153. What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil. + </p> + <p> + 154. Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of + health; everything absolute belongs to pathology. + </p> + <p> + 155. The sense of the tragic increases and declines with sensuousness. + </p> + <p> + 156. Insanity in individuals is something rare—but in groups, + parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule. + </p> + <p> + 157. The thought of suicide is a great consolation: by means of it one + gets successfully through many a bad night. + </p> + <p> + 158. Not only our reason, but also our conscience, truckles to our + strongest impulse—the tyrant in us. + </p> + <p> + 159. One MUST repay good and ill; but why just to the person who did us + good or ill? + </p> + <p> + 160. One no longer loves one's knowledge sufficiently after one has + communicated it. + </p> + <p> + 161. Poets act shamelessly towards their experiences: they exploit them. + </p> + <p> + 162. "Our fellow-creature is not our neighbour, but our neighbour's + neighbour":—so thinks every nation. + </p> + <p> + 163. Love brings to light the noble and hidden qualities of a lover—his + rare and exceptional traits: it is thus liable to be deceptive as to his + normal character. + </p> + <p> + 164. Jesus said to his Jews: "The law was for servants;—love God as + I love him, as his Son! What have we Sons of God to do with morals!" + </p> + <p> + 165. IN SIGHT OF EVERY PARTY.—A shepherd has always need of a + bell-wether—or he has himself to be a wether occasionally. + </p> + <p> + 166. One may indeed lie with the mouth; but with the accompanying grimace + one nevertheless tells the truth. + </p> + <p> + 167. To vigorous men intimacy is a matter of shame—and something + precious. + </p> + <p> + 168. Christianity gave Eros poison to drink; he did not die of it, + certainly, but degenerated to Vice. + </p> + <p> + 169. To talk much about oneself may also be a means of concealing oneself. + </p> + <p> + 170. In praise there is more obtrusiveness than in blame. + </p> + <p> + 171. Pity has an almost ludicrous effect on a man of knowledge, like + tender hands on a Cyclops. + </p> + <p> + 172. One occasionally embraces some one or other, out of love to mankind + (because one cannot embrace all); but this is what one must never confess + to the individual. + </p> + <p> + 173. One does not hate as long as one disesteems, but only when one + esteems equal or superior. + </p> + <p> + 174. Ye Utilitarians—ye, too, love the UTILE only as a VEHICLE for + your inclinations,—ye, too, really find the noise of its wheels + insupportable! + </p> + <p> + 175. One loves ultimately one's desires, not the thing desired. + </p> + <p> + 176. The vanity of others is only counter to our taste when it is counter + to our vanity. + </p> + <p> + 177. With regard to what "truthfulness" is, perhaps nobody has ever been + sufficiently truthful. + </p> + <p> + 178. One does not believe in the follies of clever men: what a forfeiture + of the rights of man! + </p> + <p> + 179. The consequences of our actions seize us by the forelock, very + indifferent to the fact that we have meanwhile "reformed." + </p> + <p> + 180. There is an innocence in lying which is the sign of good faith in a + cause. + </p> + <p> + 181. It is inhuman to bless when one is being cursed. + </p> + <p> + 182. The familiarity of superiors embitters one, because it may not be + returned. + </p> + <p> + 183. "I am affected, not because you have deceived me, but because I can + no longer believe in you." + </p> + <p> + 184. There is a haughtiness of kindness which has the appearance of + wickedness. + </p> + <p> + 185. "I dislike him."—Why?—"I am not a match for him."—Did + any one ever answer so? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF MORALS + </h2> + <p> + 186. The moral sentiment in Europe at present is perhaps as subtle, + belated, diverse, sensitive, and refined, as the "Science of Morals" + belonging thereto is recent, initial, awkward, and coarse-fingered:—an + interesting contrast, which sometimes becomes incarnate and obvious in the + very person of a moralist. Indeed, the expression, "Science of Morals" is, + in respect to what is designated thereby, far too presumptuous and counter + to GOOD taste,—which is always a foretaste of more modest + expressions. One ought to avow with the utmost fairness WHAT is still + necessary here for a long time, WHAT is alone proper for the present: + namely, the collection of material, the comprehensive survey and + classification of an immense domain of delicate sentiments of worth, and + distinctions of worth, which live, grow, propagate, and perish—and + perhaps attempts to give a clear idea of the recurring and more common + forms of these living crystallizations—as preparation for a THEORY + OF TYPES of morality. To be sure, people have not hitherto been so modest. + All the philosophers, with a pedantic and ridiculous seriousness, demanded + of themselves something very much higher, more pretentious, and + ceremonious, when they concerned themselves with morality as a science: + they wanted to GIVE A BASIC to morality—and every philosopher + hitherto has believed that he has given it a basis; morality itself, + however, has been regarded as something "given." How far from their + awkward pride was the seemingly insignificant problem—left in dust + and decay—of a description of forms of morality, notwithstanding + that the finest hands and senses could hardly be fine enough for it! It + was precisely owing to moral philosophers' knowing the moral facts + imperfectly, in an arbitrary epitome, or an accidental abridgement—perhaps + as the morality of their environment, their position, their church, their + Zeitgeist, their climate and zone—it was precisely because they were + badly instructed with regard to nations, eras, and past ages, and were by + no means eager to know about these matters, that they did not even come in + sight of the real problems of morals—problems which only disclose + themselves by a comparison of MANY kinds of morality. In every "Science of + Morals" hitherto, strange as it may sound, the problem of morality itself + has been OMITTED: there has been no suspicion that there was anything + problematic there! That which philosophers called "giving a basis to + morality," and endeavoured to realize, has, when seen in a right light, + proved merely a learned form of good FAITH in prevailing morality, a new + means of its EXPRESSION, consequently just a matter-of-fact within the + sphere of a definite morality, yea, in its ultimate motive, a sort of + denial that it is LAWFUL for this morality to be called in question—and + in any case the reverse of the testing, analyzing, doubting, and + vivisecting of this very faith. Hear, for instance, with what innocence—almost + worthy of honour—Schopenhauer represents his own task, and draw your + conclusions concerning the scientificness of a "Science" whose latest + master still talks in the strain of children and old wives: "The + principle," he says (page 136 of the Grundprobleme der Ethik), [Footnote: + Pages 54-55 of Schopenhauer's Basis of Morality, translated by Arthur B. + Bullock, M.A. (1903).] "the axiom about the purport of which all moralists + are PRACTICALLY agreed: neminem laede, immo omnes quantum potes juva—is + REALLY the proposition which all moral teachers strive to establish, ... + the REAL basis of ethics which has been sought, like the philosopher's + stone, for centuries."—The difficulty of establishing the + proposition referred to may indeed be great—it is well known that + Schopenhauer also was unsuccessful in his efforts; and whoever has + thoroughly realized how absurdly false and sentimental this proposition + is, in a world whose essence is Will to Power, may be reminded that + Schopenhauer, although a pessimist, ACTUALLY—played the flute... + daily after dinner: one may read about the matter in his biography. A + question by the way: a pessimist, a repudiator of God and of the world, + who MAKES A HALT at morality—who assents to morality, and plays the + flute to laede-neminem morals, what? Is that really—a pessimist? + </p> + <p> + 187. Apart from the value of such assertions as "there is a categorical + imperative in us," one can always ask: What does such an assertion + indicate about him who makes it? There are systems of morals which are + meant to justify their author in the eyes of other people; other systems + of morals are meant to tranquilize him, and make him self-satisfied; with + other systems he wants to crucify and humble himself, with others he + wishes to take revenge, with others to conceal himself, with others to + glorify himself and gave superiority and distinction,—this system of + morals helps its author to forget, that system makes him, or something of + him, forgotten, many a moralist would like to exercise power and creative + arbitrariness over mankind, many another, perhaps, Kant especially, gives + us to understand by his morals that "what is estimable in me, is that I + know how to obey—and with you it SHALL not be otherwise than with + me!" In short, systems of morals are only a SIGN-LANGUAGE OF THE EMOTIONS. + </p> + <p> + 188. In contrast to laisser-aller, every system of morals is a sort of + tyranny against "nature" and also against "reason", that is, however, no + objection, unless one should again decree by some system of morals, that + all kinds of tyranny and unreasonableness are unlawful What is essential + and invaluable in every system of morals, is that it is a long constraint. + In order to understand Stoicism, or Port Royal, or Puritanism, one should + remember the constraint under which every language has attained to + strength and freedom—the metrical constraint, the tyranny of rhyme + and rhythm. How much trouble have the poets and orators of every nation + given themselves!—not excepting some of the prose writers of today, + in whose ear dwells an inexorable conscientiousness—"for the sake of + a folly," as utilitarian bunglers say, and thereby deem themselves wise—"from + submission to arbitrary laws," as the anarchists say, and thereby fancy + themselves "free," even free-spirited. The singular fact remains, however, + that everything of the nature of freedom, elegance, boldness, dance, and + masterly certainty, which exists or has existed, whether it be in thought + itself, or in administration, or in speaking and persuading, in art just + as in conduct, has only developed by means of the tyranny of such + arbitrary law, and in all seriousness, it is not at all improbable that + precisely this is "nature" and "natural"—and not laisser-aller! + Every artist knows how different from the state of letting himself go, is + his "most natural" condition, the free arranging, locating, disposing, and + constructing in the moments of "inspiration"—and how strictly and + delicately he then obeys a thousand laws, which, by their very rigidness + and precision, defy all formulation by means of ideas (even the most + stable idea has, in comparison therewith, something floating, manifold, + and ambiguous in it). The essential thing "in heaven and in earth" is, + apparently (to repeat it once more), that there should be long OBEDIENCE + in the same direction, there thereby results, and has always resulted in + the long run, something which has made life worth living; for instance, + virtue, art, music, dancing, reason, spirituality—anything whatever + that is transfiguring, refined, foolish, or divine. The long bondage of + the spirit, the distrustful constraint in the communicability of ideas, + the discipline which the thinker imposed on himself to think in accordance + with the rules of a church or a court, or conformable to Aristotelian + premises, the persistent spiritual will to interpret everything that + happened according to a Christian scheme, and in every occurrence to + rediscover and justify the Christian God:—all this violence, + arbitrariness, severity, dreadfulness, and unreasonableness, has proved + itself the disciplinary means whereby the European spirit has attained its + strength, its remorseless curiosity and subtle mobility; granted also that + much irrecoverable strength and spirit had to be stifled, suffocated, and + spoilt in the process (for here, as everywhere, "nature" shows herself as + she is, in all her extravagant and INDIFFERENT magnificence, which is + shocking, but nevertheless noble). That for centuries European thinkers + only thought in order to prove something—nowadays, on the contrary, + we are suspicious of every thinker who "wishes to prove something"—that + it was always settled beforehand what WAS TO BE the result of their + strictest thinking, as it was perhaps in the Asiatic astrology of former + times, or as it is still at the present day in the innocent, + Christian-moral explanation of immediate personal events "for the glory of + God," or "for the good of the soul":—this tyranny, this + arbitrariness, this severe and magnificent stupidity, has EDUCATED the spirit; + slavery, both in the coarser and the finer sense, is apparently an + indispensable means even of spiritual education and discipline. One may + look at every system of morals in this light: it is "nature" therein which + teaches to hate the laisser-aller, the too great freedom, and implants the + need for limited horizons, for immediate duties—it teaches the + NARROWING OF PERSPECTIVES, and thus, in a certain sense, that stupidity is + a condition of life and development. "Thou must obey some one, and for a + long time; OTHERWISE thou wilt come to grief, and lose all respect for + thyself"—this seems to me to be the moral imperative of nature, + which is certainly neither "categorical," as old Kant wished (consequently + the "otherwise"), nor does it address itself to the individual (what does + nature care for the individual!), but to nations, races, ages, and ranks; + above all, however, to the animal "man" generally, to MANKIND. + </p> + <p> + 189. Industrious races find it a great hardship to be idle: it was a + master stroke of ENGLISH instinct to hallow and begloom Sunday to such an + extent that the Englishman unconsciously hankers for his week—and + work-day again:—as a kind of cleverly devised, cleverly intercalated + FAST, such as is also frequently found in the ancient world (although, as + is appropriate in southern nations, not precisely with respect to work). + Many kinds of fasts are necessary; and wherever powerful influences and + habits prevail, legislators have to see that intercalary days are + appointed, on which such impulses are fettered, and learn to hunger anew. + Viewed from a higher standpoint, whole generations and epochs, when they + show themselves infected with any moral fanaticism, seem like those + intercalated periods of restraint and fasting, during which an impulse + learns to humble and submit itself—at the same time also to PURIFY + and SHARPEN itself; certain philosophical sects likewise admit of a + similar interpretation (for instance, the Stoa, in the midst of Hellenic + culture, with the atmosphere rank and overcharged with Aphrodisiacal + odours).—Here also is a hint for the explanation of the paradox, why + it was precisely in the most Christian period of European history, and in + general only under the pressure of Christian sentiments, that the sexual + impulse sublimated into love (amour-passion). + </p> + <p> + 190. There is something in the morality of Plato which does not really + belong to Plato, but which only appears in his philosophy, one might say, + in spite of him: namely, Socratism, for which he himself was too noble. + "No one desires to injure himself, hence all evil is done unwittingly. The + evil man inflicts injury on himself; he would not do so, however, if he + knew that evil is evil. The evil man, therefore, is only evil through + error; if one free him from error one will necessarily make him—good."—This + mode of reasoning savours of the POPULACE, who perceive only the + unpleasant consequences of evil-doing, and practically judge that "it is + STUPID to do wrong"; while they accept "good" as identical with "useful + and pleasant," without further thought. As regards every system of + utilitarianism, one may at once assume that it has the same origin, and + follow the scent: one will seldom err.—Plato did all he could to + interpret something refined and noble into the tenets of his teacher, and + above all to interpret himself into them—he, the most daring of all + interpreters, who lifted the entire Socrates out of the street, as a + popular theme and song, to exhibit him in endless and impossible + modifications—namely, in all his own disguises and multiplicities. + In jest, and in Homeric language as well, what is the Platonic Socrates, + if not—[Greek words inserted here.] + </p> + <p> + 191. The old theological problem of "Faith" and "Knowledge," or more + plainly, of instinct and reason—the question whether, in respect to + the valuation of things, instinct deserves more authority than + rationality, which wants to appreciate and act according to motives, + according to a "Why," that is to say, in conformity to purpose and utility—it + is always the old moral problem that first appeared in the person of + Socrates, and had divided men's minds long before Christianity. Socrates + himself, following, of course, the taste of his talent—that of a + surpassing dialectician—took first the side of reason; and, in fact, + what did he do all his life but laugh at the awkward incapacity of the + noble Athenians, who were men of instinct, like all noble men, and could + never give satisfactory answers concerning the motives of their actions? + In the end, however, though silently and secretly, he laughed also at + himself: with his finer conscience and introspection, he found in himself + the same difficulty and incapacity. "But why"—he said to himself—"should + one on that account separate oneself from the instincts! One must set them + right, and the reason ALSO—one must follow the instincts, but at the + same time persuade the reason to support them with good arguments." This + was the real FALSENESS of that great and mysterious ironist; he brought + his conscience up to the point that he was satisfied with a kind of + self-outwitting: in fact, he perceived the irrationality in the moral + judgment.—Plato, more innocent in such matters, and without the + craftiness of the plebeian, wished to prove to himself, at the expenditure + of all his strength—the greatest strength a philosopher had ever + expended—that reason and instinct lead spontaneously to one goal, to + the good, to "God"; and since Plato, all theologians and philosophers have + followed the same path—which means that in matters of morality, + instinct (or as Christians call it, "Faith," or as I call it, "the herd") + has hitherto triumphed. Unless one should make an exception in the case of + Descartes, the father of rationalism (and consequently the grandfather of + the Revolution), who recognized only the authority of reason: but reason + is only a tool, and Descartes was superficial. + </p> + <p> + 192. Whoever has followed the history of a single science, finds in its + development a clue to the understanding of the oldest and commonest + processes of all "knowledge and cognizance": there, as here, the premature + hypotheses, the fictions, the good stupid will to "belief," and the lack + of distrust and patience are first developed—our senses learn late, + and never learn completely, to be subtle, reliable, and cautious organs of + knowledge. Our eyes find it easier on a given occasion to produce a + picture already often produced, than to seize upon the divergence and + novelty of an impression: the latter requires more force, more "morality." + It is difficult and painful for the ear to listen to anything new; we hear + strange music badly. When we hear another language spoken, we + involuntarily attempt to form the sounds into words with which we are more + familiar and conversant—it was thus, for example, that the Germans + modified the spoken word ARCUBALISTA into ARMBRUST (cross-bow). Our senses + are also hostile and averse to the new; and generally, even in the + "simplest" processes of sensation, the emotions DOMINATE—such as + fear, love, hatred, and the passive emotion of indolence.—As little + as a reader nowadays reads all the single words (not to speak of + syllables) of a page—he rather takes about five out of every twenty + words at random, and "guesses" the probably appropriate sense to them—just + as little do we see a tree correctly and completely in respect to its + leaves, branches, colour, and shape; we find it so much easier to fancy + the chance of a tree. Even in the midst of the most remarkable + experiences, we still do just the same; we fabricate the greater part of + the experience, and can hardly be made to contemplate any event, EXCEPT as + "inventors" thereof. All this goes to prove that from our fundamental + nature and from remote ages we have been—ACCUSTOMED TO LYING. Or, to + express it more politely and hypocritically, in short, more pleasantly—one + is much more of an artist than one is aware of.—In an animated + conversation, I often see the face of the person with whom I am speaking + so clearly and sharply defined before me, according to the thought he + expresses, or which I believe to be evoked in his mind, that the degree of + distinctness far exceeds the STRENGTH of my visual faculty—the + delicacy of the play of the muscles and of the expression of the eyes MUST + therefore be imagined by me. Probably the person put on quite a different + expression, or none at all. + </p> + <p> + 193. Quidquid luce fuit, tenebris agit: but also contrariwise. What we + experience in dreams, provided we experience it often, pertains at last + just as much to the general belongings of our soul as anything "actually" + experienced; by virtue thereof we are richer or poorer, we have a + requirement more or less, and finally, in broad daylight, and even in the + brightest moments of our waking life, we are ruled to some extent by the + nature of our dreams. Supposing that someone has often flown in his + dreams, and that at last, as soon as he dreams, he is conscious of the + power and art of flying as his privilege and his peculiarly enviable + happiness; such a person, who believes that on the slightest impulse, he + can actualize all sorts of curves and angles, who knows the sensation of a + certain divine levity, an "upwards" without effort or constraint, a + "downwards" without descending or lowering—without TROUBLE!—how + could the man with such dream-experiences and dream-habits fail to find + "happiness" differently coloured and defined, even in his waking hours! + How could he fail—to long DIFFERENTLY for happiness? "Flight," such + as is described by poets, must, when compared with his own "flying," be + far too earthly, muscular, violent, far too "troublesome" for him. + </p> + <p> + 194. The difference among men does not manifest itself only in the + difference of their lists of desirable things—in their regarding + different good things as worth striving for, and being disagreed as to the + greater or less value, the order of rank, of the commonly recognized + desirable things:—it manifests itself much more in what they regard + as actually HAVING and POSSESSING a desirable thing. As regards a woman, + for instance, the control over her body and her sexual gratification + serves as an amply sufficient sign of ownership and possession to the more + modest man; another with a more suspicious and ambitious thirst for + possession, sees the "questionableness," the mere apparentness of such + ownership, and wishes to have finer tests in order to know especially + whether the woman not only gives herself to him, but also gives up for his + sake what she has or would like to have—only THEN does he look upon + her as "possessed." A third, however, has not even here got to the limit + of his distrust and his desire for possession: he asks himself whether the + woman, when she gives up everything for him, does not perhaps do so for a + phantom of him; he wishes first to be thoroughly, indeed, profoundly well + known; in order to be loved at all he ventures to let himself be found + out. Only then does he feel the beloved one fully in his possession, when + she no longer deceives herself about him, when she loves him just as much + for the sake of his devilry and concealed insatiability, as for his + goodness, patience, and spirituality. One man would like to possess a + nation, and he finds all the higher arts of Cagliostro and Catalina + suitable for his purpose. Another, with a more refined thirst for + possession, says to himself: "One may not deceive where one desires to + possess"—he is irritated and impatient at the idea that a mask of + him should rule in the hearts of the people: "I must, therefore, MAKE + myself known, and first of all learn to know myself!" Among helpful and + charitable people, one almost always finds the awkward craftiness which + first gets up suitably him who has to be helped, as though, for instance, + he should "merit" help, seek just THEIR help, and would show himself + deeply grateful, attached, and subservient to them for all help. With + these conceits, they take control of the needy as a property, just as in + general they are charitable and helpful out of a desire for property. One + finds them jealous when they are crossed or forestalled in their charity. + Parents involuntarily make something like themselves out of their children—they + call that "education"; no mother doubts at the bottom of her heart that + the child she has borne is thereby her property, no father hesitates about + his right to HIS OWN ideas and notions of worth. Indeed, in former times + fathers deemed it right to use their discretion concerning the life or + death of the newly born (as among the ancient Germans). And like the + father, so also do the teacher, the class, the priest, and the prince + still see in every new individual an unobjectionable opportunity for a new + possession. The consequence is... + </p> + <p> + 195. The Jews—a people "born for slavery," as Tacitus and the whole + ancient world say of them; "the chosen people among the nations," as they + themselves say and believe—the Jews performed the miracle of the + inversion of valuations, by means of which life on earth obtained a new + and dangerous charm for a couple of millenniums. Their prophets fused into + one the expressions "rich," "godless," "wicked," "violent," "sensual," and + for the first time coined the word "world" as a term of reproach. In this + inversion of valuations (in which is also included the use of the word + "poor" as synonymous with "saint" and "friend") the significance of the + Jewish people is to be found; it is with THEM that the SLAVE-INSURRECTION + IN MORALS commences. + </p> + <p> + 196. It is to be INFERRED that there are countless dark bodies near the + sun—such as we shall never see. Among ourselves, this is an + allegory; and the psychologist of morals reads the whole star-writing + merely as an allegorical and symbolic language in which much may be + unexpressed. + </p> + <p> + 197. The beast of prey and the man of prey (for instance, Caesar Borgia) + are fundamentally misunderstood, "nature" is misunderstood, so long as one + seeks a "morbidness" in the constitution of these healthiest of all + tropical monsters and growths, or even an innate "hell" in them—as + almost all moralists have done hitherto. Does it not seem that there is a + hatred of the virgin forest and of the tropics among moralists? And that + the "tropical man" must be discredited at all costs, whether as disease + and deterioration of mankind, or as his own hell and self-torture? And + why? In favour of the "temperate zones"? In favour of the temperate men? + The "moral"? The mediocre?—This for the chapter: "Morals as + Timidity." + </p> + <p> + 198. All the systems of morals which address themselves with a view to + their "happiness," as it is called—what else are they but + suggestions for behaviour adapted to the degree of DANGER from themselves + in which the individuals live; recipes for their passions, their good and + bad propensities, insofar as such have the Will to Power and would like to + play the master; small and great expediencies and elaborations, permeated + with the musty odour of old family medicines and old-wife wisdom; all of + them grotesque and absurd in their form—because they address + themselves to "all," because they generalize where generalization is not + authorized; all of them speaking unconditionally, and taking themselves + unconditionally; all of them flavoured not merely with one grain of salt, + but rather endurable only, and sometimes even seductive, when they are + over-spiced and begin to smell dangerously, especially of "the other + world." That is all of little value when estimated intellectually, and is + far from being "science," much less "wisdom"; but, repeated once more, and + three times repeated, it is expediency, expediency, expediency, mixed with + stupidity, stupidity, stupidity—whether it be the indifference and + statuesque coldness towards the heated folly of the emotions, which the + Stoics advised and fostered; or the no-more-laughing and no-more-weeping + of Spinoza, the destruction of the emotions by their analysis and + vivisection, which he recommended so naively; or the lowering of the + emotions to an innocent mean at which they may be satisfied, the + Aristotelianism of morals; or even morality as the enjoyment of the + emotions in a voluntary attenuation and spiritualization by the symbolism + of art, perhaps as music, or as love of God, and of mankind for God's sake—for + in religion the passions are once more enfranchised, provided that...; or, + finally, even the complaisant and wanton surrender to the emotions, as has + been taught by Hafis and Goethe, the bold letting-go of the reins, the + spiritual and corporeal licentia morum in the exceptional cases of wise + old codgers and drunkards, with whom it "no longer has much danger."—This + also for the chapter: "Morals as Timidity." + </p> + <p> + 199. Inasmuch as in all ages, as long as mankind has existed, there have + also been human herds (family alliances, communities, tribes, peoples, + states, churches), and always a great number who obey in proportion to the + small number who command—in view, therefore, of the fact that + obedience has been most practiced and fostered among mankind hitherto, one + may reasonably suppose that, generally speaking, the need thereof is now + innate in every one, as a kind of FORMAL CONSCIENCE which gives the + command "Thou shalt unconditionally do something, unconditionally refrain + from something", in short, "Thou shalt". This need tries to satisfy itself + and to fill its form with a content, according to its strength, + impatience, and eagerness, it at once seizes as an omnivorous appetite + with little selection, and accepts whatever is shouted into its ear by all + sorts of commanders—parents, teachers, laws, class prejudices, or + public opinion. The extraordinary limitation of human development, the + hesitation, protractedness, frequent retrogression, and turning thereof, + is attributable to the fact that the herd-instinct of obedience is + transmitted best, and at the cost of the art of command. If one imagine + this instinct increasing to its greatest extent, commanders and + independent individuals will finally be lacking altogether, or they will + suffer inwardly from a bad conscience, and will have to impose a deception + on themselves in the first place in order to be able to command just as if + they also were only obeying. This condition of things actually exists in + Europe at present—I call it the moral hypocrisy of the commanding + class. They know no other way of protecting themselves from their bad + conscience than by playing the role of executors of older and higher + orders (of predecessors, of the constitution, of justice, of the law, or + of God himself), or they even justify themselves by maxims from the + current opinions of the herd, as "first servants of their people," or + "instruments of the public weal". On the other hand, the gregarious + European man nowadays assumes an air as if he were the only kind of man + that is allowable, he glorifies his qualities, such as public spirit, + kindness, deference, industry, temperance, modesty, indulgence, sympathy, + by virtue of which he is gentle, endurable, and useful to the herd, as the + peculiarly human virtues. In cases, however, where it is believed that the + leader and bell-wether cannot be dispensed with, attempt after attempt is + made nowadays to replace commanders by the summing together of clever + gregarious men all representative constitutions, for example, are of this + origin. In spite of all, what a blessing, what a deliverance from a weight + becoming unendurable, is the appearance of an absolute ruler for these + gregarious Europeans—of this fact the effect of the appearance of + Napoleon was the last great proof the history of the influence of Napoleon + is almost the history of the higher happiness to which the entire century + has attained in its worthiest individuals and periods. + </p> + <p> + 200. The man of an age of dissolution which mixes the races with one + another, who has the inheritance of a diversified descent in his body—that + is to say, contrary, and often not only contrary, instincts and standards + of value, which struggle with one another and are seldom at peace—such + a man of late culture and broken lights, will, on an average, be a weak + man. His fundamental desire is that the war which is IN HIM should come to + an end; happiness appears to him in the character of a soothing medicine + and mode of thought (for instance, Epicurean or Christian); it is above + all things the happiness of repose, of undisturbedness, of repletion, of + final unity—it is the "Sabbath of Sabbaths," to use the expression + of the holy rhetorician, St. Augustine, who was himself such a man.—Should, + however, the contrariety and conflict in such natures operate as an + ADDITIONAL incentive and stimulus to life—and if, on the other hand, + in addition to their powerful and irreconcilable instincts, they have also + inherited and indoctrinated into them a proper mastery and subtlety for + carrying on the conflict with themselves (that is to say, the faculty of + self-control and self-deception), there then arise those marvelously + incomprehensible and inexplicable beings, those enigmatical men, + predestined for conquering and circumventing others, the finest examples + of which are Alcibiades and Caesar (with whom I should like to associate + the FIRST of Europeans according to my taste, the Hohenstaufen, Frederick + the Second), and among artists, perhaps Leonardo da Vinci. They appear + precisely in the same periods when that weaker type, with its longing for + repose, comes to the front; the two types are complementary to each other, + and spring from the same causes. + </p> + <p> + 201. As long as the utility which determines moral estimates is only + gregarious utility, as long as the preservation of the community is only + kept in view, and the immoral is sought precisely and exclusively in what + seems dangerous to the maintenance of the community, there can be no + "morality of love to one's neighbour." Granted even that there is already + a little constant exercise of consideration, sympathy, fairness, + gentleness, and mutual assistance, granted that even in this condition of + society all those instincts are already active which are latterly + distinguished by honourable names as "virtues," and eventually almost + coincide with the conception "morality": in that period they do not as yet + belong to the domain of moral valuations—they are still ULTRA-MORAL. + A sympathetic action, for instance, is neither called good nor bad, moral + nor immoral, in the best period of the Romans; and should it be praised, a + sort of resentful disdain is compatible with this praise, even at the + best, directly the sympathetic action is compared with one which + contributes to the welfare of the whole, to the RES PUBLICA. After all, + "love to our neighbour" is always a secondary matter, partly conventional + and arbitrarily manifested in relation to our FEAR OF OUR NEIGHBOUR. After + the fabric of society seems on the whole established and secured against + external dangers, it is this fear of our neighbour which again creates new + perspectives of moral valuation. Certain strong and dangerous instincts, + such as the love of enterprise, foolhardiness, revengefulness, astuteness, + rapacity, and love of power, which up till then had not only to be + honoured from the point of view of general utility—under other + names, of course, than those here given—but had to be fostered and + cultivated (because they were perpetually required in the common danger + against the common enemies), are now felt in their dangerousness to be + doubly strong—when the outlets for them are lacking—and are + gradually branded as immoral and given over to calumny. The contrary + instincts and inclinations now attain to moral honour, the gregarious + instinct gradually draws its conclusions. How much or how little + dangerousness to the community or to equality is contained in an opinion, + a condition, an emotion, a disposition, or an endowment—that is now + the moral perspective, here again fear is the mother of morals. It is by + the loftiest and strongest instincts, when they break out passionately and + carry the individual far above and beyond the average, and the low level + of the gregarious conscience, that the self-reliance of the community is + destroyed, its belief in itself, its backbone, as it were, breaks, + consequently these very instincts will be most branded and defamed. The + lofty independent spirituality, the will to stand alone, and even the + cogent reason, are felt to be dangers, everything that elevates the + individual above the herd, and is a source of fear to the neighbour, is + henceforth called EVIL, the tolerant, unassuming, self-adapting, + self-equalizing disposition, the MEDIOCRITY of desires, attains to moral + distinction and honour. Finally, under very peaceful circumstances, there + is always less opportunity and necessity for training the feelings to + severity and rigour, and now every form of severity, even in justice, + begins to disturb the conscience, a lofty and rigorous nobleness and + self-responsibility almost offends, and awakens distrust, "the lamb," and + still more "the sheep," wins respect. There is a point of diseased + mellowness and effeminacy in the history of society, at which society + itself takes the part of him who injures it, the part of the CRIMINAL, and + does so, in fact, seriously and honestly. To punish, appears to it to be + somehow unfair—it is certain that the idea of "punishment" and "the + obligation to punish" are then painful and alarming to people. "Is it not + sufficient if the criminal be rendered HARMLESS? Why should we still + punish? Punishment itself is terrible!"—with these questions + gregarious morality, the morality of fear, draws its ultimate conclusion. + If one could at all do away with danger, the cause of fear, one would have + done away with this morality at the same time, it would no longer be + necessary, it WOULD NOT CONSIDER ITSELF any longer necessary!—Whoever + examines the conscience of the present-day European, will always elicit + the same imperative from its thousand moral folds and hidden recesses, the + imperative of the timidity of the herd "we wish that some time or other + there may be NOTHING MORE TO FEAR!" Some time or other—the will and + the way THERETO is nowadays called "progress" all over Europe. + </p> + <p> + 202. Let us at once say again what we have already said a hundred times, + for people's ears nowadays are unwilling to hear such truths—OUR + truths. We know well enough how offensive it sounds when any one plainly, + and without metaphor, counts man among the animals, but it will be + accounted to us almost a CRIME, that it is precisely in respect to men of + "modern ideas" that we have constantly applied the terms "herd," + "herd-instincts," and such like expressions. What avail is it? We cannot + do otherwise, for it is precisely here that our new insight is. We have + found that in all the principal moral judgments, Europe has become + unanimous, including likewise the countries where European influence + prevails in Europe people evidently KNOW what Socrates thought he did not + know, and what the famous serpent of old once promised to teach—they + "know" today what is good and evil. It must then sound hard and be + distasteful to the ear, when we always insist that that which here thinks + it knows, that which here glorifies itself with praise and blame, and + calls itself good, is the instinct of the herding human animal, the + instinct which has come and is ever coming more and more to the front, to + preponderance and supremacy over other instincts, according to the + increasing physiological approximation and resemblance of which it is the + symptom. MORALITY IN EUROPE AT PRESENT IS HERDING-ANIMAL MORALITY, and + therefore, as we understand the matter, only one kind of human morality, + beside which, before which, and after which many other moralities, and + above all HIGHER moralities, are or should be possible. Against such a + "possibility," against such a "should be," however, this morality defends + itself with all its strength, it says obstinately and inexorably "I am + morality itself and nothing else is morality!" Indeed, with the help of a + religion which has humoured and flattered the sublimest desires of the + herding-animal, things have reached such a point that we always find a + more visible expression of this morality even in political and social + arrangements: the DEMOCRATIC movement is the inheritance of the Christian + movement. That its TEMPO, however, is much too slow and sleepy for the + more impatient ones, for those who are sick and distracted by the + herding-instinct, is indicated by the increasingly furious howling, and + always less disguised teeth-gnashing of the anarchist dogs, who are now + roving through the highways of European culture. Apparently in opposition + to the peacefully industrious democrats and Revolution-ideologues, and + still more so to the awkward philosophasters and fraternity-visionaries + who call themselves Socialists and want a "free society," those are really + at one with them all in their thorough and instinctive hostility to every + form of society other than that of the AUTONOMOUS herd (to the extent even + of repudiating the notions "master" and "servant"—ni dieu ni maitre, + says a socialist formula); at one in their tenacious opposition to every + special claim, every special right and privilege (this means ultimately + opposition to EVERY right, for when all are equal, no one needs "rights" + any longer); at one in their distrust of punitive justice (as though it + were a violation of the weak, unfair to the NECESSARY consequences of all + former society); but equally at one in their religion of sympathy, in + their compassion for all that feels, lives, and suffers (down to the very + animals, up even to "God"—the extravagance of "sympathy for God" + belongs to a democratic age); altogether at one in the cry and impatience + of their sympathy, in their deadly hatred of suffering generally, in their + almost feminine incapacity for witnessing it or ALLOWING it; at one in + their involuntary beglooming and heart-softening, under the spell of which + Europe seems to be threatened with a new Buddhism; at one in their belief + in the morality of MUTUAL sympathy, as though it were morality in itself, + the climax, the ATTAINED climax of mankind, the sole hope of the future, + the consolation of the present, the great discharge from all the + obligations of the past; altogether at one in their belief in the + community as the DELIVERER, in the herd, and therefore in "themselves." + </p> + <p> + 203. We, who hold a different belief—we, who regard the democratic + movement, not only as a degenerating form of political organization, but + as equivalent to a degenerating, a waning type of man, as involving his + mediocrising and depreciation: where have WE to fix our hopes? In NEW + PHILOSOPHERS—there is no other alternative: in minds strong and + original enough to initiate opposite estimates of value, to transvalue and + invert "eternal valuations"; in forerunners, in men of the future, who in + the present shall fix the constraints and fasten the knots which will + compel millenniums to take NEW paths. To teach man the future of humanity + as his WILL, as depending on human will, and to make preparation for vast + hazardous enterprises and collective attempts in rearing and educating, in + order thereby to put an end to the frightful rule of folly and chance + which has hitherto gone by the name of "history" (the folly of the + "greatest number" is only its last form)—for that purpose a new type + of philosopher and commander will some time or other be needed, at the + very idea of which everything that has existed in the way of occult, + terrible, and benevolent beings might look pale and dwarfed. The image of + such leaders hovers before OUR eyes:—is it lawful for me to say it + aloud, ye free spirits? The conditions which one would partly have to + create and partly utilize for their genesis; the presumptive methods and + tests by virtue of which a soul should grow up to such an elevation and + power as to feel a CONSTRAINT to these tasks; a transvaluation of values, + under the new pressure and hammer of which a conscience should be steeled + and a heart transformed into brass, so as to bear the weight of such + responsibility; and on the other hand the necessity for such leaders, the + dreadful danger that they might be lacking, or miscarry and degenerate:—these + are OUR real anxieties and glooms, ye know it well, ye free spirits! these + are the heavy distant thoughts and storms which sweep across the heaven of + OUR life. There are few pains so grievous as to have seen, divined, or + experienced how an exceptional man has missed his way and deteriorated; + but he who has the rare eye for the universal danger of "man" himself + DETERIORATING, he who like us has recognized the extraordinary + fortuitousness which has hitherto played its game in respect to the future + of mankind—a game in which neither the hand, nor even a "finger of + God" has participated!—he who divines the fate that is hidden under + the idiotic unwariness and blind confidence of "modern ideas," and still + more under the whole of Christo-European morality—suffers from an + anguish with which no other is to be compared. He sees at a glance all + that could still BE MADE OUT OF MAN through a favourable accumulation and + augmentation of human powers and arrangements; he knows with all the + knowledge of his conviction how unexhausted man still is for the greatest + possibilities, and how often in the past the type man has stood in + presence of mysterious decisions and new paths:—he knows still + better from his painfulest recollections on what wretched obstacles + promising developments of the highest rank have hitherto usually gone to + pieces, broken down, sunk, and become contemptible. The UNIVERSAL + DEGENERACY OF MANKIND to the level of the "man of the future"—as + idealized by the socialistic fools and shallow-pates—this degeneracy + and dwarfing of man to an absolutely gregarious animal (or as they call + it, to a man of "free society"), this brutalizing of man into a pigmy with + equal rights and claims, is undoubtedly POSSIBLE! He who has thought out + this possibility to its ultimate conclusion knows ANOTHER loathing unknown + to the rest of mankind—and perhaps also a new MISSION! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. WE SCHOLARS + </h2> + <p> + 204. At the risk that moralizing may also reveal itself here as that which + it has always been—namely, resolutely MONTRER SES PLAIES, according + to Balzac—I would venture to protest against an improper and + injurious alteration of rank, which quite unnoticed, and as if with the + best conscience, threatens nowadays to establish itself in the relations + of science and philosophy. I mean to say that one must have the right out + of one's own EXPERIENCE—experience, as it seems to me, always + implies unfortunate experience?—to treat of such an important + question of rank, so as not to speak of colour like the blind, or AGAINST + science like women and artists ("Ah! this dreadful science!" sigh their + instinct and their shame, "it always FINDS THINGS OUT!"). The declaration + of independence of the scientific man, his emancipation from philosophy, + is one of the subtler after-effects of democratic organization and + disorganization: the self-glorification and self-conceitedness of the + learned man is now everywhere in full bloom, and in its best springtime—which + does not mean to imply that in this case self-praise smells sweet. Here + also the instinct of the populace cries, "Freedom from all masters!" and + after science has, with the happiest results, resisted theology, whose + "hand-maid" it had been too long, it now proposes in its wantonness and + indiscretion to lay down laws for philosophy, and in its turn to play the + "master"—what am I saying! to play the PHILOSOPHER on its own + account. My memory—the memory of a scientific man, if you please!—teems + with the naivetes of insolence which I have heard about philosophy and + philosophers from young naturalists and old physicians (not to mention the + most cultured and most conceited of all learned men, the philologists and + schoolmasters, who are both the one and the other by profession). On one + occasion it was the specialist and the Jack Horner who instinctively stood + on the defensive against all synthetic tasks and capabilities; at another + time it was the industrious worker who had got a scent of OTIUM and + refined luxuriousness in the internal economy of the philosopher, and felt + himself aggrieved and belittled thereby. On another occasion it was the + colour-blindness of the utilitarian, who sees nothing in philosophy but a + series of REFUTED systems, and an extravagant expenditure which "does + nobody any good". At another time the fear of disguised mysticism and of + the boundary-adjustment of knowledge became conspicuous, at another time + the disregard of individual philosophers, which had involuntarily extended + to disregard of philosophy generally. In fine, I found most frequently, + behind the proud disdain of philosophy in young scholars, the evil + after-effect of some particular philosopher, to whom on the whole + obedience had been foresworn, without, however, the spell of his scornful + estimates of other philosophers having been got rid of—the result + being a general ill-will to all philosophy. (Such seems to me, for + instance, the after-effect of Schopenhauer on the most modern Germany: by + his unintelligent rage against Hegel, he has succeeded in severing the + whole of the last generation of Germans from its connection with German + culture, which culture, all things considered, has been an elevation and a + divining refinement of the HISTORICAL SENSE, but precisely at this point + Schopenhauer himself was poor, irreceptive, and un-German to the extent of + ingeniousness.) On the whole, speaking generally, it may just have been + the humanness, all-too-humanness of the modern philosophers themselves, in + short, their contemptibleness, which has injured most radically the + reverence for philosophy and opened the doors to the instinct of the + populace. Let it but be acknowledged to what an extent our modern world + diverges from the whole style of the world of Heraclitus, Plato, + Empedocles, and whatever else all the royal and magnificent anchorites of + the spirit were called, and with what justice an honest man of science MAY + feel himself of a better family and origin, in view of such + representatives of philosophy, who, owing to the fashion of the present + day, are just as much aloft as they are down below—in Germany, for + instance, the two lions of Berlin, the anarchist Eugen Duhring and the + amalgamist Eduard von Hartmann. It is especially the sight of those + hotch-potch philosophers, who call themselves "realists," or + "positivists," which is calculated to implant a dangerous distrust in the + soul of a young and ambitious scholar those philosophers, at the best, are + themselves but scholars and specialists, that is very evident! All of them + are persons who have been vanquished and BROUGHT BACK AGAIN under the + dominion of science, who at one time or another claimed more from + themselves, without having a right to the "more" and its responsibility—and + who now, creditably, rancorously, and vindictively, represent in word and + deed, DISBELIEF in the master-task and supremacy of philosophy After all, + how could it be otherwise? Science flourishes nowadays and has the good + conscience clearly visible on its countenance, while that to which the + entire modern philosophy has gradually sunk, the remnant of philosophy of + the present day, excites distrust and displeasure, if not scorn and pity + Philosophy reduced to a "theory of knowledge," no more in fact than a + diffident science of epochs and doctrine of forbearance a philosophy that + never even gets beyond the threshold, and rigorously DENIES itself the + right to enter—that is philosophy in its last throes, an end, an + agony, something that awakens pity. How could such a philosophy—RULE! + </p> + <p> + 205. The dangers that beset the evolution of the philosopher are, in fact, + so manifold nowadays, that one might doubt whether this fruit could still + come to maturity. The extent and towering structure of the sciences have + increased enormously, and therewith also the probability that the + philosopher will grow tired even as a learner, or will attach himself + somewhere and "specialize" so that he will no longer attain to his + elevation, that is to say, to his superspection, his circumspection, and + his DESPECTION. Or he gets aloft too late, when the best of his maturity + and strength is past, or when he is impaired, coarsened, and deteriorated, + so that his view, his general estimate of things, is no longer of much + importance. It is perhaps just the refinement of his intellectual + conscience that makes him hesitate and linger on the way, he dreads the + temptation to become a dilettante, a millepede, a milleantenna, he knows + too well that as a discerner, one who has lost his self-respect no longer + commands, no longer LEADS, unless he should aspire to become a great + play-actor, a philosophical Cagliostro and spiritual rat-catcher—in + short, a misleader. This is in the last instance a question of taste, if + it has not really been a question of conscience. To double once more the + philosopher's difficulties, there is also the fact that he demands from + himself a verdict, a Yea or Nay, not concerning science, but concerning + life and the worth of life—he learns unwillingly to believe that it + is his right and even his duty to obtain this verdict, and he has to seek + his way to the right and the belief only through the most extensive + (perhaps disturbing and destroying) experiences, often hesitating, + doubting, and dumbfounded. In fact, the philosopher has long been mistaken + and confused by the multitude, either with the scientific man and ideal + scholar, or with the religiously elevated, desensualized, desecularized + visionary and God-intoxicated man; and even yet when one hears anybody + praised, because he lives "wisely," or "as a philosopher," it hardly means + anything more than "prudently and apart." Wisdom: that seems to the + populace to be a kind of flight, a means and artifice for withdrawing + successfully from a bad game; but the GENUINE philosopher—does it + not seem so to US, my friends?—lives "unphilosophically" and + "unwisely," above all, IMPRUDENTLY, and feels the obligation and burden of + a hundred attempts and temptations of life—he risks HIMSELF + constantly, he plays THIS bad game. + </p> + <p> + 206. In relation to the genius, that is to say, a being who either + ENGENDERS or PRODUCES—both words understood in their fullest sense—the + man of learning, the scientific average man, has always something of the + old maid about him; for, like her, he is not conversant with the two + principal functions of man. To both, of course, to the scholar and to the + old maid, one concedes respectability, as if by way of indemnification—in + these cases one emphasizes the respectability—and yet, in the + compulsion of this concession, one has the same admixture of vexation. Let + us examine more closely: what is the scientific man? Firstly, a + commonplace type of man, with commonplace virtues: that is to say, a + non-ruling, non-authoritative, and non-self-sufficient type of man; he + possesses industry, patient adaptableness to rank and file, equability and + moderation in capacity and requirement; he has the instinct for people + like himself, and for that which they require—for instance: the + portion of independence and green meadow without which there is no rest + from labour, the claim to honour and consideration (which first and + foremost presupposes recognition and recognisability), the sunshine of a + good name, the perpetual ratification of his value and usefulness, with + which the inward DISTRUST which lies at the bottom of the heart of all + dependent men and gregarious animals, has again and again to be overcome. + The learned man, as is appropriate, has also maladies and faults of an + ignoble kind: he is full of petty envy, and has a lynx-eye for the weak + points in those natures to whose elevations he cannot attain. He is + confiding, yet only as one who lets himself go, but does not FLOW; and + precisely before the man of the great current he stands all the colder and + more reserved—his eye is then like a smooth and irresponsive lake, + which is no longer moved by rapture or sympathy. The worst and most + dangerous thing of which a scholar is capable results from the instinct of + mediocrity of his type, from the Jesuitism of mediocrity, which labours + instinctively for the destruction of the exceptional man, and endeavours + to break—or still better, to relax—every bent bow To relax, of + course, with consideration, and naturally with an indulgent hand—to + RELAX with confiding sympathy that is the real art of Jesuitism, which has + always understood how to introduce itself as the religion of sympathy. + </p> + <p> + 207. However gratefully one may welcome the OBJECTIVE spirit—and who + has not been sick to death of all subjectivity and its confounded + IPSISIMOSITY!—in the end, however, one must learn caution even with + regard to one's gratitude, and put a stop to the exaggeration with which + the unselfing and depersonalizing of the spirit has recently been + celebrated, as if it were the goal in itself, as if it were salvation and + glorification—as is especially accustomed to happen in the pessimist + school, which has also in its turn good reasons for paying the highest + honours to "disinterested knowledge" The objective man, who no longer + curses and scolds like the pessimist, the IDEAL man of learning in whom + the scientific instinct blossoms forth fully after a thousand complete and + partial failures, is assuredly one of the most costly instruments that + exist, but his place is in the hand of one who is more powerful He is only + an instrument, we may say, he is a MIRROR—he is no "purpose in + himself" The objective man is in truth a mirror accustomed to prostration + before everything that wants to be known, with such desires only as + knowing or "reflecting" implies—he waits until something comes, and + then expands himself sensitively, so that even the light footsteps and + gliding-past of spiritual beings may not be lost on his surface and film + Whatever "personality" he still possesses seems to him accidental, + arbitrary, or still oftener, disturbing, so much has he come to regard + himself as the passage and reflection of outside forms and events He calls + up the recollection of "himself" with an effort, and not infrequently + wrongly, he readily confounds himself with other persons, he makes + mistakes with regard to his own needs, and here only is he unrefined and + negligent Perhaps he is troubled about the health, or the pettiness and + confined atmosphere of wife and friend, or the lack of companions and + society—indeed, he sets himself to reflect on his suffering, but in + vain! His thoughts already rove away to the MORE GENERAL case, and + tomorrow he knows as little as he knew yesterday how to help himself He + does not now take himself seriously and devote time to himself he is + serene, NOT from lack of trouble, but from lack of capacity for grasping + and dealing with HIS trouble The habitual complaisance with respect to all + objects and experiences, the radiant and impartial hospitality with which + he receives everything that comes his way, his habit of inconsiderate + good-nature, of dangerous indifference as to Yea and Nay: alas! there are + enough of cases in which he has to atone for these virtues of his!—and + as man generally, he becomes far too easily the CAPUT MORTUUM of such + virtues. Should one wish love or hatred from him—I mean love and + hatred as God, woman, and animal understand them—he will do what he + can, and furnish what he can. But one must not be surprised if it should + not be much—if he should show himself just at this point to be + false, fragile, questionable, and deteriorated. His love is constrained, + his hatred is artificial, and rather UN TOUR DE FORCE, a slight + ostentation and exaggeration. He is only genuine so far as he can be + objective; only in his serene totality is he still "nature" and "natural." + His mirroring and eternally self-polishing soul no longer knows how to + affirm, no longer how to deny; he does not command; neither does he + destroy. "JE NE MEPRISE PRESQUE RIEN"—he says, with Leibniz: let us + not overlook nor undervalue the PRESQUE! Neither is he a model man; he + does not go in advance of any one, nor after, either; he places himself + generally too far off to have any reason for espousing the cause of either + good or evil. If he has been so long confounded with the PHILOSOPHER, with + the Caesarian trainer and dictator of civilization, he has had far too + much honour, and what is more essential in him has been overlooked—he + is an instrument, something of a slave, though certainly the sublimest + sort of slave, but nothing in himself—PRESQUE RIEN! The objective + man is an instrument, a costly, easily injured, easily tarnished measuring + instrument and mirroring apparatus, which is to be taken care of and + respected; but he is no goal, not outgoing nor upgoing, no complementary + man in whom the REST of existence justifies itself, no termination—and + still less a commencement, an engendering, or primary cause, nothing + hardy, powerful, self-centred, that wants to be master; but rather only a + soft, inflated, delicate, movable potter's-form, that must wait for some + kind of content and frame to "shape" itself thereto—for the most + part a man without frame and content, a "selfless" man. Consequently, + also, nothing for women, IN PARENTHESI. + </p> + <p> + 208. When a philosopher nowadays makes known that he is not a skeptic—I + hope that has been gathered from the foregoing description of the + objective spirit?—people all hear it impatiently; they regard him on + that account with some apprehension, they would like to ask so many, many + questions... indeed among timid hearers, of whom there are now so many, he + is henceforth said to be dangerous. With his repudiation of skepticism, it + seems to them as if they heard some evil-threatening sound in the + distance, as if a new kind of explosive were being tried somewhere, a + dynamite of the spirit, perhaps a newly discovered Russian NIHILINE, a + pessimism BONAE VOLUNTATIS, that not only denies, means denial, but—dreadful + thought! PRACTISES denial. Against this kind of "good-will"—a will + to the veritable, actual negation of life—there is, as is generally + acknowledged nowadays, no better soporific and sedative than skepticism, + the mild, pleasing, lulling poppy of skepticism; and Hamlet himself is now + prescribed by the doctors of the day as an antidote to the "spirit," and + its underground noises. "Are not our ears already full of bad sounds?" say + the skeptics, as lovers of repose, and almost as a kind of safety police; + "this subterranean Nay is terrible! Be still, ye pessimistic moles!" The + skeptic, in effect, that delicate creature, is far too easily frightened; + his conscience is schooled so as to start at every Nay, and even at that + sharp, decided Yea, and feels something like a bite thereby. Yea! and Nay!—they + seem to him opposed to morality; he loves, on the contrary, to make a + festival to his virtue by a noble aloofness, while perhaps he says with + Montaigne: "What do I know?" Or with Socrates: "I know that I know + nothing." Or: "Here I do not trust myself, no door is open to me." Or: + "Even if the door were open, why should I enter immediately?" Or: "What is + the use of any hasty hypotheses? It might quite well be in good taste to + make no hypotheses at all. Are you absolutely obliged to straighten at + once what is crooked? to stuff every hole with some kind of oakum? Is + there not time enough for that? Has not the time leisure? Oh, ye demons, + can ye not at all WAIT? The uncertain also has its charms, the Sphinx, + too, is a Circe, and Circe, too, was a philosopher."—Thus does a + skeptic console himself; and in truth he needs some consolation. For + skepticism is the most spiritual expression of a certain many-sided + physiological temperament, which in ordinary language is called nervous + debility and sickliness; it arises whenever races or classes which have + been long separated, decisively and suddenly blend with one another. In + the new generation, which has inherited as it were different standards and + valuations in its blood, everything is disquiet, derangement, doubt, and + tentativeness; the best powers operate restrictively, the very virtues + prevent each other growing and becoming strong, equilibrium, ballast, and + perpendicular stability are lacking in body and soul. That, however, which + is most diseased and degenerated in such nondescripts is the WILL; they + are no longer familiar with independence of decision, or the courageous + feeling of pleasure in willing—they are doubtful of the "freedom of + the will" even in their dreams Our present-day Europe, the scene of a + senseless, precipitate attempt at a radical blending of classes, and + CONSEQUENTLY of races, is therefore skeptical in all its heights and + depths, sometimes exhibiting the mobile skepticism which springs + impatiently and wantonly from branch to branch, sometimes with gloomy + aspect, like a cloud over-charged with interrogative signs—and often + sick unto death of its will! Paralysis of will, where do we not find this + cripple sitting nowadays! And yet how bedecked oftentimes' How seductively + ornamented! There are the finest gala dresses and disguises for this + disease, and that, for instance, most of what places itself nowadays in + the show-cases as "objectiveness," "the scientific spirit," "L'ART POUR + L'ART," and "pure voluntary knowledge," is only decked-out skepticism and + paralysis of will—I am ready to answer for this diagnosis of the + European disease—The disease of the will is diffused unequally over + Europe, it is worst and most varied where civilization has longest + prevailed, it decreases according as "the barbarian" still—or again—asserts + his claims under the loose drapery of Western culture It is therefore in + the France of today, as can be readily disclosed and comprehended, that + the will is most infirm, and France, which has always had a masterly + aptitude for converting even the portentous crises of its spirit into + something charming and seductive, now manifests emphatically its + intellectual ascendancy over Europe, by being the school and exhibition of + all the charms of skepticism The power to will and to persist, moreover, + in a resolution, is already somewhat stronger in Germany, and again in the + North of Germany it is stronger than in Central Germany, it is + considerably stronger in England, Spain, and Corsica, associated with + phlegm in the former and with hard skulls in the latter—not to + mention Italy, which is too young yet to know what it wants, and must + first show whether it can exercise will, but it is strongest and most + surprising of all in that immense middle empire where Europe as it were + flows back to Asia—namely, in Russia There the power to will has + been long stored up and accumulated, there the will—uncertain + whether to be negative or affirmative—waits threateningly to be + discharged (to borrow their pet phrase from our physicists) Perhaps not + only Indian wars and complications in Asia would be necessary to free + Europe from its greatest danger, but also internal subversion, the + shattering of the empire into small states, and above all the introduction + of parliamentary imbecility, together with the obligation of every one to + read his newspaper at breakfast I do not say this as one who desires it, + in my heart I should rather prefer the contrary—I mean such an + increase in the threatening attitude of Russia, that Europe would have to + make up its mind to become equally threatening—namely, TO ACQUIRE + ONE WILL, by means of a new caste to rule over the Continent, a + persistent, dreadful will of its own, that can set its aims thousands of + years ahead; so that the long spun-out comedy of its petty-statism, and + its dynastic as well as its democratic many-willed-ness, might finally be + brought to a close. The time for petty politics is past; the next century + will bring the struggle for the dominion of the world—the COMPULSION + to great politics. + </p> + <p> + 209. As to how far the new warlike age on which we Europeans have + evidently entered may perhaps favour the growth of another and stronger + kind of skepticism, I should like to express myself preliminarily merely + by a parable, which the lovers of German history will already understand. + That unscrupulous enthusiast for big, handsome grenadiers (who, as King of + Prussia, brought into being a military and skeptical genius—and + therewith, in reality, the new and now triumphantly emerged type of + German), the problematic, crazy father of Frederick the Great, had on one + point the very knack and lucky grasp of the genius: he knew what was then + lacking in Germany, the want of which was a hundred times more alarming + and serious than any lack of culture and social form—his ill-will to + the young Frederick resulted from the anxiety of a profound instinct. MEN + WERE LACKING; and he suspected, to his bitterest regret, that his own son + was not man enough. There, however, he deceived himself; but who would not + have deceived himself in his place? He saw his son lapsed to atheism, to + the ESPRIT, to the pleasant frivolity of clever Frenchmen—he saw in + the background the great bloodsucker, the spider skepticism; he suspected + the incurable wretchedness of a heart no longer hard enough either for + evil or good, and of a broken will that no longer commands, is no longer + ABLE to command. Meanwhile, however, there grew up in his son that new + kind of harder and more dangerous skepticism—who knows TO WHAT + EXTENT it was encouraged just by his father's hatred and the icy + melancholy of a will condemned to solitude?—the skepticism of daring + manliness, which is closely related to the genius for war and conquest, + and made its first entrance into Germany in the person of the great + Frederick. This skepticism despises and nevertheless grasps; it undermines + and takes possession; it does not believe, but it does not thereby lose + itself; it gives the spirit a dangerous liberty, but it keeps strict guard + over the heart. It is the GERMAN form of skepticism, which, as a continued + Fredericianism, risen to the highest spirituality, has kept Europe for a + considerable time under the dominion of the German spirit and its critical + and historical distrust Owing to the insuperably strong and tough + masculine character of the great German philologists and historical + critics (who, rightly estimated, were also all of them artists of + destruction and dissolution), a NEW conception of the German spirit + gradually established itself—in spite of all Romanticism in music + and philosophy—in which the leaning towards masculine skepticism was + decidedly prominent whether, for instance, as fearlessness of gaze, as + courage and sternness of the dissecting hand, or as resolute will to + dangerous voyages of discovery, to spiritualized North Pole expeditions + under barren and dangerous skies. There may be good grounds for it when + warm-blooded and superficial humanitarians cross themselves before this + spirit, CET ESPRIT FATALISTE, IRONIQUE, MEPHISTOPHELIQUE, as Michelet + calls it, not without a shudder. But if one would realize how + characteristic is this fear of the "man" in the German spirit which + awakened Europe out of its "dogmatic slumber," let us call to mind the + former conception which had to be overcome by this new one—and that + it is not so very long ago that a masculinized woman could dare, with + unbridled presumption, to recommend the Germans to the interest of Europe + as gentle, good-hearted, weak-willed, and poetical fools. Finally, let us + only understand profoundly enough Napoleon's astonishment when he saw + Goethe it reveals what had been regarded for centuries as the "German + spirit" "VOILA UN HOMME!"—that was as much as to say "But this is a + MAN! And I only expected to see a German!" + </p> + <p> + 210. Supposing, then, that in the picture of the philosophers of the + future, some trait suggests the question whether they must not perhaps be + skeptics in the last-mentioned sense, something in them would only be + designated thereby—and not they themselves. With equal right they + might call themselves critics, and assuredly they will be men of + experiments. By the name with which I ventured to baptize them, I have + already expressly emphasized their attempting and their love of attempting + is this because, as critics in body and soul, they will love to make use + of experiments in a new, and perhaps wider and more dangerous sense? In + their passion for knowledge, will they have to go further in daring and + painful attempts than the sensitive and pampered taste of a democratic + century can approve of?—There is no doubt these coming ones will be + least able to dispense with the serious and not unscrupulous qualities + which distinguish the critic from the skeptic I mean the certainty as to + standards of worth, the conscious employment of a unity of method, the + wary courage, the standing-alone, and the capacity for + self-responsibility, indeed, they will avow among themselves a DELIGHT in + denial and dissection, and a certain considerate cruelty, which knows how + to handle the knife surely and deftly, even when the heart bleeds They + will be STERNER (and perhaps not always towards themselves only) than + humane people may desire, they will not deal with the "truth" in order + that it may "please" them, or "elevate" and "inspire" them—they will + rather have little faith in "TRUTH" bringing with it such revels for the + feelings. They will smile, those rigorous spirits, when any one says in + their presence "That thought elevates me, why should it not be true?" or + "That work enchants me, why should it not be beautiful?" or "That artist + enlarges me, why should he not be great?" Perhaps they will not only have + a smile, but a genuine disgust for all that is thus rapturous, idealistic, + feminine, and hermaphroditic, and if any one could look into their inmost + hearts, he would not easily find therein the intention to reconcile + "Christian sentiments" with "antique taste," or even with "modern + parliamentarism" (the kind of reconciliation necessarily found even among + philosophers in our very uncertain and consequently very conciliatory + century). Critical discipline, and every habit that conduces to purity and + rigour in intellectual matters, will not only be demanded from themselves + by these philosophers of the future, they may even make a display thereof + as their special adornment—nevertheless they will not want to be + called critics on that account. It will seem to them no small indignity to + philosophy to have it decreed, as is so welcome nowadays, that "philosophy + itself is criticism and critical science—and nothing else whatever!" + Though this estimate of philosophy may enjoy the approval of all the + Positivists of France and Germany (and possibly it even flattered the + heart and taste of KANT: let us call to mind the titles of his principal + works), our new philosophers will say, notwithstanding, that critics are + instruments of the philosopher, and just on that account, as instruments, + they are far from being philosophers themselves! Even the great Chinaman + of Konigsberg was only a great critic. + </p> + <p> + 211. I insist upon it that people finally cease confounding philosophical + workers, and in general scientific men, with philosophers—that + precisely here one should strictly give "each his own," and not give those + far too much, these far too little. It may be necessary for the education + of the real philosopher that he himself should have once stood upon all + those steps upon which his servants, the scientific workers of philosophy, + remain standing, and MUST remain standing he himself must perhaps have + been critic, and dogmatist, and historian, and besides, poet, and + collector, and traveler, and riddle-reader, and moralist, and seer, and + "free spirit," and almost everything, in order to traverse the whole range + of human values and estimations, and that he may BE ABLE with a variety of + eyes and consciences to look from a height to any distance, from a depth + up to any height, from a nook into any expanse. But all these are only + preliminary conditions for his task; this task itself demands something + else—it requires him TO CREATE VALUES. The philosophical workers, + after the excellent pattern of Kant and Hegel, have to fix and formalize + some great existing body of valuations—that is to say, former + DETERMINATIONS OF VALUE, creations of value, which have become prevalent, + and are for a time called "truths"—whether in the domain of the + LOGICAL, the POLITICAL (moral), or the ARTISTIC. It is for these + investigators to make whatever has happened and been esteemed hitherto, + conspicuous, conceivable, intelligible, and manageable, to shorten + everything long, even "time" itself, and to SUBJUGATE the entire past: an + immense and wonderful task, in the carrying out of which all refined + pride, all tenacious will, can surely find satisfaction. THE REAL + PHILOSOPHERS, HOWEVER, ARE COMMANDERS AND LAW-GIVERS; they say: "Thus + SHALL it be!" They determine first the Whither and the Why of mankind, and + thereby set aside the previous labour of all philosophical workers, and + all subjugators of the past—they grasp at the future with a creative + hand, and whatever is and was, becomes for them thereby a means, an + instrument, and a hammer. Their "knowing" is CREATING, their creating is a + law-giving, their will to truth is—WILL TO POWER.—Are there at + present such philosophers? Have there ever been such philosophers? MUST + there not be such philosophers some day? ... + </p> + <p> + 212. It is always more obvious to me that the philosopher, as a man + INDISPENSABLE for the morrow and the day after the morrow, has ever found + himself, and HAS BEEN OBLIGED to find himself, in contradiction to the day + in which he lives; his enemy has always been the ideal of his day. + Hitherto all those extraordinary furtherers of humanity whom one calls + philosophers—who rarely regarded themselves as lovers of wisdom, but + rather as disagreeable fools and dangerous interrogators—have found + their mission, their hard, involuntary, imperative mission (in the end, + however, the greatness of their mission), in being the bad conscience of + their age. In putting the vivisector's knife to the breast of the very + VIRTUES OF THEIR AGE, they have betrayed their own secret; it has been for + the sake of a NEW greatness of man, a new untrodden path to his + aggrandizement. They have always disclosed how much hypocrisy, indolence, + self-indulgence, and self-neglect, how much falsehood was concealed under + the most venerated types of contemporary morality, how much virtue was + OUTLIVED, they have always said "We must remove hence to where YOU are + least at home" In the face of a world of "modern ideas," which would like + to confine every one in a corner, in a "specialty," a philosopher, if + there could be philosophers nowadays, would be compelled to place the + greatness of man, the conception of "greatness," precisely in his + comprehensiveness and multifariousness, in his all-roundness, he would + even determine worth and rank according to the amount and variety of that + which a man could bear and take upon himself, according to the EXTENT to + which a man could stretch his responsibility Nowadays the taste and virtue + of the age weaken and attenuate the will, nothing is so adapted to the + spirit of the age as weakness of will consequently, in the ideal of the + philosopher, strength of will, sternness, and capacity for prolonged + resolution, must specially be included in the conception of "greatness", + with as good a right as the opposite doctrine, with its ideal of a silly, + renouncing, humble, selfless humanity, was suited to an opposite age—such + as the sixteenth century, which suffered from its accumulated energy of + will, and from the wildest torrents and floods of selfishness In the time + of Socrates, among men only of worn-out instincts, old conservative + Athenians who let themselves go—"for the sake of happiness," as they + said, for the sake of pleasure, as their conduct indicated—and who + had continually on their lips the old pompous words to which they had long + forfeited the right by the life they led, IRONY was perhaps necessary for + greatness of soul, the wicked Socratic assurance of the old physician and + plebeian, who cut ruthlessly into his own flesh, as into the flesh and + heart of the "noble," with a look that said plainly enough "Do not + dissemble before me! here—we are equal!" At present, on the + contrary, when throughout Europe the herding-animal alone attains to + honours, and dispenses honours, when "equality of right" can too readily + be transformed into equality in wrong—I mean to say into general war + against everything rare, strange, and privileged, against the higher man, + the higher soul, the higher duty, the higher responsibility, the creative + plenipotence and lordliness—at present it belongs to the conception + of "greatness" to be noble, to wish to be apart, to be capable of being + different, to stand alone, to have to live by personal initiative, and the + philosopher will betray something of his own ideal when he asserts "He + shall be the greatest who can be the most solitary, the most concealed, + the most divergent, the man beyond good and evil, the master of his + virtues, and of super-abundance of will; precisely this shall be called + GREATNESS: as diversified as can be entire, as ample as can be full." And + to ask once more the question: Is greatness POSSIBLE—nowadays? + </p> + <p> + 213. It is difficult to learn what a philosopher is, because it cannot be + taught: one must "know" it by experience—or one should have the + pride NOT to know it. The fact that at present people all talk of things + of which they CANNOT have any experience, is true more especially and + unfortunately as concerns the philosopher and philosophical matters:—the + very few know them, are permitted to know them, and all popular ideas + about them are false. Thus, for instance, the truly philosophical + combination of a bold, exuberant spirituality which runs at presto pace, + and a dialectic rigour and necessity which makes no false step, is unknown + to most thinkers and scholars from their own experience, and therefore, + should any one speak of it in their presence, it is incredible to them. + They conceive of every necessity as troublesome, as a painful compulsory + obedience and state of constraint; thinking itself is regarded by them as + something slow and hesitating, almost as a trouble, and often enough as + "worthy of the SWEAT of the noble"—but not at all as something easy + and divine, closely related to dancing and exuberance! "To think" and to + take a matter "seriously," "arduously"—that is one and the same + thing to them; such only has been their "experience."—Artists have + here perhaps a finer intuition; they who know only too well that precisely + when they no longer do anything "arbitrarily," and everything of + necessity, their feeling of freedom, of subtlety, of power, of creatively + fixing, disposing, and shaping, reaches its climax—in short, that + necessity and "freedom of will" are then the same thing with them. There + is, in fine, a gradation of rank in psychical states, to which the + gradation of rank in the problems corresponds; and the highest problems + repel ruthlessly every one who ventures too near them, without being + predestined for their solution by the loftiness and power of his + spirituality. Of what use is it for nimble, everyday intellects, or + clumsy, honest mechanics and empiricists to press, in their plebeian + ambition, close to such problems, and as it were into this "holy of + holies"—as so often happens nowadays! But coarse feet must never + tread upon such carpets: this is provided for in the primary law of + things; the doors remain closed to those intruders, though they may dash + and break their heads thereon. People have always to be born to a high + station, or, more definitely, they have to be BRED for it: a person has + only a right to philosophy—taking the word in its higher + significance—in virtue of his descent; the ancestors, the "blood," + decide here also. Many generations must have prepared the way for the + coming of the philosopher; each of his virtues must have been separately + acquired, nurtured, transmitted, and embodied; not only the bold, easy, + delicate course and current of his thoughts, but above all the readiness + for great responsibilities, the majesty of ruling glance and contemning + look, the feeling of separation from the multitude with their duties and + virtues, the kindly patronage and defense of whatever is misunderstood and + calumniated, be it God or devil, the delight and practice of supreme + justice, the art of commanding, the amplitude of will, the lingering eye + which rarely admires, rarely looks up, rarely loves.... + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. OUR VIRTUES + </h2> + <p> + 214. OUR Virtues?—It is probable that we, too, have still our + virtues, although naturally they are not those sincere and massive virtues + on account of which we hold our grandfathers in esteem and also at a + little distance from us. We Europeans of the day after tomorrow, we + firstlings of the twentieth century—with all our dangerous + curiosity, our multifariousness and art of disguising, our mellow and + seemingly sweetened cruelty in sense and spirit—we shall presumably, + IF we must have virtues, have those only which have come to agreement with + our most secret and heartfelt inclinations, with our most ardent + requirements: well, then, let us look for them in our labyrinths!—where, + as we know, so many things lose themselves, so many things get quite lost! + And is there anything finer than to SEARCH for one's own virtues? Is it + not almost to BELIEVE in one's own virtues? But this "believing in one's + own virtues"—is it not practically the same as what was formerly + called one's "good conscience," that long, respectable pigtail of an idea, + which our grandfathers used to hang behind their heads, and often enough + also behind their understandings? It seems, therefore, that however little + we may imagine ourselves to be old-fashioned and grandfatherly respectable + in other respects, in one thing we are nevertheless the worthy + grandchildren of our grandfathers, we last Europeans with good + consciences: we also still wear their pigtail.—Ah! if you only knew + how soon, so very soon—it will be different! + </p> + <p> + 215. As in the stellar firmament there are sometimes two suns which + determine the path of one planet, and in certain cases suns of different + colours shine around a single planet, now with red light, now with green, + and then simultaneously illumine and flood it with motley colours: so we + modern men, owing to the complicated mechanism of our "firmament," are + determined by DIFFERENT moralities; our actions shine alternately in + different colours, and are seldom unequivocal—and there are often + cases, also, in which our actions are MOTLEY-COLOURED. + </p> + <p> + 216. To love one's enemies? I think that has been well learnt: it takes + place thousands of times at present on a large and small scale; indeed, at + times the higher and sublimer thing takes place:—we learn to DESPISE + when we love, and precisely when we love best; all of it, however, + unconsciously, without noise, without ostentation, with the shame and + secrecy of goodness, which forbids the utterance of the pompous word and + the formula of virtue. Morality as attitude—is opposed to our taste + nowadays. This is ALSO an advance, as it was an advance in our fathers + that religion as an attitude finally became opposed to their taste, + including the enmity and Voltairean bitterness against religion (and all + that formerly belonged to freethinker-pantomime). It is the music in our + conscience, the dance in our spirit, to which Puritan litanies, moral + sermons, and goody-goodness won't chime. + </p> + <p> + 217. Let us be careful in dealing with those who attach great importance + to being credited with moral tact and subtlety in moral discernment! They + never forgive us if they have once made a mistake BEFORE us (or even with + REGARD to us)—they inevitably become our instinctive calumniators + and detractors, even when they still remain our "friends."—Blessed + are the forgetful: for they "get the better" even of their blunders. + </p> + <p> + 218. The psychologists of France—and where else are there still + psychologists nowadays?—have never yet exhausted their bitter and + manifold enjoyment of the betise bourgeoise, just as though... in short, + they betray something thereby. Flaubert, for instance, the honest citizen + of Rouen, neither saw, heard, nor tasted anything else in the end; it was + his mode of self-torment and refined cruelty. As this is growing + wearisome, I would now recommend for a change something else for a + pleasure—namely, the unconscious astuteness with which good, fat, + honest mediocrity always behaves towards loftier spirits and the tasks + they have to perform, the subtle, barbed, Jesuitical astuteness, which is + a thousand times subtler than the taste and understanding of the + middle-class in its best moments—subtler even than the understanding + of its victims:—a repeated proof that "instinct" is the most + intelligent of all kinds of intelligence which have hitherto been + discovered. In short, you psychologists, study the philosophy of the + "rule" in its struggle with the "exception": there you have a spectacle + fit for Gods and godlike malignity! Or, in plainer words, practise + vivisection on "good people," on the "homo bonae voluntatis," ON + YOURSELVES! + </p> + <p> + 219. The practice of judging and condemning morally, is the favourite + revenge of the intellectually shallow on those who are less so, it is also + a kind of indemnity for their being badly endowed by nature, and finally, + it is an opportunity for acquiring spirit and BECOMING subtle—malice + spiritualises. They are glad in their inmost heart that there is a + standard according to which those who are over-endowed with intellectual + goods and privileges, are equal to them, they contend for the "equality of + all before God," and almost NEED the belief in God for this purpose. It is + among them that the most powerful antagonists of atheism are found. If any + one were to say to them "A lofty spirituality is beyond all comparison + with the honesty and respectability of a merely moral man"—it would + make them furious, I shall take care not to say so. I would rather flatter + them with my theory that lofty spirituality itself exists only as the + ultimate product of moral qualities, that it is a synthesis of all + qualities attributed to the "merely moral" man, after they have been + acquired singly through long training and practice, perhaps during a whole + series of generations, that lofty spirituality is precisely the + spiritualising of justice, and the beneficent severity which knows that it + is authorized to maintain GRADATIONS OF RANK in the world, even among + things—and not only among men. + </p> + <p> + 220. Now that the praise of the "disinterested person" is so popular one + must—probably not without some danger—get an idea of WHAT + people actually take an interest in, and what are the things generally + which fundamentally and profoundly concern ordinary men—including + the cultured, even the learned, and perhaps philosophers also, if + appearances do not deceive. The fact thereby becomes obvious that the + greater part of what interests and charms higher natures, and more refined + and fastidious tastes, seems absolutely "uninteresting" to the average man—if, + notwithstanding, he perceive devotion to these interests, he calls it + desinteresse, and wonders how it is possible to act "disinterestedly." + There have been philosophers who could give this popular astonishment a + seductive and mystical, other-worldly expression (perhaps because they did + not know the higher nature by experience?), instead of stating the naked + and candidly reasonable truth that "disinterested" action is very + interesting and "interested" action, provided that... "And love?"—What! + Even an action for love's sake shall be "unegoistic"? But you fools—! + "And the praise of the self-sacrificer?"—But whoever has really + offered sacrifice knows that he wanted and obtained something for it—perhaps + something from himself for something from himself; that he relinquished + here in order to have more there, perhaps in general to be more, or even + feel himself "more." But this is a realm of questions and answers in which + a more fastidious spirit does not like to stay: for here truth has to + stifle her yawns so much when she is obliged to answer. And after all, + truth is a woman; one must not use force with her. + </p> + <p> + 221. "It sometimes happens," said a moralistic pedant and trifle-retailer, + "that I honour and respect an unselfish man: not, however, because he is + unselfish, but because I think he has a right to be useful to another man + at his own expense. In short, the question is always who HE is, and who + THE OTHER is. For instance, in a person created and destined for command, + self-denial and modest retirement, instead of being virtues, would be the + waste of virtues: so it seems to me. Every system of unegoistic morality + which takes itself unconditionally and appeals to every one, not only sins + against good taste, but is also an incentive to sins of omission, an + ADDITIONAL seduction under the mask of philanthropy—and precisely a + seduction and injury to the higher, rarer, and more privileged types of + men. Moral systems must be compelled first of all to bow before the + GRADATIONS OF RANK; their presumption must be driven home to their + conscience—until they thoroughly understand at last that it is + IMMORAL to say that 'what is right for one is proper for another.'"—So + said my moralistic pedant and bonhomme. Did he perhaps deserve to be + laughed at when he thus exhorted systems of morals to practise morality? + But one should not be too much in the right if one wishes to have the + laughers on ONE'S OWN side; a grain of wrong pertains even to good taste. + </p> + <p> + 222. Wherever sympathy (fellow-suffering) is preached nowadays—and, + if I gather rightly, no other religion is any longer preached—let + the psychologist have his ears open through all the vanity, through all + the noise which is natural to these preachers (as to all preachers), he + will hear a hoarse, groaning, genuine note of SELF-CONTEMPT. It belongs to + the overshadowing and uglifying of Europe, which has been on the increase + for a century (the first symptoms of which are already specified + documentarily in a thoughtful letter of Galiani to Madame d'Epinay)—IF + IT IS NOT REALLY THE CAUSE THEREOF! The man of "modern ideas," the + conceited ape, is excessively dissatisfied with himself—this is + perfectly certain. He suffers, and his vanity wants him only "to suffer + with his fellows." + </p> + <p> + 223. The hybrid European—a tolerably ugly plebeian, taken all in all—absolutely + requires a costume: he needs history as a storeroom of costumes. To be + sure, he notices that none of the costumes fit him properly—he + changes and changes. Let us look at the nineteenth century with respect to + these hasty preferences and changes in its masquerades of style, and also + with respect to its moments of desperation on account of "nothing suiting" + us. It is in vain to get ourselves up as romantic, or classical, or + Christian, or Florentine, or barocco, or "national," in moribus et + artibus: it does not "clothe us"! But the "spirit," especially the + "historical spirit," profits even by this desperation: once and again a + new sample of the past or of the foreign is tested, put on, taken off, + packed up, and above all studied—we are the first studious age in + puncto of "costumes," I mean as concerns morals, articles of belief, + artistic tastes, and religions; we are prepared as no other age has ever + been for a carnival in the grand style, for the most spiritual festival—laughter + and arrogance, for the transcendental height of supreme folly and + Aristophanic ridicule of the world. Perhaps we are still discovering the + domain of our invention just here, the domain where even we can still be + original, probably as parodists of the world's history and as God's + Merry-Andrews,—perhaps, though nothing else of the present have a + future, our laughter itself may have a future! + </p> + <p> + 224. The historical sense (or the capacity for divining quickly the order + of rank of the valuations according to which a people, a community, or an + individual has lived, the "divining instinct" for the relationships of + these valuations, for the relation of the authority of the valuations to + the authority of the operating forces),—this historical sense, which + we Europeans claim as our specialty, has come to us in the train of the + enchanting and mad semi-barbarity into which Europe has been plunged by + the democratic mingling of classes and races—it is only the + nineteenth century that has recognized this faculty as its sixth sense. + Owing to this mingling, the past of every form and mode of life, and of + cultures which were formerly closely contiguous and superimposed on one + another, flows forth into us "modern souls"; our instincts now run back in + all directions, we ourselves are a kind of chaos: in the end, as we have + said, the spirit perceives its advantage therein. By means of our + semi-barbarity in body and in desire, we have secret access everywhere, + such as a noble age never had; we have access above all to the labyrinth + of imperfect civilizations, and to every form of semi-barbarity that has + at any time existed on earth; and in so far as the most considerable part + of human civilization hitherto has just been semi-barbarity, the + "historical sense" implies almost the sense and instinct for everything, + the taste and tongue for everything: whereby it immediately proves itself + to be an IGNOBLE sense. For instance, we enjoy Homer once more: it is + perhaps our happiest acquisition that we know how to appreciate Homer, + whom men of distinguished culture (as the French of the seventeenth + century, like Saint-Evremond, who reproached him for his ESPRIT VASTE, and + even Voltaire, the last echo of the century) cannot and could not so + easily appropriate—whom they scarcely permitted themselves to enjoy. + The very decided Yea and Nay of their palate, their promptly ready + disgust, their hesitating reluctance with regard to everything strange, + their horror of the bad taste even of lively curiosity, and in general the + averseness of every distinguished and self-sufficing culture to avow a new + desire, a dissatisfaction with its own condition, or an admiration of what + is strange: all this determines and disposes them unfavourably even + towards the best things of the world which are not their property or could + not become their prey—and no faculty is more unintelligible to such + men than just this historical sense, with its truckling, plebeian + curiosity. The case is not different with Shakespeare, that marvelous + Spanish-Moorish-Saxon synthesis of taste, over whom an ancient Athenian of + the circle of AEschylus would have half-killed himself with laughter or + irritation: but we—accept precisely this wild motleyness, this + medley of the most delicate, the most coarse, and the most artificial, + with a secret confidence and cordiality; we enjoy it as a refinement of + art reserved expressly for us, and allow ourselves to be as little + disturbed by the repulsive fumes and the proximity of the English populace + in which Shakespeare's art and taste lives, as perhaps on the Chiaja of + Naples, where, with all our senses awake, we go our way, enchanted and + voluntarily, in spite of the drain-odour of the lower quarters of the + town. That as men of the "historical sense" we have our virtues, is not to + be disputed:—we are unpretentious, unselfish, modest, brave, + habituated to self-control and self-renunciation, very grateful, very + patient, very complaisant—but with all this we are perhaps not very + "tasteful." Let us finally confess it, that what is most difficult for us + men of the "historical sense" to grasp, feel, taste, and love, what finds + us fundamentally prejudiced and almost hostile, is precisely the + perfection and ultimate maturity in every culture and art, the essentially + noble in works and men, their moment of smooth sea and halcyon + self-sufficiency, the goldenness and coldness which all things show that + have perfected themselves. Perhaps our great virtue of the historical + sense is in necessary contrast to GOOD taste, at least to the very bad + taste; and we can only evoke in ourselves imperfectly, hesitatingly, and + with compulsion the small, short, and happy godsends and glorifications of + human life as they shine here and there: those moments and marvelous + experiences when a great power has voluntarily come to a halt before the + boundless and infinite,—when a super-abundance of refined delight + has been enjoyed by a sudden checking and petrifying, by standing firmly + and planting oneself fixedly on still trembling ground. PROPORTIONATENESS + is strange to us, let us confess it to ourselves; our itching is really + the itching for the infinite, the immeasurable. Like the rider on his + forward panting horse, we let the reins fall before the infinite, we + modern men, we semi-barbarians—and are only in OUR highest bliss + when we—ARE IN MOST DANGER. + </p> + <p> + 225. Whether it be hedonism, pessimism, utilitarianism, or eudaemonism, + all those modes of thinking which measure the worth of things according to + PLEASURE and PAIN, that is, according to accompanying circumstances and + secondary considerations, are plausible modes of thought and naivetes, + which every one conscious of CREATIVE powers and an artist's conscience + will look down upon with scorn, though not without sympathy. Sympathy for + you!—to be sure, that is not sympathy as you understand it: it is + not sympathy for social "distress," for "society" with its sick and + misfortuned, for the hereditarily vicious and defective who lie on the + ground around us; still less is it sympathy for the grumbling, vexed, + revolutionary slave-classes who strive after power—they call it + "freedom." OUR sympathy is a loftier and further-sighted sympathy:—we + see how MAN dwarfs himself, how YOU dwarf him! and there are moments when + we view YOUR sympathy with an indescribable anguish, when we resist it,—when + we regard your seriousness as more dangerous than any kind of levity. You + want, if possible—and there is not a more foolish "if possible"—TO + DO AWAY WITH SUFFERING; and we?—it really seems that WE would rather + have it increased and made worse than it has ever been! Well-being, as you + understand it—is certainly not a goal; it seems to us an END; a + condition which at once renders man ludicrous and contemptible—and + makes his destruction DESIRABLE! The discipline of suffering, of GREAT + suffering—know ye not that it is only THIS discipline that has + produced all the elevations of humanity hitherto? The tension of soul in + misfortune which communicates to it its energy, its shuddering in view of + rack and ruin, its inventiveness and bravery in undergoing, enduring, + interpreting, and exploiting misfortune, and whatever depth, mystery, + disguise, spirit, artifice, or greatness has been bestowed upon the soul—has + it not been bestowed through suffering, through the discipline of great + suffering? In man CREATURE and CREATOR are united: in man there is not + only matter, shred, excess, clay, mire, folly, chaos; but there is also + the creator, the sculptor, the hardness of the hammer, the divinity of the + spectator, and the seventh day—do ye understand this contrast? And + that YOUR sympathy for the "creature in man" applies to that which has to + be fashioned, bruised, forged, stretched, roasted, annealed, refined—to + that which must necessarily SUFFER, and IS MEANT to suffer? And our + sympathy—do ye not understand what our REVERSE sympathy applies to, + when it resists your sympathy as the worst of all pampering and + enervation?—So it is sympathy AGAINST sympathy!—But to repeat + it once more, there are higher problems than the problems of pleasure and + pain and sympathy; and all systems of philosophy which deal only with + these are naivetes. + </p> + <p> + 226. WE IMMORALISTS.—This world with which WE are concerned, in + which we have to fear and love, this almost invisible, inaudible world of + delicate command and delicate obedience, a world of "almost" in every + respect, captious, insidious, sharp, and tender—yes, it is well + protected from clumsy spectators and familiar curiosity! We are woven into + a strong net and garment of duties, and CANNOT disengage ourselves—precisely + here, we are "men of duty," even we! Occasionally, it is true, we dance in + our "chains" and betwixt our "swords"; it is none the less true that more + often we gnash our teeth under the circumstances, and are impatient at the + secret hardship of our lot. But do what we will, fools and appearances say + of us: "These are men WITHOUT duty,"—we have always fools and + appearances against us! + </p> + <p> + 227. Honesty, granting that it is the virtue of which we cannot rid + ourselves, we free spirits—well, we will labour at it with all our + perversity and love, and not tire of "perfecting" ourselves in OUR virtue, + which alone remains: may its glance some day overspread like a gilded, + blue, mocking twilight this aging civilization with its dull gloomy + seriousness! And if, nevertheless, our honesty should one day grow weary, + and sigh, and stretch its limbs, and find us too hard, and would fain have + it pleasanter, easier, and gentler, like an agreeable vice, let us remain + HARD, we latest Stoics, and let us send to its help whatever devilry we + have in us:—our disgust at the clumsy and undefined, our "NITIMUR IN + VETITUM," our love of adventure, our sharpened and fastidious curiosity, + our most subtle, disguised, intellectual Will to Power and universal + conquest, which rambles and roves avidiously around all the realms of the + future—let us go with all our "devils" to the help of our "God"! It + is probable that people will misunderstand and mistake us on that account: + what does it matter! They will say: "Their 'honesty'—that is their + devilry, and nothing else!" What does it matter! And even if they were + right—have not all Gods hitherto been such sanctified, re-baptized + devils? And after all, what do we know of ourselves? And what the spirit + that leads us wants TO BE CALLED? (It is a question of names.) And how + many spirits we harbour? Our honesty, we free spirits—let us be + careful lest it become our vanity, our ornament and ostentation, our + limitation, our stupidity! Every virtue inclines to stupidity, every + stupidity to virtue; "stupid to the point of sanctity," they say in + Russia,—let us be careful lest out of pure honesty we eventually + become saints and bores! Is not life a hundred times too short for us—to + bore ourselves? One would have to believe in eternal life in order to... + </p> + <p> + 228. I hope to be forgiven for discovering that all moral philosophy + hitherto has been tedious and has belonged to the soporific appliances—and + that "virtue," in my opinion, has been MORE injured by the TEDIOUSNESS of + its advocates than by anything else; at the same time, however, I would + not wish to overlook their general usefulness. It is desirable that as few + people as possible should reflect upon morals, and consequently it is very + desirable that morals should not some day become interesting! But let us + not be afraid! Things still remain today as they have always been: I see + no one in Europe who has (or DISCLOSES) an idea of the fact that + philosophizing concerning morals might be conducted in a dangerous, + captious, and ensnaring manner—that CALAMITY might be involved + therein. Observe, for example, the indefatigable, inevitable English + utilitarians: how ponderously and respectably they stalk on, stalk along + (a Homeric metaphor expresses it better) in the footsteps of Bentham, just + as he had already stalked in the footsteps of the respectable Helvetius! + (no, he was not a dangerous man, Helvetius, CE SENATEUR POCOCURANTE, to + use an expression of Galiani). No new thought, nothing of the nature of a + finer turning or better expression of an old thought, not even a proper + history of what has been previously thought on the subject: an IMPOSSIBLE + literature, taking it all in all, unless one knows how to leaven it with + some mischief. In effect, the old English vice called CANT, which is MORAL + TARTUFFISM, has insinuated itself also into these moralists (whom one must + certainly read with an eye to their motives if one MUST read them), + concealed this time under the new form of the scientific spirit; moreover, + there is not absent from them a secret struggle with the pangs of + conscience, from which a race of former Puritans must naturally suffer, in + all their scientific tinkering with morals. (Is not a moralist the + opposite of a Puritan? That is to say, as a thinker who regards morality + as questionable, as worthy of interrogation, in short, as a problem? Is + moralizing not-immoral?) In the end, they all want English morality to be + recognized as authoritative, inasmuch as mankind, or the "general + utility," or "the happiness of the greatest number,"—no! the + happiness of ENGLAND, will be best served thereby. They would like, by all + means, to convince themselves that the striving after English happiness, I + mean after COMFORT and FASHION (and in the highest instance, a seat in + Parliament), is at the same time the true path of virtue; in fact, that in + so far as there has been virtue in the world hitherto, it has just + consisted in such striving. Not one of those ponderous, + conscience-stricken herding-animals (who undertake to advocate the cause + of egoism as conducive to the general welfare) wants to have any knowledge + or inkling of the facts that the "general welfare" is no ideal, no goal, + no notion that can be at all grasped, but is only a nostrum,—that + what is fair to one MAY NOT at all be fair to another, that the + requirement of one morality for all is really a detriment to higher men, + in short, that there is a DISTINCTION OF RANK between man and man, and + consequently between morality and morality. They are an unassuming and + fundamentally mediocre species of men, these utilitarian Englishmen, and, + as already remarked, in so far as they are tedious, one cannot think + highly enough of their utility. One ought even to ENCOURAGE them, as has + been partially attempted in the following rhymes:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Hail, ye worthies, barrow-wheeling, + "Longer—better," aye revealing, + + Stiffer aye in head and knee; + Unenraptured, never jesting, + Mediocre everlasting, + + SANS GENIE ET SANS ESPRIT! +</pre> + <p> + 229. In these later ages, which may be proud of their humanity, there + still remains so much fear, so much SUPERSTITION of the fear, of the + "cruel wild beast," the mastering of which constitutes the very pride of + these humaner ages—that even obvious truths, as if by the agreement + of centuries, have long remained unuttered, because they have the + appearance of helping the finally slain wild beast back to life again. I + perhaps risk something when I allow such a truth to escape; let others + capture it again and give it so much "milk of pious sentiment" [FOOTNOTE: + An expression from Schiller's William Tell, Act IV, Scene 3.] to drink, + that it will lie down quiet and forgotten, in its old corner.—One + ought to learn anew about cruelty, and open one's eyes; one ought at last + to learn impatience, in order that such immodest gross errors—as, + for instance, have been fostered by ancient and modern philosophers with + regard to tragedy—may no longer wander about virtuously and boldly. + Almost everything that we call "higher culture" is based upon the + spiritualising and intensifying of CRUELTY—this is my thesis; the + "wild beast" has not been slain at all, it lives, it flourishes, it has + only been—transfigured. That which constitutes the painful delight + of tragedy is cruelty; that which operates agreeably in so-called tragic + sympathy, and at the basis even of everything sublime, up to the highest + and most delicate thrills of metaphysics, obtains its sweetness solely + from the intermingled ingredient of cruelty. What the Roman enjoys in the + arena, the Christian in the ecstasies of the cross, the Spaniard at the + sight of the faggot and stake, or of the bull-fight, the present-day + Japanese who presses his way to the tragedy, the workman of the Parisian + suburbs who has a homesickness for bloody revolutions, the Wagnerienne + who, with unhinged will, "undergoes" the performance of "Tristan and + Isolde"—what all these enjoy, and strive with mysterious ardour to + drink in, is the philtre of the great Circe "cruelty." Here, to be sure, + we must put aside entirely the blundering psychology of former times, + which could only teach with regard to cruelty that it originated at the + sight of the suffering of OTHERS: there is an abundant, super-abundant + enjoyment even in one's own suffering, in causing one's own suffering—and + wherever man has allowed himself to be persuaded to self-denial in the + RELIGIOUS sense, or to self-mutilation, as among the Phoenicians and + ascetics, or in general, to desensualisation, decarnalisation, and + contrition, to Puritanical repentance-spasms, to vivisection of conscience + and to Pascal-like SACRIFIZIA DELL' INTELLETO, he is secretly allured and + impelled forwards by his cruelty, by the dangerous thrill of cruelty + TOWARDS HIMSELF.—Finally, let us consider that even the seeker of + knowledge operates as an artist and glorifier of cruelty, in that he + compels his spirit to perceive AGAINST its own inclination, and often + enough against the wishes of his heart:—he forces it to say Nay, + where he would like to affirm, love, and adore; indeed, every instance of + taking a thing profoundly and fundamentally, is a violation, an + intentional injuring of the fundamental will of the spirit, which + instinctively aims at appearance and superficiality,—even in every + desire for knowledge there is a drop of cruelty. + </p> + <p> + 230. Perhaps what I have said here about a "fundamental will of the + spirit" may not be understood without further details; I may be allowed a + word of explanation.—That imperious something which is popularly + called "the spirit," wishes to be master internally and externally, and to + feel itself master; it has the will of a multiplicity for a simplicity, a + binding, taming, imperious, and essentially ruling will. Its requirements + and capacities here, are the same as those assigned by physiologists to + everything that lives, grows, and multiplies. The power of the spirit to + appropriate foreign elements reveals itself in a strong tendency to + assimilate the new to the old, to simplify the manifold, to overlook or + repudiate the absolutely contradictory; just as it arbitrarily + re-underlines, makes prominent, and falsifies for itself certain traits + and lines in the foreign elements, in every portion of the "outside + world." Its object thereby is the incorporation of new "experiences," the + assortment of new things in the old arrangements—in short, growth; + or more properly, the FEELING of growth, the feeling of increased power—is + its object. This same will has at its service an apparently opposed + impulse of the spirit, a suddenly adopted preference of ignorance, of + arbitrary shutting out, a closing of windows, an inner denial of this or + that, a prohibition to approach, a sort of defensive attitude against much + that is knowable, a contentment with obscurity, with the shutting-in + horizon, an acceptance and approval of ignorance: as that which is all + necessary according to the degree of its appropriating power, its + "digestive power," to speak figuratively (and in fact "the spirit" + resembles a stomach more than anything else). Here also belong an + occasional propensity of the spirit to let itself be deceived (perhaps + with a waggish suspicion that it is NOT so and so, but is only allowed to + pass as such), a delight in uncertainty and ambiguity, an exulting + enjoyment of arbitrary, out-of-the-way narrowness and mystery, of the + too-near, of the foreground, of the magnified, the diminished, the + misshapen, the beautified—an enjoyment of the arbitrariness of all + these manifestations of power. Finally, in this connection, there is the + not unscrupulous readiness of the spirit to deceive other spirits and + dissemble before them—the constant pressing and straining of a + creating, shaping, changeable power: the spirit enjoys therein its + craftiness and its variety of disguises, it enjoys also its feeling of + security therein—it is precisely by its Protean arts that it is best + protected and concealed!—COUNTER TO this propensity for appearance, + for simplification, for a disguise, for a cloak, in short, for an outside—for + every outside is a cloak—there operates the sublime tendency of the + man of knowledge, which takes, and INSISTS on taking things profoundly, + variously, and thoroughly; as a kind of cruelty of the intellectual + conscience and taste, which every courageous thinker will acknowledge in + himself, provided, as it ought to be, that he has sharpened and hardened + his eye sufficiently long for introspection, and is accustomed to severe + discipline and even severe words. He will say: "There is something cruel + in the tendency of my spirit": let the virtuous and amiable try to + convince him that it is not so! In fact, it would sound nicer, if, instead + of our cruelty, perhaps our "extravagant honesty" were talked about, + whispered about, and glorified—we free, VERY free spirits—and + some day perhaps SUCH will actually be our—posthumous glory! + Meanwhile—for there is plenty of time until then—we should be + least inclined to deck ourselves out in such florid and fringed moral + verbiage; our whole former work has just made us sick of this taste and + its sprightly exuberance. They are beautiful, glistening, jingling, + festive words: honesty, love of truth, love of wisdom, sacrifice for + knowledge, heroism of the truthful—there is something in them that + makes one's heart swell with pride. But we anchorites and marmots have + long ago persuaded ourselves in all the secrecy of an anchorite's + conscience, that this worthy parade of verbiage also belongs to the old + false adornment, frippery, and gold-dust of unconscious human vanity, and + that even under such flattering colour and repainting, the terrible + original text HOMO NATURA must again be recognized. In effect, to + translate man back again into nature; to master the many vain and + visionary interpretations and subordinate meanings which have hitherto + been scratched and daubed over the eternal original text, HOMO NATURA; to + bring it about that man shall henceforth stand before man as he now, + hardened by the discipline of science, stands before the OTHER forms of + nature, with fearless Oedipus-eyes, and stopped Ulysses-ears, deaf to the + enticements of old metaphysical bird-catchers, who have piped to him far + too long: "Thou art more! thou art higher! thou hast a different origin!"—this + may be a strange and foolish task, but that it is a TASK, who can deny! + Why did we choose it, this foolish task? Or, to put the question + differently: "Why knowledge at all?" Every one will ask us about this. And + thus pressed, we, who have asked ourselves the question a hundred times, + have not found and cannot find any better answer.... + </p> + <p> + 231. Learning alters us, it does what all nourishment does that does not + merely "conserve"—as the physiologist knows. But at the bottom of + our souls, quite "down below," there is certainly something unteachable, a + granite of spiritual fate, of predetermined decision and answer to + predetermined, chosen questions. In each cardinal problem there speaks an + unchangeable "I am this"; a thinker cannot learn anew about man and woman, + for instance, but can only learn fully—he can only follow to the end + what is "fixed" about them in himself. Occasionally we find certain + solutions of problems which make strong beliefs for us; perhaps they are + henceforth called "convictions." Later on—one sees in them only + footsteps to self-knowledge, guide-posts to the problem which we ourselves + ARE—or more correctly to the great stupidity which we embody, our + spiritual fate, the UNTEACHABLE in us, quite "down below."—In view + of this liberal compliment which I have just paid myself, permission will + perhaps be more readily allowed me to utter some truths about "woman as + she is," provided that it is known at the outset how literally they are + merely—MY truths. + </p> + <p> + 232. Woman wishes to be independent, and therefore she begins to enlighten + men about "woman as she is"—THIS is one of the worst developments of + the general UGLIFYING of Europe. For what must these clumsy attempts of + feminine scientificality and self-exposure bring to light! Woman has so + much cause for shame; in woman there is so much pedantry, superficiality, + schoolmasterliness, petty presumption, unbridledness, and indiscretion + concealed—study only woman's behaviour towards children!—which + has really been best restrained and dominated hitherto by the FEAR of man. + Alas, if ever the "eternally tedious in woman"—she has plenty of it!—is + allowed to venture forth! if she begins radically and on principle to + unlearn her wisdom and art-of charming, of playing, of frightening away + sorrow, of alleviating and taking easily; if she forgets her delicate + aptitude for agreeable desires! Female voices are already raised, which, + by Saint Aristophanes! make one afraid:—with medical explicitness it + is stated in a threatening manner what woman first and last REQUIRES from + man. Is it not in the very worst taste that woman thus sets herself up to + be scientific? Enlightenment hitherto has fortunately been men's affair, + men's gift—we remained therewith "among ourselves"; and in the end, + in view of all that women write about "woman," we may well have + considerable doubt as to whether woman really DESIRES enlightenment about + herself—and CAN desire it. If woman does not thereby seek a new + ORNAMENT for herself—I believe ornamentation belongs to the + eternally feminine?—why, then, she wishes to make herself feared: + perhaps she thereby wishes to get the mastery. But she does not want truth—what + does woman care for truth? From the very first, nothing is more foreign, + more repugnant, or more hostile to woman than truth—her great art is + falsehood, her chief concern is appearance and beauty. Let us confess it, + we men: we honour and love this very art and this very instinct in woman: + we who have the hard task, and for our recreation gladly seek the company + of beings under whose hands, glances, and delicate follies, our + seriousness, our gravity, and profundity appear almost like follies to us. + Finally, I ask the question: Did a woman herself ever acknowledge + profundity in a woman's mind, or justice in a woman's heart? And is it not + true that on the whole "woman" has hitherto been most despised by woman + herself, and not at all by us?—We men desire that woman should not + continue to compromise herself by enlightening us; just as it was man's + care and the consideration for woman, when the church decreed: mulier + taceat in ecclesia. It was to the benefit of woman when Napoleon gave the + too eloquent Madame de Stael to understand: mulier taceat in politicis!—and + in my opinion, he is a true friend of woman who calls out to women today: + mulier taceat de mulierel. + </p> + <p> + 233. It betrays corruption of the instincts—apart from the fact that + it betrays bad taste—when a woman refers to Madame Roland, or Madame + de Stael, or Monsieur George Sand, as though something were proved thereby + in favour of "woman as she is." Among men, these are the three comical + women as they are—nothing more!—and just the best involuntary + counter-arguments against feminine emancipation and autonomy. + </p> + <p> + 234. Stupidity in the kitchen; woman as cook; the terrible thoughtlessness + with which the feeding of the family and the master of the house is + managed! Woman does not understand what food means, and she insists on + being cook! If woman had been a thinking creature, she should certainly, + as cook for thousands of years, have discovered the most important + physiological facts, and should likewise have got possession of the + healing art! Through bad female cooks—through the entire lack of + reason in the kitchen—the development of mankind has been longest + retarded and most interfered with: even today matters are very little + better. A word to High School girls. + </p> + <p> + 235. There are turns and casts of fancy, there are sentences, little + handfuls of words, in which a whole culture, a whole society suddenly + crystallises itself. Among these is the incidental remark of Madame de + Lambert to her son: "MON AMI, NE VOUS PERMETTEZ JAMAIS QUE DES FOLIES, QUI + VOUS FERONT GRAND PLAISIR"—the motherliest and wisest remark, by the + way, that was ever addressed to a son. + </p> + <p> + 236. I have no doubt that every noble woman will oppose what Dante and + Goethe believed about woman—the former when he sang, "ELLA GUARDAVA + SUSO, ED IO IN LEI," and the latter when he interpreted it, "the eternally + feminine draws us ALOFT"; for THIS is just what she believes of the + eternally masculine. + </p> + <p> + 237. SEVEN APOPHTHEGMS FOR WOMEN + </p> + <p> + How the longest ennui flees, When a man comes to our knees! + </p> + <p> + Age, alas! and science staid, Furnish even weak virtue aid. + </p> + <p> + Sombre garb and silence meet: Dress for every dame—discreet. + </p> + <p> + Whom I thank when in my bliss? God!—and my good tailoress! + </p> + <p> + Young, a flower-decked cavern home; Old, a dragon thence doth roam. + </p> + <p> + Noble title, leg that's fine, Man as well: Oh, were HE mine! + </p> + <p> + Speech in brief and sense in mass—Slippery for the jenny-ass! + </p> + <p> + 237A. Woman has hitherto been treated by men like birds, which, losing + their way, have come down among them from an elevation: as something + delicate, fragile, wild, strange, sweet, and animating—but as + something also which must be cooped up to prevent it flying away. + </p> + <p> + 238. To be mistaken in the fundamental problem of "man and woman," to deny + here the profoundest antagonism and the necessity for an eternally hostile + tension, to dream here perhaps of equal rights, equal training, equal + claims and obligations: that is a TYPICAL sign of shallow-mindedness; and + a thinker who has proved himself shallow at this dangerous spot—shallow + in instinct!—may generally be regarded as suspicious, nay more, as + betrayed, as discovered; he will probably prove too "short" for all + fundamental questions of life, future as well as present, and will be + unable to descend into ANY of the depths. On the other hand, a man who has + depth of spirit as well as of desires, and has also the depth of + benevolence which is capable of severity and harshness, and easily + confounded with them, can only think of woman as ORIENTALS do: he must + conceive of her as a possession, as confinable property, as a being + predestined for service and accomplishing her mission therein—he + must take his stand in this matter upon the immense rationality of Asia, + upon the superiority of the instinct of Asia, as the Greeks did formerly; + those best heirs and scholars of Asia—who, as is well known, with + their INCREASING culture and amplitude of power, from Homer to the time of + Pericles, became gradually STRICTER towards woman, in short, more + Oriental. HOW necessary, HOW logical, even HOW humanely desirable this + was, let us consider for ourselves! + </p> + <p> + 239. The weaker sex has in no previous age been treated with so much + respect by men as at present—this belongs to the tendency and + fundamental taste of democracy, in the same way as disrespectfulness to + old age—what wonder is it that abuse should be immediately made of + this respect? They want more, they learn to make claims, the tribute of + respect is at last felt to be well-nigh galling; rivalry for rights, + indeed actual strife itself, would be preferred: in a word, woman is + losing modesty. And let us immediately add that she is also losing taste. + She is unlearning to FEAR man: but the woman who "unlearns to fear" + sacrifices her most womanly instincts. That woman should venture forward + when the fear-inspiring quality in man—or more definitely, the MAN + in man—is no longer either desired or fully developed, is reasonable + enough and also intelligible enough; what is more difficult to understand + is that precisely thereby—woman deteriorates. This is what is + happening nowadays: let us not deceive ourselves about it! Wherever the + industrial spirit has triumphed over the military and aristocratic spirit, + woman strives for the economic and legal independence of a clerk: "woman + as clerkess" is inscribed on the portal of the modern society which is in + course of formation. While she thus appropriates new rights, aspires to be + "master," and inscribes "progress" of woman on her flags and banners, the + very opposite realises itself with terrible obviousness: WOMAN + RETROGRADES. Since the French Revolution the influence of woman in Europe + has DECLINED in proportion as she has increased her rights and claims; and + the "emancipation of woman," insofar as it is desired and demanded by + women themselves (and not only by masculine shallow-pates), thus proves to + be a remarkable symptom of the increased weakening and deadening of the + most womanly instincts. There is STUPIDITY in this movement, an almost + masculine stupidity, of which a well-reared woman—who is always a + sensible woman—might be heartily ashamed. To lose the intuition as + to the ground upon which she can most surely achieve victory; to neglect + exercise in the use of her proper weapons; to let-herself-go before man, + perhaps even "to the book," where formerly she kept herself in control and + in refined, artful humility; to neutralize with her virtuous audacity + man's faith in a VEILED, fundamentally different ideal in woman, something + eternally, necessarily feminine; to emphatically and loquaciously dissuade + man from the idea that woman must be preserved, cared for, protected, and + indulged, like some delicate, strangely wild, and often pleasant domestic + animal; the clumsy and indignant collection of everything of the nature of + servitude and bondage which the position of woman in the hitherto existing + order of society has entailed and still entails (as though slavery were a + counter-argument, and not rather a condition of every higher culture, of + every elevation of culture):—what does all this betoken, if not a + disintegration of womanly instincts, a defeminising? Certainly, there are + enough of idiotic friends and corrupters of woman among the learned asses + of the masculine sex, who advise woman to defeminize herself in this + manner, and to imitate all the stupidities from which "man" in Europe, + European "manliness," suffers,—who would like to lower woman to + "general culture," indeed even to newspaper reading and meddling with + politics. Here and there they wish even to make women into free spirits + and literary workers: as though a woman without piety would not be + something perfectly obnoxious or ludicrous to a profound and godless man;—almost + everywhere her nerves are being ruined by the most morbid and dangerous + kind of music (our latest German music), and she is daily being made more + hysterical and more incapable of fulfilling her first and last function, + that of bearing robust children. They wish to "cultivate" her in general + still more, and intend, as they say, to make the "weaker sex" STRONG by + culture: as if history did not teach in the most emphatic manner that the + "cultivating" of mankind and his weakening—that is to say, the + weakening, dissipating, and languishing of his FORCE OF WILL—have + always kept pace with one another, and that the most powerful and + influential women in the world (and lastly, the mother of Napoleon) had + just to thank their force of will—and not their schoolmasters—for + their power and ascendancy over men. That which inspires respect in woman, + and often enough fear also, is her NATURE, which is more "natural" than + that of man, her genuine, carnivora-like, cunning flexibility, her + tiger-claws beneath the glove, her NAIVETE in egoism, her untrainableness + and innate wildness, the incomprehensibleness, extent, and deviation of + her desires and virtues. That which, in spite of fear, excites one's + sympathy for the dangerous and beautiful cat, "woman," is that she seems + more afflicted, more vulnerable, more necessitous of love, and more + condemned to disillusionment than any other creature. Fear and sympathy it + is with these feelings that man has hitherto stood in the presence of + woman, always with one foot already in tragedy, which rends while it + delights—What? And all that is now to be at an end? And the + DISENCHANTMENT of woman is in progress? The tediousness of woman is slowly + evolving? Oh Europe! Europe! We know the horned animal which was always + most attractive to thee, from which danger is ever again threatening thee! + Thy old fable might once more become "history"—an immense stupidity + might once again overmaster thee and carry thee away! And no God concealed + beneath it—no! only an "idea," a "modern idea"! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. PEOPLES AND COUNTRIES + </h2> + <p> + 240. I HEARD, once again for the first time, Richard Wagner's overture to + the Mastersinger: it is a piece of magnificent, gorgeous, heavy, + latter-day art, which has the pride to presuppose two centuries of music + as still living, in order that it may be understood:—it is an honour + to Germans that such a pride did not miscalculate! What flavours and + forces, what seasons and climes do we not find mingled in it! It impresses + us at one time as ancient, at another time as foreign, bitter, and too + modern, it is as arbitrary as it is pompously traditional, it is not + infrequently roguish, still oftener rough and coarse—it has fire and + courage, and at the same time the loose, dun-coloured skin of fruits which + ripen too late. It flows broad and full: and suddenly there is a moment of + inexplicable hesitation, like a gap that opens between cause and effect, + an oppression that makes us dream, almost a nightmare; but already it + broadens and widens anew, the old stream of delight—the most + manifold delight,—of old and new happiness; including ESPECIALLY the + joy of the artist in himself, which he refuses to conceal, his astonished, + happy cognizance of his mastery of the expedients here employed, the new, + newly acquired, imperfectly tested expedients of art which he apparently + betrays to us. All in all, however, no beauty, no South, nothing of the + delicate southern clearness of the sky, nothing of grace, no dance, hardly + a will to logic; a certain clumsiness even, which is also emphasized, as + though the artist wished to say to us: "It is part of my intention"; a + cumbersome drapery, something arbitrarily barbaric and ceremonious, a + flirring of learned and venerable conceits and witticisms; something + German in the best and worst sense of the word, something in the German + style, manifold, formless, and inexhaustible; a certain German potency and + super-plenitude of soul, which is not afraid to hide itself under the + RAFFINEMENTS of decadence—which, perhaps, feels itself most at ease + there; a real, genuine token of the German soul, which is at the same time + young and aged, too ripe and yet still too rich in futurity. This kind of + music expresses best what I think of the Germans: they belong to the day + before yesterday and the day after tomorrow—THEY HAVE AS YET NO + TODAY. + </p> + <p> + 241. We "good Europeans," we also have hours when we allow ourselves a + warm-hearted patriotism, a plunge and relapse into old loves and narrow + views—I have just given an example of it—hours of national + excitement, of patriotic anguish, and all other sorts of old-fashioned + floods of sentiment. Duller spirits may perhaps only get done with what + confines its operations in us to hours and plays itself out in hours—in + a considerable time: some in half a year, others in half a lifetime, + according to the speed and strength with which they digest and "change + their material." Indeed, I could think of sluggish, hesitating races, + which even in our rapidly moving Europe, would require half a century ere + they could surmount such atavistic attacks of patriotism and + soil-attachment, and return once more to reason, that is to say, to "good + Europeanism." And while digressing on this possibility, I happen to become + an ear-witness of a conversation between two old patriots—they were + evidently both hard of hearing and consequently spoke all the louder. "HE + has as much, and knows as much, philosophy as a peasant or a + corps-student," said the one—"he is still innocent. But what does + that matter nowadays! It is the age of the masses: they lie on their belly + before everything that is massive. And so also in politicis. A statesman + who rears up for them a new Tower of Babel, some monstrosity of empire and + power, they call 'great'—what does it matter that we more prudent + and conservative ones do not meanwhile give up the old belief that it is + only the great thought that gives greatness to an action or affair. + Supposing a statesman were to bring his people into the position of being + obliged henceforth to practise 'high politics,' for which they were by + nature badly endowed and prepared, so that they would have to sacrifice + their old and reliable virtues, out of love to a new and doubtful + mediocrity;—supposing a statesman were to condemn his people + generally to 'practise politics,' when they have hitherto had something + better to do and think about, and when in the depths of their souls they + have been unable to free themselves from a prudent loathing of the + restlessness, emptiness, and noisy wranglings of the essentially + politics-practising nations;—supposing such a statesman were to + stimulate the slumbering passions and avidities of his people, were to + make a stigma out of their former diffidence and delight in aloofness, an + offence out of their exoticism and hidden permanency, were to depreciate + their most radical proclivities, subvert their consciences, make their + minds narrow, and their tastes 'national'—what! a statesman who + should do all this, which his people would have to do penance for + throughout their whole future, if they had a future, such a statesman + would be GREAT, would he?"—"Undoubtedly!" replied the other old + patriot vehemently, "otherwise he COULD NOT have done it! It was mad + perhaps to wish such a thing! But perhaps everything great has been just + as mad at its commencement!"—"Misuse of words!" cried his + interlocutor, contradictorily—"strong! strong! Strong and mad! NOT + great!"—The old men had obviously become heated as they thus shouted + their "truths" in each other's faces, but I, in my happiness and + apartness, considered how soon a stronger one may become master of the + strong, and also that there is a compensation for the intellectual + superficialising of a nation—namely, in the deepening of another. + </p> + <p> + 242. Whether we call it "civilization," or "humanising," or "progress," + which now distinguishes the European, whether we call it simply, without + praise or blame, by the political formula the DEMOCRATIC movement in + Europe—behind all the moral and political foregrounds pointed to by + such formulas, an immense PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESS goes on, which is ever + extending the process of the assimilation of Europeans, their increasing + detachment from the conditions under which, climatically and hereditarily, + united races originate, their increasing independence of every definite + milieu, that for centuries would fain inscribe itself with equal demands + on soul and body,—that is to say, the slow emergence of an + essentially SUPER-NATIONAL and nomadic species of man, who possesses, + physiologically speaking, a maximum of the art and power of adaptation as + his typical distinction. This process of the EVOLVING EUROPEAN, which can + be retarded in its TEMPO by great relapses, but will perhaps just gain and + grow thereby in vehemence and depth—the still-raging storm and + stress of "national sentiment" pertains to it, and also the anarchism + which is appearing at present—this process will probably arrive at + results on which its naive propagators and panegyrists, the apostles of + "modern ideas," would least care to reckon. The same new conditions under + which on an average a levelling and mediocrising of man will take place—a + useful, industrious, variously serviceable, and clever gregarious man—are + in the highest degree suitable to give rise to exceptional men of the most + dangerous and attractive qualities. For, while the capacity for + adaptation, which is every day trying changing conditions, and begins a + new work with every generation, almost with every decade, makes the + POWERFULNESS of the type impossible; while the collective impression of + such future Europeans will probably be that of numerous, talkative, + weak-willed, and very handy workmen who REQUIRE a master, a commander, as + they require their daily bread; while, therefore, the democratising of + Europe will tend to the production of a type prepared for SLAVERY in the + most subtle sense of the term: the STRONG man will necessarily in + individual and exceptional cases, become stronger and richer than he has + perhaps ever been before—owing to the unprejudicedness of his + schooling, owing to the immense variety of practice, art, and disguise. I + meant to say that the democratising of Europe is at the same time an + involuntary arrangement for the rearing of TYRANTS—taking the word + in all its meanings, even in its most spiritual sense. + </p> + <p> + 243. I hear with pleasure that our sun is moving rapidly towards the + constellation Hercules: and I hope that the men on this earth will do like + the sun. And we foremost, we good Europeans! + </p> + <p> + 244. There was a time when it was customary to call Germans "deep" by way + of distinction; but now that the most successful type of new Germanism is + covetous of quite other honours, and perhaps misses "smartness" in all + that has depth, it is almost opportune and patriotic to doubt whether we + did not formerly deceive ourselves with that commendation: in short, + whether German depth is not at bottom something different and worse—and + something from which, thank God, we are on the point of successfully + ridding ourselves. Let us try, then, to relearn with regard to German + depth; the only thing necessary for the purpose is a little vivisection of + the German soul.—The German soul is above all manifold, varied in + its source, aggregated and super-imposed, rather than actually built: this + is owing to its origin. A German who would embolden himself to assert: + "Two souls, alas, dwell in my breast," would make a bad guess at the + truth, or, more correctly, he would come far short of the truth about the + number of souls. As a people made up of the most extraordinary mixing and + mingling of races, perhaps even with a preponderance of the pre-Aryan + element as the "people of the centre" in every sense of the term, the + Germans are more intangible, more ample, more contradictory, more unknown, + more incalculable, more surprising, and even more terrifying than other + peoples are to themselves:—they escape DEFINITION, and are thereby + alone the despair of the French. It IS characteristic of the Germans that + the question: "What is German?" never dies out among them. Kotzebue + certainly knew his Germans well enough: "We are known," they cried + jubilantly to him—but Sand also thought he knew them. Jean Paul knew + what he was doing when he declared himself incensed at Fichte's lying but + patriotic flatteries and exaggerations,—but it is probable that + Goethe thought differently about Germans from Jean Paul, even though he + acknowledged him to be right with regard to Fichte. It is a question what + Goethe really thought about the Germans?—But about many things + around him he never spoke explicitly, and all his life he knew how to keep + an astute silence—probably he had good reason for it. It is certain + that it was not the "Wars of Independence" that made him look up more + joyfully, any more than it was the French Revolution,—the event on + account of which he RECONSTRUCTED his "Faust," and indeed the whole + problem of "man," was the appearance of Napoleon. There are words of + Goethe in which he condemns with impatient severity, as from a foreign + land, that which Germans take a pride in, he once defined the famous + German turn of mind as "Indulgence towards its own and others' + weaknesses." Was he wrong? it is characteristic of Germans that one is + seldom entirely wrong about them. The German soul has passages and + galleries in it, there are caves, hiding-places, and dungeons therein, its + disorder has much of the charm of the mysterious, the German is well + acquainted with the bypaths to chaos. And as everything loves its symbol, + so the German loves the clouds and all that is obscure, evolving, + crepuscular, damp, and shrouded, it seems to him that everything + uncertain, undeveloped, self-displacing, and growing is "deep". The German + himself does not EXIST, he is BECOMING, he is "developing himself". + "Development" is therefore the essentially German discovery and hit in the + great domain of philosophical formulas,—a ruling idea, which, + together with German beer and German music, is labouring to Germanise all + Europe. Foreigners are astonished and attracted by the riddles which the + conflicting nature at the basis of the German soul propounds to them + (riddles which Hegel systematised and Richard Wagner has in the end set to + music). "Good-natured and spiteful"—such a juxtaposition, + preposterous in the case of every other people, is unfortunately only too + often justified in Germany one has only to live for a while among Swabians + to know this! The clumsiness of the German scholar and his social + distastefulness agree alarmingly well with his physical rope-dancing and + nimble boldness, of which all the Gods have learnt to be afraid. If any + one wishes to see the "German soul" demonstrated ad oculos, let him only + look at German taste, at German arts and manners what boorish indifference + to "taste"! How the noblest and the commonest stand there in + juxtaposition! How disorderly and how rich is the whole constitution of + this soul! The German DRAGS at his soul, he drags at everything he + experiences. He digests his events badly; he never gets "done" with them; + and German depth is often only a difficult, hesitating "digestion." And + just as all chronic invalids, all dyspeptics like what is convenient, so + the German loves "frankness" and "honesty"; it is so CONVENIENT to be + frank and honest!—This confidingness, this complaisance, this + showing-the-cards of German HONESTY, is probably the most dangerous and + most successful disguise which the German is up to nowadays: it is his + proper Mephistophelean art; with this he can "still achieve much"! The + German lets himself go, and thereby gazes with faithful, blue, empty + German eyes—and other countries immediately confound him with his + dressing-gown!—I meant to say that, let "German depth" be what it + will—among ourselves alone we perhaps take the liberty to laugh at + it—we shall do well to continue henceforth to honour its appearance + and good name, and not barter away too cheaply our old reputation as a + people of depth for Prussian "smartness," and Berlin wit and sand. It is + wise for a people to pose, and LET itself be regarded, as profound, + clumsy, good-natured, honest, and foolish: it might even be—profound + to do so! Finally, we should do honour to our name—we are not called + the "TIUSCHE VOLK" (deceptive people) for nothing.... + </p> + <p> + 245. The "good old" time is past, it sang itself out in Mozart—how + happy are WE that his ROCOCO still speaks to us, that his "good company," + his tender enthusiasm, his childish delight in the Chinese and its + flourishes, his courtesy of heart, his longing for the elegant, the + amorous, the tripping, the tearful, and his belief in the South, can still + appeal to SOMETHING LEFT in us! Ah, some time or other it will be over + with it!—but who can doubt that it will be over still sooner with + the intelligence and taste for Beethoven! For he was only the last echo of + a break and transition in style, and NOT, like Mozart, the last echo of a + great European taste which had existed for centuries. Beethoven is the + intermediate event between an old mellow soul that is constantly breaking + down, and a future over-young soul that is always COMING; there is spread + over his music the twilight of eternal loss and eternal extravagant hope,—the + same light in which Europe was bathed when it dreamed with Rousseau, when + it danced round the Tree of Liberty of the Revolution, and finally almost + fell down in adoration before Napoleon. But how rapidly does THIS very + sentiment now pale, how difficult nowadays is even the APPREHENSION of + this sentiment, how strangely does the language of Rousseau, Schiller, + Shelley, and Byron sound to our ear, in whom COLLECTIVELY the same fate of + Europe was able to SPEAK, which knew how to SING in Beethoven!—Whatever + German music came afterwards, belongs to Romanticism, that is to say, to a + movement which, historically considered, was still shorter, more fleeting, + and more superficial than that great interlude, the transition of Europe + from Rousseau to Napoleon, and to the rise of democracy. Weber—but + what do WE care nowadays for "Freischutz" and "Oberon"! Or Marschner's + "Hans Heiling" and "Vampyre"! Or even Wagner's "Tannhauser"! That is + extinct, although not yet forgotten music. This whole music of + Romanticism, besides, was not noble enough, was not musical enough, to + maintain its position anywhere but in the theatre and before the masses; + from the beginning it was second-rate music, which was little thought of + by genuine musicians. It was different with Felix Mendelssohn, that + halcyon master, who, on account of his lighter, purer, happier soul, + quickly acquired admiration, and was equally quickly forgotten: as the + beautiful EPISODE of German music. But with regard to Robert Schumann, who + took things seriously, and has been taken seriously from the first—he + was the last that founded a school,—do we not now regard it as a + satisfaction, a relief, a deliverance, that this very Romanticism of + Schumann's has been surmounted? Schumann, fleeing into the "Saxon + Switzerland" of his soul, with a half Werther-like, half Jean-Paul-like + nature (assuredly not like Beethoven! assuredly not like Byron!)—his + MANFRED music is a mistake and a misunderstanding to the extent of + injustice; Schumann, with his taste, which was fundamentally a PETTY taste + (that is to say, a dangerous propensity—doubly dangerous among + Germans—for quiet lyricism and intoxication of the feelings), going + constantly apart, timidly withdrawing and retiring, a noble weakling who + revelled in nothing but anonymous joy and sorrow, from the beginning a + sort of girl and NOLI ME TANGERE—this Schumann was already merely a + GERMAN event in music, and no longer a European event, as Beethoven had + been, as in a still greater degree Mozart had been; with Schumann German + music was threatened with its greatest danger, that of LOSING THE VOICE + FOR THE SOUL OF EUROPE and sinking into a merely national affair. + </p> + <p> + 246. What a torture are books written in German to a reader who has a + THIRD ear! How indignantly he stands beside the slowly turning swamp of + sounds without tune and rhythms without dance, which Germans call a + "book"! And even the German who READS books! How lazily, how reluctantly, + how badly he reads! How many Germans know, and consider it obligatory to + know, that there is ART in every good sentence—art which must be + divined, if the sentence is to be understood! If there is a + misunderstanding about its TEMPO, for instance, the sentence itself is + misunderstood! That one must not be doubtful about the rhythm-determining + syllables, that one should feel the breaking of the too-rigid symmetry as + intentional and as a charm, that one should lend a fine and patient ear to + every STACCATO and every RUBATO, that one should divine the sense in the + sequence of the vowels and diphthongs, and how delicately and richly they + can be tinted and retinted in the order of their arrangement—who + among book-reading Germans is complaisant enough to recognize such duties + and requirements, and to listen to so much art and intention in language? + After all, one just "has no ear for it"; and so the most marked contrasts + of style are not heard, and the most delicate artistry is as it were + SQUANDERED on the deaf.—These were my thoughts when I noticed how + clumsily and unintuitively two masters in the art of prose-writing have + been confounded: one, whose words drop down hesitatingly and coldly, as + from the roof of a damp cave—he counts on their dull sound and echo; + and another who manipulates his language like a flexible sword, and from + his arm down into his toes feels the dangerous bliss of the quivering, + over-sharp blade, which wishes to bite, hiss, and cut. + </p> + <p> + 247. How little the German style has to do with harmony and with the ear, + is shown by the fact that precisely our good musicians themselves write + badly. The German does not read aloud, he does not read for the ear, but + only with his eyes; he has put his ears away in the drawer for the time. + In antiquity when a man read—which was seldom enough—he read + something to himself, and in a loud voice; they were surprised when any + one read silently, and sought secretly the reason of it. In a loud voice: + that is to say, with all the swellings, inflections, and variations of key + and changes of TEMPO, in which the ancient PUBLIC world took delight. The + laws of the written style were then the same as those of the spoken style; + and these laws depended partly on the surprising development and refined + requirements of the ear and larynx; partly on the strength, endurance, and + power of the ancient lungs. In the ancient sense, a period is above all a + physiological whole, inasmuch as it is comprised in one breath. Such + periods as occur in Demosthenes and Cicero, swelling twice and sinking + twice, and all in one breath, were pleasures to the men of ANTIQUITY, who + knew by their own schooling how to appreciate the virtue therein, the + rareness and the difficulty in the deliverance of such a period;—WE + have really no right to the BIG period, we modern men, who are short of + breath in every sense! Those ancients, indeed, were all of them dilettanti + in speaking, consequently connoisseurs, consequently critics—they + thus brought their orators to the highest pitch; in the same manner as in + the last century, when all Italian ladies and gentlemen knew how to sing, + the virtuosoship of song (and with it also the art of melody) reached its + elevation. In Germany, however (until quite recently when a kind of + platform eloquence began shyly and awkwardly enough to flutter its young + wings), there was properly speaking only one kind of public and + APPROXIMATELY artistical discourse—that delivered from the pulpit. + The preacher was the only one in Germany who knew the weight of a syllable + or a word, in what manner a sentence strikes, springs, rushes, flows, and + comes to a close; he alone had a conscience in his ears, often enough a + bad conscience: for reasons are not lacking why proficiency in oratory + should be especially seldom attained by a German, or almost always too + late. The masterpiece of German prose is therefore with good reason the + masterpiece of its greatest preacher: the BIBLE has hitherto been the best + German book. Compared with Luther's Bible, almost everything else is + merely "literature"—something which has not grown in Germany, and + therefore has not taken and does not take root in German hearts, as the + Bible has done. + </p> + <p> + 248. There are two kinds of geniuses: one which above all engenders and + seeks to engender, and another which willingly lets itself be fructified + and brings forth. And similarly, among the gifted nations, there are those + on whom the woman's problem of pregnancy has devolved, and the secret task + of forming, maturing, and perfecting—the Greeks, for instance, were + a nation of this kind, and so are the French; and others which have to + fructify and become the cause of new modes of life—like the Jews, + the Romans, and, in all modesty be it asked: like the Germans?—nations + tortured and enraptured by unknown fevers and irresistibly forced out of + themselves, amorous and longing for foreign races (for such as "let + themselves be fructified"), and withal imperious, like everything + conscious of being full of generative force, and consequently empowered + "by the grace of God." These two kinds of geniuses seek each other like + man and woman; but they also misunderstand each other—like man and + woman. + </p> + <p> + 249. Every nation has its own "Tartuffery," and calls that its virtue.—One + does not know—cannot know, the best that is in one. + </p> + <p> + 250. What Europe owes to the Jews?—Many things, good and bad, and + above all one thing of the nature both of the best and the worst: the + grand style in morality, the fearfulness and majesty of infinite demands, + of infinite significations, the whole Romanticism and sublimity of moral + questionableness—and consequently just the most attractive, + ensnaring, and exquisite element in those iridescences and allurements to + life, in the aftersheen of which the sky of our European culture, its + evening sky, now glows—perhaps glows out. For this, we artists among + the spectators and philosophers, are—grateful to the Jews. + </p> + <p> + 251. It must be taken into the bargain, if various clouds and disturbances—in + short, slight attacks of stupidity—pass over the spirit of a people + that suffers and WANTS to suffer from national nervous fever and political + ambition: for instance, among present-day Germans there is alternately the + anti-French folly, the anti-Semitic folly, the anti-Polish folly, the + Christian-romantic folly, the Wagnerian folly, the Teutonic folly, the + Prussian folly (just look at those poor historians, the Sybels and + Treitschkes, and their closely bandaged heads), and whatever else these + little obscurations of the German spirit and conscience may be called. May + it be forgiven me that I, too, when on a short daring sojourn on very + infected ground, did not remain wholly exempt from the disease, but like + every one else, began to entertain thoughts about matters which did not + concern me—the first symptom of political infection. About the Jews, + for instance, listen to the following:—I have never yet met a German + who was favourably inclined to the Jews; and however decided the + repudiation of actual anti-Semitism may be on the part of all prudent and + political men, this prudence and policy is not perhaps directed against + the nature of the sentiment itself, but only against its dangerous excess, + and especially against the distasteful and infamous expression of this + excess of sentiment;—on this point we must not deceive ourselves. + That Germany has amply SUFFICIENT Jews, that the German stomach, the + German blood, has difficulty (and will long have difficulty) in disposing + only of this quantity of "Jew"—as the Italian, the Frenchman, and + the Englishman have done by means of a stronger digestion:—that is + the unmistakable declaration and language of a general instinct, to which + one must listen and according to which one must act. "Let no more Jews + come in! And shut the doors, especially towards the East (also towards + Austria)!"—thus commands the instinct of a people whose nature is + still feeble and uncertain, so that it could be easily wiped out, easily + extinguished, by a stronger race. The Jews, however, are beyond all doubt + the strongest, toughest, and purest race at present living in Europe, they + know how to succeed even under the worst conditions (in fact better than + under favourable ones), by means of virtues of some sort, which one would + like nowadays to label as vices—owing above all to a resolute faith + which does not need to be ashamed before "modern ideas", they alter only, + WHEN they do alter, in the same way that the Russian Empire makes its + conquest—as an empire that has plenty of time and is not of + yesterday—namely, according to the principle, "as slowly as + possible"! A thinker who has the future of Europe at heart, will, in all + his perspectives concerning the future, calculate upon the Jews, as he + will calculate upon the Russians, as above all the surest and likeliest + factors in the great play and battle of forces. That which is at present + called a "nation" in Europe, and is really rather a RES FACTA than NATA + (indeed, sometimes confusingly similar to a RES FICTA ET PICTA), is in + every case something evolving, young, easily displaced, and not yet a + race, much less such a race AERE PERENNUS, as the Jews are such "nations" + should most carefully avoid all hot-headed rivalry and hostility! It is + certain that the Jews, if they desired—or if they were driven to it, + as the anti-Semites seem to wish—COULD now have the ascendancy, nay, + literally the supremacy, over Europe, that they are NOT working and + planning for that end is equally certain. Meanwhile, they rather wish and + desire, even somewhat importunely, to be insorbed and absorbed by Europe, + they long to be finally settled, authorized, and respected somewhere, and + wish to put an end to the nomadic life, to the "wandering Jew",—and + one should certainly take account of this impulse and tendency, and MAKE + ADVANCES to it (it possibly betokens a mitigation of the Jewish instincts) + for which purpose it would perhaps be useful and fair to banish the + anti-Semitic bawlers out of the country. One should make advances with all + prudence, and with selection, pretty much as the English nobility do It + stands to reason that the more powerful and strongly marked types of new + Germanism could enter into relation with the Jews with the least + hesitation, for instance, the nobleman officer from the Prussian border it + would be interesting in many ways to see whether the genius for money and + patience (and especially some intellect and intellectuality—sadly + lacking in the place referred to) could not in addition be annexed and + trained to the hereditary art of commanding and obeying—for both of + which the country in question has now a classic reputation But here it is + expedient to break off my festal discourse and my sprightly Teutonomania + for I have already reached my SERIOUS TOPIC, the "European problem," as I + understand it, the rearing of a new ruling caste for Europe. + </p> + <p> + 252. They are not a philosophical race—the English: Bacon represents + an ATTACK on the philosophical spirit generally, Hobbes, Hume, and Locke, + an abasement, and a depreciation of the idea of a "philosopher" for more + than a century. It was AGAINST Hume that Kant uprose and raised himself; + it was Locke of whom Schelling RIGHTLY said, "JE MEPRISE LOCKE"; in the + struggle against the English mechanical stultification of the world, Hegel + and Schopenhauer (along with Goethe) were of one accord; the two hostile + brother-geniuses in philosophy, who pushed in different directions towards + the opposite poles of German thought, and thereby wronged each other as + only brothers will do.—What is lacking in England, and has always + been lacking, that half-actor and rhetorician knew well enough, the absurd + muddle-head, Carlyle, who sought to conceal under passionate grimaces what + he knew about himself: namely, what was LACKING in Carlyle—real + POWER of intellect, real DEPTH of intellectual perception, in short, + philosophy. It is characteristic of such an unphilosophical race to hold + on firmly to Christianity—they NEED its discipline for "moralizing" + and humanizing. The Englishman, more gloomy, sensual, headstrong, and + brutal than the German—is for that very reason, as the baser of the + two, also the most pious: he has all the MORE NEED of Christianity. To + finer nostrils, this English Christianity itself has still a + characteristic English taint of spleen and alcoholic excess, for which, + owing to good reasons, it is used as an antidote—the finer poison to + neutralize the coarser: a finer form of poisoning is in fact a step in + advance with coarse-mannered people, a step towards spiritualization. The + English coarseness and rustic demureness is still most satisfactorily + disguised by Christian pantomime, and by praying and psalm-singing (or, + more correctly, it is thereby explained and differently expressed); and + for the herd of drunkards and rakes who formerly learned moral grunting + under the influence of Methodism (and more recently as the "Salvation + Army"), a penitential fit may really be the relatively highest + manifestation of "humanity" to which they can be elevated: so much may + reasonably be admitted. That, however, which offends even in the humanest + Englishman is his lack of music, to speak figuratively (and also + literally): he has neither rhythm nor dance in the movements of his soul + and body; indeed, not even the desire for rhythm and dance, for "music." + Listen to him speaking; look at the most beautiful Englishwoman WALKING—in + no country on earth are there more beautiful doves and swans; finally, + listen to them singing! But I ask too much... + </p> + <p> + 253. There are truths which are best recognized by mediocre minds, because + they are best adapted for them, there are truths which only possess charms + and seductive power for mediocre spirits:—one is pushed to this + probably unpleasant conclusion, now that the influence of respectable but + mediocre Englishmen—I may mention Darwin, John Stuart Mill, and + Herbert Spencer—begins to gain the ascendancy in the middle-class + region of European taste. Indeed, who could doubt that it is a useful + thing for SUCH minds to have the ascendancy for a time? It would be an + error to consider the highly developed and independently soaring minds as + specially qualified for determining and collecting many little common + facts, and deducing conclusions from them; as exceptions, they are rather + from the first in no very favourable position towards those who are "the + rules." After all, they have more to do than merely to perceive:—in + effect, they have to BE something new, they have to SIGNIFY something new, + they have to REPRESENT new values! The gulf between knowledge and capacity + is perhaps greater, and also more mysterious, than one thinks: the capable + man in the grand style, the creator, will possibly have to be an ignorant + person;—while on the other hand, for scientific discoveries like + those of Darwin, a certain narrowness, aridity, and industrious + carefulness (in short, something English) may not be unfavourable for + arriving at them.—Finally, let it not be forgotten that the English, + with their profound mediocrity, brought about once before a general + depression of European intelligence. + </p> + <p> + What is called "modern ideas," or "the ideas of the eighteenth century," + or "French ideas"—that, consequently, against which the GERMAN mind + rose up with profound disgust—is of English origin, there is no + doubt about it. The French were only the apes and actors of these ideas, + their best soldiers, and likewise, alas! their first and profoundest + VICTIMS; for owing to the diabolical Anglomania of "modern ideas," the AME + FRANCAIS has in the end become so thin and emaciated, that at present one + recalls its sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, its profound, passionate + strength, its inventive excellency, almost with disbelief. One must, + however, maintain this verdict of historical justice in a determined + manner, and defend it against present prejudices and appearances: the + European NOBLESSE—of sentiment, taste, and manners, taking the word + in every high sense—is the work and invention of FRANCE; the + European ignobleness, the plebeianism of modern ideas—is ENGLAND'S + work and invention. + </p> + <p> + 254. Even at present France is still the seat of the most intellectual and + refined culture of Europe, it is still the high school of taste; but one + must know how to find this "France of taste." He who belongs to it keeps + himself well concealed:—they may be a small number in whom it lives + and is embodied, besides perhaps being men who do not stand upon the + strongest legs, in part fatalists, hypochondriacs, invalids, in part + persons over-indulged, over-refined, such as have the AMBITION to conceal + themselves. + </p> + <p> + They have all something in common: they keep their ears closed in presence + of the delirious folly and noisy spouting of the democratic BOURGEOIS. In + fact, a besotted and brutalized France at present sprawls in the + foreground—it recently celebrated a veritable orgy of bad taste, and + at the same time of self-admiration, at the funeral of Victor Hugo. There + is also something else common to them: a predilection to resist + intellectual Germanizing—and a still greater inability to do so! In + this France of intellect, which is also a France of pessimism, + Schopenhauer has perhaps become more at home, and more indigenous than he + has ever been in Germany; not to speak of Heinrich Heine, who has long ago + been re-incarnated in the more refined and fastidious lyrists of Paris; or + of Hegel, who at present, in the form of Taine—the FIRST of living + historians—exercises an almost tyrannical influence. As regards + Richard Wagner, however, the more French music learns to adapt itself to + the actual needs of the AME MODERNE, the more will it "Wagnerite"; one can + safely predict that beforehand,—it is already taking place + sufficiently! There are, however, three things which the French can still + boast of with pride as their heritage and possession, and as indelible + tokens of their ancient intellectual superiority in Europe, in spite of + all voluntary or involuntary Germanizing and vulgarizing of taste. + FIRSTLY, the capacity for artistic emotion, for devotion to "form," for + which the expression, L'ART POUR L'ART, along with numerous others, has + been invented:—such capacity has not been lacking in France for + three centuries; and owing to its reverence for the "small number," it has + again and again made a sort of chamber music of literature possible, which + is sought for in vain elsewhere in Europe.—The SECOND thing whereby + the French can lay claim to a superiority over Europe is their ancient, + many-sided, MORALISTIC culture, owing to which one finds on an average, + even in the petty ROMANCIERS of the newspapers and chance BOULEVARDIERS DE + PARIS, a psychological sensitiveness and curiosity, of which, for example, + one has no conception (to say nothing of the thing itself!) in Germany. + The Germans lack a couple of centuries of the moralistic work requisite + thereto, which, as we have said, France has not grudged: those who call + the Germans "naive" on that account give them commendation for a defect. + (As the opposite of the German inexperience and innocence IN VOLUPTATE + PSYCHOLOGICA, which is not too remotely associated with the tediousness of + German intercourse,—and as the most successful expression of genuine + French curiosity and inventive talent in this domain of delicate thrills, + Henri Beyle may be noted; that remarkable anticipatory and forerunning + man, who, with a Napoleonic TEMPO, traversed HIS Europe, in fact, several + centuries of the European soul, as a surveyor and discoverer thereof:—it + has required two generations to OVERTAKE him one way or other, to divine + long afterwards some of the riddles that perplexed and enraptured him—this + strange Epicurean and man of interrogation, the last great psychologist of + France).—There is yet a THIRD claim to superiority: in the French + character there is a successful half-way synthesis of the North and South, + which makes them comprehend many things, and enjoins upon them other + things, which an Englishman can never comprehend. Their temperament, + turned alternately to and from the South, in which from time to time the + Provencal and Ligurian blood froths over, preserves them from the + dreadful, northern grey-in-grey, from sunless conceptual-spectrism and + from poverty of blood—our GERMAN infirmity of taste, for the + excessive prevalence of which at the present moment, blood and iron, that + is to say "high politics," has with great resolution been prescribed + (according to a dangerous healing art, which bids me wait and wait, but + not yet hope).—There is also still in France a pre-understanding and + ready welcome for those rarer and rarely gratified men, who are too + comprehensive to find satisfaction in any kind of fatherlandism, and know + how to love the South when in the North and the North when in the South—the + born Midlanders, the "good Europeans." For them BIZET has made music, this + latest genius, who has seen a new beauty and seduction,—who has + discovered a piece of the SOUTH IN MUSIC. + </p> + <p> + 255. I hold that many precautions should be taken against German music. + Suppose a person loves the South as I love it—as a great school of + recovery for the most spiritual and the most sensuous ills, as a boundless + solar profusion and effulgence which o'erspreads a sovereign existence + believing in itself—well, such a person will learn to be somewhat on + his guard against German music, because, in injuring his taste anew, it + will also injure his health anew. Such a Southerner, a Southerner not by + origin but by BELIEF, if he should dream of the future of music, must also + dream of it being freed from the influence of the North; and must have in + his ears the prelude to a deeper, mightier, and perhaps more perverse and + mysterious music, a super-German music, which does not fade, pale, and die + away, as all German music does, at the sight of the blue, wanton sea and + the Mediterranean clearness of sky—a super-European music, which + holds its own even in presence of the brown sunsets of the desert, whose + soul is akin to the palm-tree, and can be at home and can roam with big, + beautiful, lonely beasts of prey... I could imagine a music of which the + rarest charm would be that it knew nothing more of good and evil; only + that here and there perhaps some sailor's home-sickness, some golden + shadows and tender weaknesses might sweep lightly over it; an art which, + from the far distance, would see the colours of a sinking and almost + incomprehensible MORAL world fleeing towards it, and would be hospitable + enough and profound enough to receive such belated fugitives. + </p> + <p> + 256. Owing to the morbid estrangement which the nationality-craze has + induced and still induces among the nations of Europe, owing also to the + short-sighted and hasty-handed politicians, who with the help of this + craze, are at present in power, and do not suspect to what extent the + disintegrating policy they pursue must necessarily be only an interlude + policy—owing to all this and much else that is altogether + unmentionable at present, the most unmistakable signs that EUROPE WISHES + TO BE ONE, are now overlooked, or arbitrarily and falsely misinterpreted. + With all the more profound and large-minded men of this century, the real + general tendency of the mysterious labour of their souls was to prepare + the way for that new SYNTHESIS, and tentatively to anticipate the European + of the future; only in their simulations, or in their weaker moments, in + old age perhaps, did they belong to the "fatherlands"—they only + rested from themselves when they became "patriots." I think of such men as + Napoleon, Goethe, Beethoven, Stendhal, Heinrich Heine, Schopenhauer: it + must not be taken amiss if I also count Richard Wagner among them, about + whom one must not let oneself be deceived by his own misunderstandings + (geniuses like him have seldom the right to understand themselves), still + less, of course, by the unseemly noise with which he is now resisted and + opposed in France: the fact remains, nevertheless, that Richard Wagner and + the LATER FRENCH ROMANTICISM of the forties, are most closely and + intimately related to one another. They are akin, fundamentally akin, in + all the heights and depths of their requirements; it is Europe, the ONE + Europe, whose soul presses urgently and longingly, outwards and upwards, + in their multifarious and boisterous art—whither? into a new light? + towards a new sun? But who would attempt to express accurately what all + these masters of new modes of speech could not express distinctly? It is + certain that the same storm and stress tormented them, that they SOUGHT in + the same manner, these last great seekers! All of them steeped in + literature to their eyes and ears—the first artists of universal + literary culture—for the most part even themselves writers, poets, + intermediaries and blenders of the arts and the senses (Wagner, as + musician is reckoned among painters, as poet among musicians, as artist + generally among actors); all of them fanatics for EXPRESSION "at any cost"—I + specially mention Delacroix, the nearest related to Wagner; all of them + great discoverers in the realm of the sublime, also of the loathsome and + dreadful, still greater discoverers in effect, in display, in the art of + the show-shop; all of them talented far beyond their genius, out and out + VIRTUOSI, with mysterious accesses to all that seduces, allures, + constrains, and upsets; born enemies of logic and of the straight line, + hankering after the strange, the exotic, the monstrous, the crooked, and + the self-contradictory; as men, Tantaluses of the will, plebeian parvenus, + who knew themselves to be incapable of a noble TEMPO or of a LENTO in life + and action—think of Balzac, for instance,—unrestrained + workers, almost destroying themselves by work; antinomians and rebels in + manners, ambitious and insatiable, without equilibrium and enjoyment; all + of them finally shattering and sinking down at the Christian cross (and + with right and reason, for who of them would have been sufficiently + profound and sufficiently original for an ANTI-CHRISTIAN philosophy?);—on + the whole, a boldly daring, splendidly overbearing, high-flying, and + aloft-up-dragging class of higher men, who had first to teach their + century—and it is the century of the MASSES—the conception + "higher man."... Let the German friends of Richard Wagner advise together + as to whether there is anything purely German in the Wagnerian art, or + whether its distinction does not consist precisely in coming from + SUPER-GERMAN sources and impulses: in which connection it may not be + underrated how indispensable Paris was to the development of his type, + which the strength of his instincts made him long to visit at the most + decisive time—and how the whole style of his proceedings, of his + self-apostolate, could only perfect itself in sight of the French + socialistic original. On a more subtle comparison it will perhaps be + found, to the honour of Richard Wagner's German nature, that he has acted + in everything with more strength, daring, severity, and elevation than a + nineteenth-century Frenchman could have done—owing to the + circumstance that we Germans are as yet nearer to barbarism than the + French;—perhaps even the most remarkable creation of Richard Wagner + is not only at present, but for ever inaccessible, incomprehensible, and + inimitable to the whole latter-day Latin race: the figure of Siegfried, + that VERY FREE man, who is probably far too free, too hard, too cheerful, + too healthy, too ANTI-CATHOLIC for the taste of old and mellow civilized + nations. He may even have been a sin against Romanticism, this anti-Latin + Siegfried: well, Wagner atoned amply for this sin in his old sad days, + when—anticipating a taste which has meanwhile passed into politics—he + began, with the religious vehemence peculiar to him, to preach, at least, + THE WAY TO ROME, if not to walk therein.—That these last words may + not be misunderstood, I will call to my aid a few powerful rhymes, which + will even betray to less delicate ears what I mean—what I mean + COUNTER TO the "last Wagner" and his Parsifal music:— + </p> + <p> + —Is this our mode?—From German heart came this vexed + ululating? From German body, this self-lacerating? Is ours this priestly + hand-dilation, This incense-fuming exaltation? Is ours this faltering, + falling, shambling, This quite uncertain ding-dong-dangling? This sly + nun-ogling, Ave-hour-bell ringing, This wholly false enraptured + heaven-o'erspringing?—Is this our mode?—Think well!—ye + still wait for admission—For what ye hear is ROME—ROME'S FAITH + BY INTUITION! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. WHAT IS NOBLE? + </h2> + <p> + 257. EVERY elevation of the type "man," has hitherto been the work of an + aristocratic society and so it will always be—a society believing in + a long scale of gradations of rank and differences of worth among human + beings, and requiring slavery in some form or other. Without the PATHOS OF + DISTANCE, such as grows out of the incarnated difference of classes, out + of the constant out-looking and down-looking of the ruling caste on + subordinates and instruments, and out of their equally constant practice + of obeying and commanding, of keeping down and keeping at a distance—that + other more mysterious pathos could never have arisen, the longing for an + ever new widening of distance within the soul itself, the formation of + ever higher, rarer, further, more extended, more comprehensive states, in + short, just the elevation of the type "man," the continued + "self-surmounting of man," to use a moral formula in a supermoral sense. + To be sure, one must not resign oneself to any humanitarian illusions + about the history of the origin of an aristocratic society (that is to + say, of the preliminary condition for the elevation of the type "man"): + the truth is hard. Let us acknowledge unprejudicedly how every higher + civilization hitherto has ORIGINATED! Men with a still natural nature, + barbarians in every terrible sense of the word, men of prey, still in + possession of unbroken strength of will and desire for power, threw + themselves upon weaker, more moral, more peaceful races (perhaps trading + or cattle-rearing communities), or upon old mellow civilizations in which + the final vital force was flickering out in brilliant fireworks of wit and + depravity. At the commencement, the noble caste was always the barbarian + caste: their superiority did not consist first of all in their physical, + but in their psychical power—they were more COMPLETE men (which at + every point also implies the same as "more complete beasts"). + </p> + <p> + 258. Corruption—as the indication that anarchy threatens to break + out among the instincts, and that the foundation of the emotions, called + "life," is convulsed—is something radically different according to + the organization in which it manifests itself. When, for instance, an + aristocracy like that of France at the beginning of the Revolution, flung + away its privileges with sublime disgust and sacrificed itself to an + excess of its moral sentiments, it was corruption:—it was really + only the closing act of the corruption which had existed for centuries, by + virtue of which that aristocracy had abdicated step by step its lordly + prerogatives and lowered itself to a FUNCTION of royalty (in the end even + to its decoration and parade-dress). The essential thing, however, in a + good and healthy aristocracy is that it should not regard itself as a + function either of the kingship or the commonwealth, but as the + SIGNIFICANCE and highest justification thereof—that it should + therefore accept with a good conscience the sacrifice of a legion of + individuals, who, FOR ITS SAKE, must be suppressed and reduced to + imperfect men, to slaves and instruments. Its fundamental belief must be + precisely that society is NOT allowed to exist for its own sake, but only + as a foundation and scaffolding, by means of which a select class of + beings may be able to elevate themselves to their higher duties, and in + general to a higher EXISTENCE: like those sun-seeking climbing plants in + Java—they are called Sipo Matador,—which encircle an oak so + long and so often with their arms, until at last, high above it, but + supported by it, they can unfold their tops in the open light, and exhibit + their happiness. + </p> + <p> + 259. To refrain mutually from injury, from violence, from exploitation, + and put one's will on a par with that of others: this may result in a + certain rough sense in good conduct among individuals when the necessary + conditions are given (namely, the actual similarity of the individuals in + amount of force and degree of worth, and their co-relation within one + organization). As soon, however, as one wished to take this principle more + generally, and if possible even as the FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF SOCIETY, + it would immediately disclose what it really is—namely, a Will to + the DENIAL of life, a principle of dissolution and decay. Here one must + think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental weakness: + life itself is ESSENTIALLY appropriation, injury, conquest of the strange + and weak, suppression, severity, obtrusion of peculiar forms, + incorporation, and at the least, putting it mildest, exploitation;—but + why should one for ever use precisely these words on which for ages a + disparaging purpose has been stamped? Even the organization within which, + as was previously supposed, the individuals treat each other as equal—it + takes place in every healthy aristocracy—must itself, if it be a + living and not a dying organization, do all that towards other bodies, + which the individuals within it refrain from doing to each other it will + have to be the incarnated Will to Power, it will endeavour to grow, to + gain ground, attract to itself and acquire ascendancy—not owing to + any morality or immorality, but because it LIVES, and because life IS + precisely Will to Power. On no point, however, is the ordinary + consciousness of Europeans more unwilling to be corrected than on this + matter, people now rave everywhere, even under the guise of science, about + coming conditions of society in which "the exploiting character" is to be + absent—that sounds to my ears as if they promised to invent a mode + of life which should refrain from all organic functions. "Exploitation" + does not belong to a depraved, or imperfect and primitive society it + belongs to the nature of the living being as a primary organic function, + it is a consequence of the intrinsic Will to Power, which is precisely the + Will to Life—Granting that as a theory this is a novelty—as a + reality it is the FUNDAMENTAL FACT of all history let us be so far honest + towards ourselves! + </p> + <p> + 260. In a tour through the many finer and coarser moralities which have + hitherto prevailed or still prevail on the earth, I found certain traits + recurring regularly together, and connected with one another, until + finally two primary types revealed themselves to me, and a radical + distinction was brought to light. There is MASTER-MORALITY and + SLAVE-MORALITY,—I would at once add, however, that in all higher and + mixed civilizations, there are also attempts at the reconciliation of the + two moralities, but one finds still oftener the confusion and mutual + misunderstanding of them, indeed sometimes their close juxtaposition—even + in the same man, within one soul. The distinctions of moral values have + either originated in a ruling caste, pleasantly conscious of being + different from the ruled—or among the ruled class, the slaves and + dependents of all sorts. In the first case, when it is the rulers who + determine the conception "good," it is the exalted, proud disposition + which is regarded as the distinguishing feature, and that which determines + the order of rank. The noble type of man separates from himself the beings + in whom the opposite of this exalted, proud disposition displays itself he + despises them. Let it at once be noted that in this first kind of morality + the antithesis "good" and "bad" means practically the same as "noble" and + "despicable",—the antithesis "good" and "EVIL" is of a different + origin. The cowardly, the timid, the insignificant, and those thinking + merely of narrow utility are despised; moreover, also, the distrustful, + with their constrained glances, the self-abasing, the dog-like kind of men + who let themselves be abused, the mendicant flatterers, and above all the + liars:—it is a fundamental belief of all aristocrats that the common + people are untruthful. "We truthful ones"—the nobility in ancient + Greece called themselves. It is obvious that everywhere the designations + of moral value were at first applied to MEN; and were only derivatively + and at a later period applied to ACTIONS; it is a gross mistake, + therefore, when historians of morals start with questions like, "Why have + sympathetic actions been praised?" The noble type of man regards HIMSELF + as a determiner of values; he does not require to be approved of; he + passes the judgment: "What is injurious to me is injurious in itself;" he + knows that it is he himself only who confers honour on things; he is a + CREATOR OF VALUES. He honours whatever he recognizes in himself: such + morality equals self-glorification. In the foreground there is the feeling + of plenitude, of power, which seeks to overflow, the happiness of high + tension, the consciousness of a wealth which would fain give and bestow:—the + noble man also helps the unfortunate, but not—or scarcely—out + of pity, but rather from an impulse generated by the super-abundance of + power. The noble man honours in himself the powerful one, him also who has + power over himself, who knows how to speak and how to keep silence, who + takes pleasure in subjecting himself to severity and hardness, and has + reverence for all that is severe and hard. "Wotan placed a hard heart in + my breast," says an old Scandinavian Saga: it is thus rightly expressed + from the soul of a proud Viking. Such a type of man is even proud of not + being made for sympathy; the hero of the Saga therefore adds warningly: + "He who has not a hard heart when young, will never have one." The noble + and brave who think thus are the furthest removed from the morality which + sees precisely in sympathy, or in acting for the good of others, or in + DESINTERESSEMENT, the characteristic of the moral; faith in oneself, pride + in oneself, a radical enmity and irony towards "selflessness," belong as + definitely to noble morality, as do a careless scorn and precaution in + presence of sympathy and the "warm heart."—It is the powerful who + KNOW how to honour, it is their art, their domain for invention. The + profound reverence for age and for tradition—all law rests on this + double reverence,—the belief and prejudice in favour of ancestors + and unfavourable to newcomers, is typical in the morality of the powerful; + and if, reversely, men of "modern ideas" believe almost instinctively in + "progress" and the "future," and are more and more lacking in respect for + old age, the ignoble origin of these "ideas" has complacently betrayed + itself thereby. A morality of the ruling class, however, is more + especially foreign and irritating to present-day taste in the sternness of + its principle that one has duties only to one's equals; that one may act + towards beings of a lower rank, towards all that is foreign, just as seems + good to one, or "as the heart desires," and in any case "beyond good and + evil": it is here that sympathy and similar sentiments can have a place. + The ability and obligation to exercise prolonged gratitude and prolonged + revenge—both only within the circle of equals,—artfulness in + retaliation, RAFFINEMENT of the idea in friendship, a certain necessity to + have enemies (as outlets for the emotions of envy, quarrelsomeness, + arrogance—in fact, in order to be a good FRIEND): all these are + typical characteristics of the noble morality, which, as has been pointed + out, is not the morality of "modern ideas," and is therefore at present + difficult to realize, and also to unearth and disclose.—It is + otherwise with the second type of morality, SLAVE-MORALITY. Supposing that + the abused, the oppressed, the suffering, the unemancipated, the weary, + and those uncertain of themselves should moralize, what will be the common + element in their moral estimates? Probably a pessimistic suspicion with + regard to the entire situation of man will find expression, perhaps a + condemnation of man, together with his situation. The slave has an + unfavourable eye for the virtues of the powerful; he has a skepticism and + distrust, a REFINEMENT of distrust of everything "good" that is there + honoured—he would fain persuade himself that the very happiness + there is not genuine. On the other hand, THOSE qualities which serve to + alleviate the existence of sufferers are brought into prominence and + flooded with light; it is here that sympathy, the kind, helping hand, the + warm heart, patience, diligence, humility, and friendliness attain to + honour; for here these are the most useful qualities, and almost the only + means of supporting the burden of existence. Slave-morality is essentially + the morality of utility. Here is the seat of the origin of the famous + antithesis "good" and "evil":—power and dangerousness are assumed to + reside in the evil, a certain dreadfulness, subtlety, and strength, which + do not admit of being despised. According to slave-morality, therefore, + the "evil" man arouses fear; according to master-morality, it is precisely + the "good" man who arouses fear and seeks to arouse it, while the bad man + is regarded as the despicable being. The contrast attains its maximum + when, in accordance with the logical consequences of slave-morality, a + shade of depreciation—it may be slight and well-intentioned—at + last attaches itself to the "good" man of this morality; because, + according to the servile mode of thought, the good man must in any case be + the SAFE man: he is good-natured, easily deceived, perhaps a little + stupid, un bonhomme. Everywhere that slave-morality gains the ascendancy, + language shows a tendency to approximate the significations of the words + "good" and "stupid."—A last fundamental difference: the desire for + FREEDOM, the instinct for happiness and the refinements of the feeling of + liberty belong as necessarily to slave-morals and morality, as artifice + and enthusiasm in reverence and devotion are the regular symptoms of an + aristocratic mode of thinking and estimating.—Hence we can + understand without further detail why love AS A PASSION—it is our + European specialty—must absolutely be of noble origin; as is well + known, its invention is due to the Provencal poet-cavaliers, those + brilliant, ingenious men of the "gai saber," to whom Europe owes so much, + and almost owes itself. + </p> + <p> + 261. Vanity is one of the things which are perhaps most difficult for a + noble man to understand: he will be tempted to deny it, where another kind + of man thinks he sees it self-evidently. The problem for him is to + represent to his mind beings who seek to arouse a good opinion of + themselves which they themselves do not possess—and consequently + also do not "deserve,"—and who yet BELIEVE in this good opinion + afterwards. This seems to him on the one hand such bad taste and so + self-disrespectful, and on the other hand so grotesquely unreasonable, + that he would like to consider vanity an exception, and is doubtful about + it in most cases when it is spoken of. He will say, for instance: "I may + be mistaken about my value, and on the other hand may nevertheless demand + that my value should be acknowledged by others precisely as I rate it:—that, + however, is not vanity (but self-conceit, or, in most cases, that which is + called 'humility,' and also 'modesty')." Or he will even say: "For many + reasons I can delight in the good opinion of others, perhaps because I + love and honour them, and rejoice in all their joys, perhaps also because + their good opinion endorses and strengthens my belief in my own good + opinion, perhaps because the good opinion of others, even in cases where I + do not share it, is useful to me, or gives promise of usefulness:—all + this, however, is not vanity." The man of noble character must first bring + it home forcibly to his mind, especially with the aid of history, that, + from time immemorial, in all social strata in any way dependent, the + ordinary man WAS only that which he PASSED FOR:—not being at all + accustomed to fix values, he did not assign even to himself any other + value than that which his master assigned to him (it is the peculiar RIGHT + OF MASTERS to create values). It may be looked upon as the result of an + extraordinary atavism, that the ordinary man, even at present, is still + always WAITING for an opinion about himself, and then instinctively + submitting himself to it; yet by no means only to a "good" opinion, but + also to a bad and unjust one (think, for instance, of the greater part of + the self-appreciations and self-depreciations which believing women learn + from their confessors, and which in general the believing Christian learns + from his Church). In fact, conformably to the slow rise of the democratic + social order (and its cause, the blending of the blood of masters and + slaves), the originally noble and rare impulse of the masters to assign a + value to themselves and to "think well" of themselves, will now be more + and more encouraged and extended; but it has at all times an older, + ampler, and more radically ingrained propensity opposed to it—and in + the phenomenon of "vanity" this older propensity overmasters the younger. + The vain person rejoices over EVERY good opinion which he hears about + himself (quite apart from the point of view of its usefulness, and equally + regardless of its truth or falsehood), just as he suffers from every bad + opinion: for he subjects himself to both, he feels himself subjected to + both, by that oldest instinct of subjection which breaks forth in him.—It + is "the slave" in the vain man's blood, the remains of the slave's + craftiness—and how much of the "slave" is still left in woman, for + instance!—which seeks to SEDUCE to good opinions of itself; it is + the slave, too, who immediately afterwards falls prostrate himself before + these opinions, as though he had not called them forth.—And to + repeat it again: vanity is an atavism. + </p> + <p> + 262. A SPECIES originates, and a type becomes established and strong in + the long struggle with essentially constant UNFAVOURABLE conditions. On + the other hand, it is known by the experience of breeders that species + which receive super-abundant nourishment, and in general a surplus of + protection and care, immediately tend in the most marked way to develop + variations, and are fertile in prodigies and monstrosities (also in + monstrous vices). Now look at an aristocratic commonwealth, say an ancient + Greek polis, or Venice, as a voluntary or involuntary contrivance for the + purpose of REARING human beings; there are there men beside one another, + thrown upon their own resources, who want to make their species prevail, + chiefly because they MUST prevail, or else run the terrible danger of + being exterminated. The favour, the super-abundance, the protection are + there lacking under which variations are fostered; the species needs + itself as species, as something which, precisely by virtue of its + hardness, its uniformity, and simplicity of structure, can in general + prevail and make itself permanent in constant struggle with its + neighbours, or with rebellious or rebellion-threatening vassals. The most + varied experience teaches it what are the qualities to which it + principally owes the fact that it still exists, in spite of all Gods and + men, and has hitherto been victorious: these qualities it calls virtues, + and these virtues alone it develops to maturity. It does so with severity, + indeed it desires severity; every aristocratic morality is intolerant in + the education of youth, in the control of women, in the marriage customs, + in the relations of old and young, in the penal laws (which have an eye + only for the degenerating): it counts intolerance itself among the + virtues, under the name of "justice." A type with few, but very marked + features, a species of severe, warlike, wisely silent, reserved, and + reticent men (and as such, with the most delicate sensibility for the + charm and nuances of society) is thus established, unaffected by the + vicissitudes of generations; the constant struggle with uniform + UNFAVOURABLE conditions is, as already remarked, the cause of a type + becoming stable and hard. Finally, however, a happy state of things + results, the enormous tension is relaxed; there are perhaps no more + enemies among the neighbouring peoples, and the means of life, even of the + enjoyment of life, are present in superabundance. With one stroke the bond + and constraint of the old discipline severs: it is no longer regarded as + necessary, as a condition of existence—if it would continue, it can + only do so as a form of LUXURY, as an archaizing TASTE. Variations, + whether they be deviations (into the higher, finer, and rarer), or + deteriorations and monstrosities, appear suddenly on the scene in the + greatest exuberance and splendour; the individual dares to be individual + and detach himself. At this turning-point of history there manifest + themselves, side by side, and often mixed and entangled together, a + magnificent, manifold, virgin-forest-like up-growth and up-striving, a + kind of TROPICAL TEMPO in the rivalry of growth, and an extraordinary + decay and self-destruction, owing to the savagely opposing and seemingly + exploding egoisms, which strive with one another "for sun and light," and + can no longer assign any limit, restraint, or forbearance for themselves + by means of the hitherto existing morality. It was this morality itself + which piled up the strength so enormously, which bent the bow in so + threatening a manner:—it is now "out of date," it is getting "out of + date." The dangerous and disquieting point has been reached when the + greater, more manifold, more comprehensive life IS LIVED BEYOND the old + morality; the "individual" stands out, and is obliged to have recourse to + his own law-giving, his own arts and artifices for self-preservation, + self-elevation, and self-deliverance. Nothing but new "Whys," nothing but + new "Hows," no common formulas any longer, misunderstanding and disregard + in league with each other, decay, deterioration, and the loftiest desires + frightfully entangled, the genius of the race overflowing from all the + cornucopias of good and bad, a portentous simultaneousness of Spring and + Autumn, full of new charms and mysteries peculiar to the fresh, still + inexhausted, still unwearied corruption. Danger is again present, the + mother of morality, great danger; this time shifted into the individual, + into the neighbour and friend, into the street, into their own child, into + their own heart, into all the most personal and secret recesses of their + desires and volitions. What will the moral philosophers who appear at this + time have to preach? They discover, these sharp onlookers and loafers, + that the end is quickly approaching, that everything around them decays + and produces decay, that nothing will endure until the day after tomorrow, + except one species of man, the incurably MEDIOCRE. The mediocre alone have + a prospect of continuing and propagating themselves—they will be the + men of the future, the sole survivors; "be like them! become mediocre!" is + now the only morality which has still a significance, which still obtains + a hearing.—But it is difficult to preach this morality of + mediocrity! it can never avow what it is and what it desires! it has to + talk of moderation and dignity and duty and brotherly love—it will + have difficulty IN CONCEALING ITS IRONY! + </p> + <p> + 263. There is an INSTINCT FOR RANK, which more than anything else is + already the sign of a HIGH rank; there is a DELIGHT in the NUANCES of + reverence which leads one to infer noble origin and habits. The + refinement, goodness, and loftiness of a soul are put to a perilous test + when something passes by that is of the highest rank, but is not yet + protected by the awe of authority from obtrusive touches and incivilities: + something that goes its way like a living touchstone, undistinguished, + undiscovered, and tentative, perhaps voluntarily veiled and disguised. He + whose task and practice it is to investigate souls, will avail himself of + many varieties of this very art to determine the ultimate value of a soul, + the unalterable, innate order of rank to which it belongs: he will test it + by its INSTINCT FOR REVERENCE. DIFFERENCE ENGENDRE HAINE: the vulgarity of + many a nature spurts up suddenly like dirty water, when any holy vessel, + any jewel from closed shrines, any book bearing the marks of great + destiny, is brought before it; while on the other hand, there is an + involuntary silence, a hesitation of the eye, a cessation of all gestures, + by which it is indicated that a soul FEELS the nearness of what is + worthiest of respect. The way in which, on the whole, the reverence for + the BIBLE has hitherto been maintained in Europe, is perhaps the best + example of discipline and refinement of manners which Europe owes to + Christianity: books of such profoundness and supreme significance require + for their protection an external tyranny of authority, in order to acquire + the PERIOD of thousands of years which is necessary to exhaust and + unriddle them. Much has been achieved when the sentiment has been at last + instilled into the masses (the shallow-pates and the boobies of every + kind) that they are not allowed to touch everything, that there are holy + experiences before which they must take off their shoes and keep away the + unclean hand—it is almost their highest advance towards humanity. On + the contrary, in the so-called cultured classes, the believers in "modern + ideas," nothing is perhaps so repulsive as their lack of shame, the easy + insolence of eye and hand with which they touch, taste, and finger + everything; and it is possible that even yet there is more RELATIVE + nobility of taste, and more tact for reverence among the people, among the + lower classes of the people, especially among peasants, than among the + newspaper-reading DEMIMONDE of intellect, the cultured class. + </p> + <p> + 264. It cannot be effaced from a man's soul what his ancestors have + preferably and most constantly done: whether they were perhaps diligent + economizers attached to a desk and a cash-box, modest and citizen-like in + their desires, modest also in their virtues; or whether they were + accustomed to commanding from morning till night, fond of rude pleasures + and probably of still ruder duties and responsibilities; or whether, + finally, at one time or another, they have sacrificed old privileges of + birth and possession, in order to live wholly for their faith—for + their "God,"—as men of an inexorable and sensitive conscience, which + blushes at every compromise. It is quite impossible for a man NOT to have + the qualities and predilections of his parents and ancestors in his + constitution, whatever appearances may suggest to the contrary. This is + the problem of race. Granted that one knows something of the parents, it + is admissible to draw a conclusion about the child: any kind of offensive + incontinence, any kind of sordid envy, or of clumsy self-vaunting—the + three things which together have constituted the genuine plebeian type in + all times—such must pass over to the child, as surely as bad blood; + and with the help of the best education and culture one will only succeed + in DECEIVING with regard to such heredity.—And what else does + education and culture try to do nowadays! In our very democratic, or + rather, very plebeian age, "education" and "culture" MUST be essentially + the art of deceiving—deceiving with regard to origin, with regard to + the inherited plebeianism in body and soul. An educator who nowadays + preached truthfulness above everything else, and called out constantly to + his pupils: "Be true! Be natural! Show yourselves as you are!"—even + such a virtuous and sincere ass would learn in a short time to have + recourse to the FURCA of Horace, NATURAM EXPELLERE: with what results? + "Plebeianism" USQUE RECURRET. [FOOTNOTE: Horace's "Epistles," I. x. 24.] + </p> + <p> + 265. At the risk of displeasing innocent ears, I submit that egoism + belongs to the essence of a noble soul, I mean the unalterable belief that + to a being such as "we," other beings must naturally be in subjection, and + have to sacrifice themselves. The noble soul accepts the fact of his + egoism without question, and also without consciousness of harshness, + constraint, or arbitrariness therein, but rather as something that may + have its basis in the primary law of things:—if he sought a + designation for it he would say: "It is justice itself." He acknowledges + under certain circumstances, which made him hesitate at first, that there + are other equally privileged ones; as soon as he has settled this question + of rank, he moves among those equals and equally privileged ones with the + same assurance, as regards modesty and delicate respect, which he enjoys + in intercourse with himself—in accordance with an innate heavenly + mechanism which all the stars understand. It is an ADDITIONAL instance of + his egoism, this artfulness and self-limitation in intercourse with his + equals—every star is a similar egoist; he honours HIMSELF in them, + and in the rights which he concedes to them, he has no doubt that the + exchange of honours and rights, as the ESSENCE of all intercourse, belongs + also to the natural condition of things. The noble soul gives as he takes, + prompted by the passionate and sensitive instinct of requital, which is at + the root of his nature. The notion of "favour" has, INTER PARES, neither + significance nor good repute; there may be a sublime way of letting gifts + as it were light upon one from above, and of drinking them thirstily like + dew-drops; but for those arts and displays the noble soul has no aptitude. + His egoism hinders him here: in general, he looks "aloft" unwillingly—he + looks either FORWARD, horizontally and deliberately, or downwards—HE + KNOWS THAT HE IS ON A HEIGHT. + </p> + <p> + 266. "One can only truly esteem him who does not LOOK OUT FOR himself."—Goethe + to Rath Schlosser. + </p> + <p> + 267. The Chinese have a proverb which mothers even teach their children: + "SIAO-SIN" ("MAKE THY HEART SMALL"). This is the essentially fundamental + tendency in latter-day civilizations. I have no doubt that an ancient + Greek, also, would first of all remark the self-dwarfing in us Europeans + of today—in this respect alone we should immediately be + "distasteful" to him. + </p> + <p> + 268. 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. In all souls a + like number of frequently recurring experiences have gained the upper hand + over those occurring more rarely: about these matters people understand + one another rapidly and always more rapidly—the history of language + is the history of a process of abbreviation; on the basis of this quick + comprehension people always unite closer and closer. The greater the + danger, the greater is the need of agreeing quickly and readily about what + is necessary; not to misunderstand one another in danger—that is + what cannot at all be dispensed with in intercourse. Also in all loves and + friendships one has the experience that nothing of the kind continues when + the discovery has been made that in using the same words, one of the two + parties has feelings, thoughts, intuitions, wishes, or fears different + from those of the other. (The fear of the "eternal misunderstanding": that + is the good genius which so often keeps persons of different sexes from + too hasty attachments, to which sense and heart prompt them—and NOT + some Schopenhauerian "genius of the species"!) Whichever groups of + sensations within a soul awaken most readily, begin to speak, and give the + word of command—these decide as to the general order of rank of its + values, and determine ultimately its list of desirable things. A man's + estimates of value betray something of the STRUCTURE of his soul, and + wherein it sees its conditions of life, its intrinsic needs. Supposing now + that necessity has from all time drawn together only such men as could + express similar requirements and similar experiences by similar symbols, + it results on the whole that the easy COMMUNICABILITY of need, which + implies ultimately the undergoing only of average and COMMON experiences, + must have been the most potent of all the forces which have hitherto + operated upon mankind. The more similar, the more ordinary people, have + always had and are still having the advantage; the more select, more + refined, more unique, and difficultly comprehensible, are liable to stand + alone; they succumb to accidents in their isolation, and seldom propagate + themselves. One must appeal to immense opposing forces, in order to thwart + this natural, all-too-natural PROGRESSUS IN SIMILE, the evolution of man + to the similar, the ordinary, the average, the gregarious—to the + IGNOBLE—! + </p> + <p> + 269. The more a psychologist—a born, an unavoidable psychologist and + soul-diviner—turns his attention to the more select cases and + individuals, the greater is his danger of being suffocated by sympathy: he + NEEDS sternness and cheerfulness more than any other man. For the + corruption, the ruination of higher men, of the more unusually constituted + souls, is in fact, the rule: it is dreadful to have such a rule always + before one's eyes. The manifold torment of the psychologist who has + discovered this ruination, who discovers once, and then discovers ALMOST + repeatedly throughout all history, this universal inner "desperateness" of + higher men, this eternal "too late!" in every sense—may perhaps one + day be the cause of his turning with bitterness against his own lot, and + of his making an attempt at self-destruction—of his "going to ruin" + himself. One may perceive in almost every psychologist a tell-tale + inclination for delightful intercourse with commonplace and well-ordered + men; the fact is thereby disclosed that he always requires healing, that + he needs a sort of flight and forgetfulness, away from what his insight + and incisiveness—from what his "business"—has laid upon his + conscience. The fear of his memory is peculiar to him. He is easily + silenced by the judgment of others; he hears with unmoved countenance how + people honour, admire, love, and glorify, where he has PERCEIVED—or + he even conceals his silence by expressly assenting to some plausible + opinion. Perhaps the paradox of his situation becomes so dreadful that, + precisely where he has learnt GREAT SYMPATHY, together with great + CONTEMPT, the multitude, the educated, and the visionaries, have on their + part learnt great reverence—reverence for "great men" and marvelous + animals, for the sake of whom one blesses and honours the fatherland, the + earth, the dignity of mankind, and one's own self, to whom one points the + young, and in view of whom one educates them. And who knows but in all + great instances hitherto just the same happened: that the multitude + worshipped a God, and that the "God" was only a poor sacrificial animal! + SUCCESS has always been the greatest liar—and the "work" itself is a + success; the great statesman, the conqueror, the discoverer, are disguised + in their creations until they are unrecognizable; the "work" of the + artist, of the philosopher, only invents him who has created it, is + REPUTED to have created it; the "great men," as they are reverenced, are + poor little fictions composed afterwards; in the world of historical + values spurious coinage PREVAILS. Those great poets, for example, such as + Byron, Musset, Poe, Leopardi, Kleist, Gogol (I do not venture to mention + much greater names, but I have them in my mind), as they now appear, and + were perhaps obliged to be: men of the moment, enthusiastic, sensuous, and + childish, light-minded and impulsive in their trust and distrust; with + souls in which usually some flaw has to be concealed; often taking revenge + with their works for an internal defilement, often seeking forgetfulness + in their soaring from a too true memory, often lost in the mud and almost + in love with it, until they become like the Will-o'-the-Wisps around the + swamps, and PRETEND TO BE stars—the people then call them idealists,—often + struggling with protracted disgust, with an ever-reappearing phantom of + disbelief, which makes them cold, and obliges them to languish for GLORIA + and devour "faith as it is" out of the hands of intoxicated adulators:—what + a TORMENT these great artists are and the so-called higher men in general, + to him who has once found them out! It is thus conceivable that it is just + from woman—who is clairvoyant in the world of suffering, and also + unfortunately eager to help and save to an extent far beyond her powers—that + THEY have learnt so readily those outbreaks of boundless devoted SYMPATHY, + which the multitude, above all the reverent multitude, do not understand, + and overwhelm with prying and self-gratifying interpretations. This + sympathizing invariably deceives itself as to its power; woman would like + to believe that love can do EVERYTHING—it is the SUPERSTITION + peculiar to her. Alas, he who knows the heart finds out how poor, + helpless, pretentious, and blundering even the best and deepest love is—he + finds that it rather DESTROYS than saves!—It is possible that under + the holy fable and travesty of the life of Jesus there is hidden one of + the most painful cases of the martyrdom of KNOWLEDGE ABOUT LOVE: the + martyrdom of the most innocent and most craving heart, that never had + enough of any human love, that DEMANDED love, that demanded inexorably and + frantically to be loved and nothing else, with terrible outbursts against + those who refused him their love; the story of a poor soul insatiated and + insatiable in love, that had to invent hell to send thither those who + WOULD NOT love him—and that at last, enlightened about human love, + had to invent a God who is entire love, entire CAPACITY for love—who + takes pity on human love, because it is so paltry, so ignorant! He who has + such sentiments, he who has such KNOWLEDGE about love—SEEKS for + death!—But why should one deal with such painful matters? Provided, + of course, that one is not obliged to do so. + </p> + <p> + 270. The intellectual haughtiness and loathing of every man who has + suffered deeply—it almost determines the order of rank HOW deeply + men can suffer—the chilling certainty, with which he is thoroughly + imbued and coloured, that by virtue of his suffering he KNOWS MORE than + the shrewdest and wisest can ever know, that he has been familiar with, + and "at home" in, many distant, dreadful worlds of which "YOU know + nothing"!—this silent intellectual haughtiness of the sufferer, this + pride of the elect of knowledge, of the "initiated," of the almost + sacrificed, finds all forms of disguise necessary to protect itself from + contact with officious and sympathizing hands, and in general from all + that is not its equal in suffering. Profound suffering makes noble: it + separates.—One of the most refined forms of disguise is Epicurism, + along with a certain ostentatious boldness of taste, which takes suffering + lightly, and puts itself on the defensive against all that is sorrowful + and profound. They are "gay men" who make use of gaiety, because they are + misunderstood on account of it—they WISH to be misunderstood. There + are "scientific minds" who make use of science, because it gives a gay + appearance, and because scientificness leads to the conclusion that a + person is superficial—they WISH to mislead to a false conclusion. + There are free insolent minds which would fain conceal and deny that they + are broken, proud, incurable hearts (the cynicism of Hamlet—the case + of Galiani); and occasionally folly itself is the mask of an unfortunate + OVER-ASSURED knowledge.—From which it follows that it is the part of + a more refined humanity to have reverence "for the mask," and not to make + use of psychology and curiosity in the wrong place. + </p> + <p> + 271. That which separates two men most profoundly is a different sense and + grade of purity. What does it matter about all their honesty and + reciprocal usefulness, what does it matter about all their mutual + good-will: the fact still remains—they "cannot smell each other!" + The highest instinct for purity places him who is affected with it in the + most extraordinary and dangerous isolation, as a saint: for it is just + holiness—the highest spiritualization of the instinct in question. + Any kind of cognizance of an indescribable excess in the joy of the bath, + any kind of ardour or thirst which perpetually impels the soul out of + night into the morning, and out of gloom, out of "affliction" into + clearness, brightness, depth, and refinement:—just as much as such a + tendency DISTINGUISHES—it is a noble tendency—it also + SEPARATES.—The pity of the saint is pity for the FILTH of the human, + all-too-human. And there are grades and heights where pity itself is + regarded by him as impurity, as filth. + </p> + <p> + 272. Signs of nobility: never to think of lowering our duties to the rank + of duties for everybody; to be unwilling to renounce or to share our + responsibilities; to count our prerogatives, and the exercise of them, + among our DUTIES. + </p> + <p> + 273. A man who strives after great things, looks upon every one whom he + encounters on his way either as a means of advance, or a delay and + hindrance—or as a temporary resting-place. His peculiar lofty BOUNTY + to his fellow-men is only possible when he attains his elevation and + dominates. Impatience, and the consciousness of being always condemned to + comedy up to that time—for even strife is a comedy, and conceals the + end, as every means does—spoil all intercourse for him; this kind of + man is acquainted with solitude, and what is most poisonous in it. + </p> + <p> + 274. THE PROBLEM OF THOSE WHO WAIT.—Happy chances are necessary, and + many incalculable elements, in order that a higher man in whom the + solution of a problem is dormant, may yet take action, or "break forth," + as one might say—at the right moment. On an average it DOES NOT + happen; and in all corners of the earth there are waiting ones sitting who + hardly know to what extent they are waiting, and still less that they wait + in vain. Occasionally, too, the waking call comes too late—the + chance which gives "permission" to take action—when their best + youth, and strength for action have been used up in sitting still; and how + many a one, just as he "sprang up," has found with horror that his limbs + are benumbed and his spirits are now too heavy! "It is too late," he has + said to himself—and has become self-distrustful and henceforth for + ever useless.—In the domain of genius, may not the "Raphael without + hands" (taking the expression in its widest sense) perhaps not be the + exception, but the rule?—Perhaps genius is by no means so rare: but + rather the five hundred HANDS which it requires in order to tyrannize over + the [GREEK INSERTED HERE], "the right time"—in order to take chance + by the forelock! + </p> + <p> + 275. He who does not WISH to see the height of a man, looks all the more + sharply at what is low in him, and in the foreground—and thereby + betrays himself. + </p> + <p> + 276. In all kinds of injury and loss the lower and coarser soul is better + off than the nobler soul: the dangers of the latter must be greater, the + probability that it will come to grief and perish is in fact immense, + considering the multiplicity of the conditions of its existence.—In + a lizard a finger grows again which has been lost; not so in man.— + </p> + <p> + 277. It is too bad! Always the old story! When a man has finished building + his house, he finds that he has learnt unawares something which he OUGHT + absolutely to have known before he—began to build. The eternal, + fatal "Too late!" The melancholia of everything COMPLETED—! + </p> + <p> + 278.—Wanderer, who art thou? I see thee follow thy path without + scorn, without love, with unfathomable eyes, wet and sad as a plummet + which has returned to the light insatiated out of every depth—what + did it seek down there?—with a bosom that never sighs, with lips + that conceal their loathing, with a hand which only slowly grasps: who art + thou? what hast thou done? Rest thee here: this place has hospitality for + every one—refresh thyself! And whoever thou art, what is it that now + pleases thee? What will serve to refresh thee? Only name it, whatever I + have I offer thee! "To refresh me? To refresh me? Oh, thou prying one, + what sayest thou! But give me, I pray thee—-" What? what? Speak out! + "Another mask! A second mask!" + </p> + <p> + 279. Men of profound sadness betray themselves when they are happy: they + have a mode of seizing upon happiness as though they would choke and + strangle it, out of jealousy—ah, they know only too well that it + will flee from them! + </p> + <p> + 280. "Bad! Bad! What? Does he not—go back?" Yes! But you + misunderstand him when you complain about it. He goes back like every one + who is about to make a great spring. + </p> + <p> + 281.—"Will people believe it of me? But I insist that they believe + it of me: I have always thought very unsatisfactorily of myself and about + myself, only in very rare cases, only compulsorily, always without delight + in 'the subject,' ready to digress from 'myself,' and always without faith + in the result, owing to an unconquerable distrust of the POSSIBILITY of + self-knowledge, which has led me so far as to feel a CONTRADICTIO IN + ADJECTO even in the idea of 'direct knowledge' which theorists allow + themselves:—this matter of fact is almost the most certain thing I + know about myself. There must be a sort of repugnance in me to BELIEVE + anything definite about myself.—Is there perhaps some enigma + therein? Probably; but fortunately nothing for my own teeth.—Perhaps + it betrays the species to which I belong?—but not to myself, as is + sufficiently agreeable to me." + </p> + <p> + 282.—"But what has happened to you?"—"I do not know," he said, + hesitatingly; "perhaps the Harpies have flown over my table."—It + sometimes happens nowadays that a gentle, sober, retiring man becomes + suddenly mad, breaks the plates, upsets the table, shrieks, raves, and + shocks everybody—and finally withdraws, ashamed, and raging at + himself—whither? for what purpose? To famish apart? To suffocate + with his memories?—To him who has the desires of a lofty and dainty + soul, and only seldom finds his table laid and his food prepared, the + danger will always be great—nowadays, however, it is extraordinarily + so. Thrown into the midst of a noisy and plebeian age, with which he does + not like to eat out of the same dish, he may readily perish of hunger and + thirst—or, should he nevertheless finally "fall to," of sudden + nausea.—We have probably all sat at tables to which we did not + belong; and precisely the most spiritual of us, who are most difficult to + nourish, know the dangerous DYSPEPSIA which originates from a sudden + insight and disillusionment about our food and our messmates—the + AFTER-DINNER NAUSEA. + </p> + <p> + 283. If one wishes to praise at all, it is a delicate and at the same time + a noble self-control, to praise only where one DOES NOT agree—otherwise + in fact one would praise oneself, which is contrary to good taste:—a + self-control, to be sure, which offers excellent opportunity and + provocation to constant MISUNDERSTANDING. To be able to allow oneself this + veritable luxury of taste and morality, one must not live among + intellectual imbeciles, but rather among men whose misunderstandings and + mistakes amuse by their refinement—or one will have to pay dearly + for it!—"He praises me, THEREFORE he acknowledges me to be right"—this + asinine method of inference spoils half of the life of us recluses, for it + brings the asses into our neighbourhood and friendship. + </p> + <p> + 284. To live in a vast and proud tranquility; always beyond... To have, or + not to have, one's emotions, one's For and Against, according to choice; + to lower oneself to them for hours; to SEAT oneself on them as upon + horses, and often as upon asses:—for one must know how to make use + of their stupidity as well as of their fire. To conserve one's three + hundred foregrounds; also one's black spectacles: for there are + circumstances when nobody must look into our eyes, still less into our + "motives." And to choose for company that roguish and cheerful vice, + politeness. And to remain master of one's four virtues, courage, insight, + sympathy, and solitude. For solitude is a virtue with us, as a sublime + bent and bias to purity, which divines that in the contact of man and man—"in + society"—it must be unavoidably impure. All society makes one + somehow, somewhere, or sometime—"commonplace." + </p> + <p> + 285. The greatest events and thoughts—the greatest thoughts, + however, are the greatest events—are longest in being comprehended: + the generations which are contemporary with them do not EXPERIENCE such + events—they live past them. Something happens there as in the realm + of stars. The light of the furthest stars is longest in reaching man; and + before it has arrived man DENIES—that there are stars there. "How + many centuries does a mind require to be understood?"—that is also a + standard, one also makes a gradation of rank and an etiquette therewith, + such as is necessary for mind and for star. + </p> + <p> + 286. "Here is the prospect free, the mind exalted." [FOOTNOTE: Goethe's + "Faust," Part II, Act V. The words of Dr. Marianus.]—But there is a + reverse kind of man, who is also upon a height, and has also a free + prospect—but looks DOWNWARDS. + </p> + <p> + 287. What is noble? What does the word "noble" still mean for us nowadays? + How does the noble man betray himself, how is he recognized under this + heavy overcast sky of the commencing plebeianism, by which everything is + rendered opaque and leaden?—It is not his actions which establish + his claim—actions are always ambiguous, always inscrutable; neither + is it his "works." One finds nowadays among artists and scholars plenty of + those who betray by their works that a profound longing for nobleness + impels them; but this very NEED of nobleness is radically different from + the needs of the noble soul itself, and is in fact the eloquent and + dangerous sign of the lack thereof. It is not the works, but the BELIEF + which is here decisive and determines the order of rank—to employ + once more an old religious formula with a new and deeper meaning—it + is some fundamental certainty which a noble soul has about itself, + something which is not to be sought, is not to be found, and perhaps, + also, is not to be lost.—THE NOBLE SOUL HAS REVERENCE FOR ITSELF.— + </p> + <p> + 288. There are men who are unavoidably intellectual, let them turn and + twist themselves as they will, and hold their hands before their + treacherous eyes—as though the hand were not a betrayer; it always + comes out at last that they have something which they hide—namely, + intellect. One of the subtlest means of deceiving, at least as long as + possible, and of successfully representing oneself to be stupider than one + really is—which in everyday life is often as desirable as an + umbrella,—is called ENTHUSIASM, including what belongs to it, for + instance, virtue. For as Galiani said, who was obliged to know it: VERTU + EST ENTHOUSIASME. + </p> + <p> + 289. In the writings of a recluse one always hears something of the echo + of the wilderness, something of the murmuring tones and timid vigilance of + solitude; in his strongest words, even in his cry itself, there sounds a + new and more dangerous kind of silence, of concealment. He who has sat day + and night, from year's end to year's end, alone with his soul in familiar + discord and discourse, he who has become a cave-bear, or a + treasure-seeker, or a treasure-guardian and dragon in his cave—it + may be a labyrinth, but can also be a gold-mine—his ideas themselves + eventually acquire a twilight-colour of their own, and an odour, as much + of the depth as of the mould, something uncommunicative and repulsive, + which blows chilly upon every passer-by. The recluse does not believe that + a philosopher—supposing that a philosopher has always in the first + place been a recluse—ever expressed his actual and ultimate opinions + in books: are not books written precisely to hide what is in us?—indeed, + he will doubt whether a philosopher CAN have "ultimate and actual" + opinions at all; whether behind every cave in him there is not, and must + necessarily be, a still deeper cave: an ampler, stranger, richer world + beyond the surface, an abyss behind every bottom, beneath every + "foundation." Every philosophy is a foreground philosophy—this is a + recluse's verdict: "There is something arbitrary in the fact that the + PHILOSOPHER came to a stand here, took a retrospect, and looked around; + that he HERE laid his spade aside and did not dig any deeper—there + is also something suspicious in it." Every philosophy also CONCEALS a + philosophy; every opinion is also a LURKING-PLACE, every word is also a + MASK. + </p> + <p> + 290. Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being + misunderstood. The latter perhaps wounds his vanity; but the former wounds + his heart, his sympathy, which always says: "Ah, why would you also have + as hard a time of it as I have?" + </p> + <p> + 291. Man, a COMPLEX, mendacious, artful, and inscrutable animal, uncanny + to the other animals by his artifice and sagacity, rather than by his + strength, has invented the good conscience in order finally to enjoy his + soul as something SIMPLE; and the whole of morality is a long, audacious + falsification, by virtue of which generally enjoyment at the sight of the + soul becomes possible. From this point of view there is perhaps much more + in the conception of "art" than is generally believed. + </p> + <p> + 292. A philosopher: that is a man who constantly experiences, sees, hears, + suspects, hopes, and dreams extraordinary things; who is struck by his own + thoughts as if they came from the outside, from above and below, as a + species of events and lightning-flashes PECULIAR TO HIM; who is perhaps + himself a storm pregnant with new lightnings; a portentous man, around + whom there is always rumbling and mumbling and gaping and something + uncanny going on. A philosopher: alas, a being who often runs away from + himself, is often afraid of himself—but whose curiosity always makes + him "come to himself" again. + </p> + <p> + 293. A man who says: "I like that, I take it for my own, and mean to guard + and protect it from every one"; a man who can conduct a case, carry out a + resolution, remain true to an opinion, keep hold of a woman, punish and + overthrow insolence; a man who has his indignation and his sword, and to + whom the weak, the suffering, the oppressed, and even the animals + willingly submit and naturally belong; in short, a man who is a MASTER by + nature—when such a man has sympathy, well! THAT sympathy has value! + But of what account is the sympathy of those who suffer! Or of those even + who preach sympathy! There is nowadays, throughout almost the whole of + Europe, a sickly irritability and sensitiveness towards pain, and also a + repulsive irrestrainableness in complaining, an effeminizing, which, with + the aid of religion and philosophical nonsense, seeks to deck itself out + as something superior—there is a regular cult of suffering. The + UNMANLINESS of that which is called "sympathy" by such groups of + visionaries, is always, I believe, the first thing that strikes the eye.—One + must resolutely and radically taboo this latest form of bad taste; and + finally I wish people to put the good amulet, "GAI SABER" ("gay science," + in ordinary language), on heart and neck, as a protection against it. + </p> + <p> + 294. THE OLYMPIAN VICE.—Despite the philosopher who, as a genuine + Englishman, tried to bring laughter into bad repute in all thinking minds—"Laughing + is a bad infirmity of human nature, which every thinking mind will strive + to overcome" (Hobbes),—I would even allow myself to rank + philosophers according to the quality of their laughing—up to those + who are capable of GOLDEN laughter. And supposing that Gods also + philosophize, which I am strongly inclined to believe, owing to many + reasons—I have no doubt that they also know how to laugh thereby in + an overman-like and new fashion—and at the expense of all serious + things! Gods are fond of ridicule: it seems that they cannot refrain from + laughter even in holy matters. + </p> + <p> + 295. The genius of the heart, as that great mysterious one possesses it, + the tempter-god and born rat-catcher of consciences, whose voice can + descend into the nether-world of every soul, who neither speaks a word nor + casts a glance in which there may not be some motive or touch of + allurement, to whose perfection it pertains that he knows how to appear,—not + as he is, but in a guise which acts as an ADDITIONAL constraint on his + followers to press ever closer to him, to follow him more cordially and + thoroughly;—the genius of the heart, which imposes silence and + attention on everything loud and self-conceited, which smoothes rough + souls and makes them taste a new longing—to lie placid as a mirror, + that the deep heavens may be reflected in them;—the genius of the + heart, which teaches the clumsy and too hasty hand to hesitate, and to + grasp more delicately; which scents the hidden and forgotten treasure, the + drop of goodness and sweet spirituality under thick dark ice, and is a + divining-rod for every grain of gold, long buried and imprisoned in mud + and sand; the genius of the heart, from contact with which every one goes + away richer; not favoured or surprised, not as though gratified and + oppressed by the good things of others; but richer in himself, newer than + before, broken up, blown upon, and sounded by a thawing wind; more + uncertain, perhaps, more delicate, more fragile, more bruised, but full of + hopes which as yet lack names, full of a new will and current, full of a + new ill-will and counter-current... but what am I doing, my friends? Of + whom am I talking to you? Have I forgotten myself so far that I have not + even told you his name? Unless it be that you have already divined of your + own accord who this questionable God and spirit is, that wishes to be + PRAISED in such a manner? For, as it happens to every one who from + childhood onward has always been on his legs, and in foreign lands, I have + also encountered on my path many strange and dangerous spirits; above all, + however, and again and again, the one of whom I have just spoken: in fact, + no less a personage than the God DIONYSUS, the great equivocator and + tempter, to whom, as you know, I once offered in all secrecy and reverence + my first-fruits—the last, as it seems to me, who has offered a + SACRIFICE to him, for I have found no one who could understand what I was + then doing. In the meantime, however, I have learned much, far too much, + about the philosophy of this God, and, as I said, from mouth to mouth—I, + the last disciple and initiate of the God Dionysus: and perhaps I might at + last begin to give you, my friends, as far as I am allowed, a little taste + of this philosophy? In a hushed voice, as is but seemly: for it has to do + with much that is secret, new, strange, wonderful, and uncanny. The very + fact that Dionysus is a philosopher, and that therefore Gods also + philosophize, seems to me a novelty which is not unensnaring, and might + perhaps arouse suspicion precisely among philosophers;—among you, my + friends, there is less to be said against it, except that it comes too + late and not at the right time; for, as it has been disclosed to me, you + are loth nowadays to believe in God and gods. It may happen, too, that in + the frankness of my story I must go further than is agreeable to the + strict usages of your ears? Certainly the God in question went further, + very much further, in such dialogues, and was always many paces ahead of + me... Indeed, if it were allowed, I should have to give him, according to + human usage, fine ceremonious tides of lustre and merit, I should have to + extol his courage as investigator and discoverer, his fearless honesty, + truthfulness, and love of wisdom. But such a God does not know what to do + with all that respectable trumpery and pomp. "Keep that," he would say, + "for thyself and those like thee, and whoever else require it! I—have + no reason to cover my nakedness!" One suspects that this kind of divinity + and philosopher perhaps lacks shame?—He once said: "Under certain + circumstances I love mankind"—and referred thereby to Ariadne, who + was present; "in my opinion man is an agreeable, brave, inventive animal, + that has not his equal upon earth, he makes his way even through all + labyrinths. I like man, and often think how I can still further advance + him, and make him stronger, more evil, and more profound."—"Stronger, + more evil, and more profound?" I asked in horror. "Yes," he said again, + "stronger, more evil, and more profound; also more beautiful"—and + thereby the tempter-god smiled with his halcyon smile, as though he had + just paid some charming compliment. One here sees at once that it is not + only shame that this divinity lacks;—and in general there are good + grounds for supposing that in some things the Gods could all of them come + to us men for instruction. We men are—more human.— + </p> + <p> + 296. Alas! what are you, after all, my written and painted thoughts! Not + long ago you were so variegated, young and malicious, so full of thorns + and secret spices, that you made me sneeze and laugh—and now? You + have already doffed your novelty, and some of you, I fear, are ready to + become truths, so immortal do they look, so pathetically honest, so + tedious! And was it ever otherwise? What then do we write and paint, we + mandarins with Chinese brush, we immortalisers of things which LEND + themselves to writing, what are we alone capable of painting? Alas, only + that which is just about to fade and begins to lose its odour! Alas, only + exhausted and departing storms and belated yellow sentiments! Alas, only + birds strayed and fatigued by flight, which now let themselves be captured + with the hand—with OUR hand! We immortalize what cannot live and fly + much longer, things only which are exhausted and mellow! And it is only + for your AFTERNOON, you, my written and painted thoughts, for which alone + I have colours, many colours, perhaps, many variegated softenings, and + fifty yellows and browns and greens and reds;—but nobody will divine + thereby how ye looked in your morning, you sudden sparks and marvels of my + solitude, you, my old, beloved—EVIL thoughts! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FROM THE HEIGHTS + </h2> + <h3> + By F W Nietzsche + </h3> + <h4> + Translated by L. A. Magnus + </h4> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 1. + + MIDDAY of Life! Oh, season of delight! + My summer's park! + Uneaseful joy to look, to lurk, to hark— + I peer for friends, am ready day and night,— + Where linger ye, my friends? The time is right! + + 2. + + Is not the glacier's grey today for you + Rose-garlanded? + The brooklet seeks you, wind, cloud, with longing thread + And thrust themselves yet higher to the blue, + To spy for you from farthest eagle's view. + + 3. + + My table was spread out for you on high— + Who dwelleth so + Star-near, so near the grisly pit below?— + My realm—what realm hath wider boundary? + My honey—who hath sipped its fragrancy? + + 4. + + Friends, ye are there! Woe me,—yet I am not + He whom ye seek? + Ye stare and stop—better your wrath could speak! + I am not I? Hand, gait, face, changed? And what + I am, to you my friends, now am I not? + + 5. + + Am I an other? Strange am I to Me? + Yet from Me sprung? + A wrestler, by himself too oft self-wrung? + Hindering too oft my own self's potency, + Wounded and hampered by self-victory? + + 6. + + I sought where-so the wind blows keenest. There + I learned to dwell + Where no man dwells, on lonesome ice-lorn fell, + And unlearned Man and God and curse and prayer? + Became a ghost haunting the glaciers bare? + + 7. + + Ye, my old friends! Look! Ye turn pale, filled o'er + With love and fear! + Go! Yet not in wrath. Ye could ne'er live here. + Here in the farthest realm of ice and scaur, + A huntsman must one be, like chamois soar. + + 8. + + An evil huntsman was I? See how taut + My bow was bent! + Strongest was he by whom such bolt were sent— + Woe now! That arrow is with peril fraught, + Perilous as none.—Have yon safe home ye sought! + + 9. + + Ye go! Thou didst endure enough, oh, heart;— + Strong was thy hope; + Unto new friends thy portals widely ope, + Let old ones be. Bid memory depart! + Wast thou young then, now—better young thou art! + + 10. + + What linked us once together, one hope's tie— + (Who now doth con + Those lines, now fading, Love once wrote thereon?)— + Is like a parchment, which the hand is shy + To touch—like crackling leaves, all seared, all dry. + + 11. + + Oh! Friends no more! They are—what name for those?— + Friends' phantom-flight + Knocking at my heart's window-pane at night, + Gazing on me, that speaks "We were" and goes,— + Oh, withered words, once fragrant as the rose! + + 12. + + Pinings of youth that might not understand! + For which I pined, + Which I deemed changed with me, kin of my kind: + But they grew old, and thus were doomed and banned: + None but new kith are native of my land! + + 13. + + Midday of life! My second youth's delight! + My summer's park! + Unrestful joy to long, to lurk, to hark! + I peer for friends!—am ready day and night, + For my new friends. Come! Come! The time is right! + + 14. + + This song is done,—the sweet sad cry of rue + Sang out its end; + A wizard wrought it, he the timely friend, + The midday-friend,—no, do not ask me who; + At midday 'twas, when one became as two. + + 15. + + We keep our Feast of Feasts, sure of our bourne, + Our aims self-same: + The Guest of Guests, friend Zarathustra, came! + The world now laughs, the grisly veil was torn, + And Light and Dark were one that wedding-morn. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL *** + +***** This file should be named 4363-h.htm or 4363-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/6/4363/ + +Produced by John Mamoun, Charles Franks, David Widger and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> |