Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Untimely MeditationsfOIwards or backwards, and thus assume fo r one anoth r the characterof chance, and so, quite apart from the influence of the occurrencesof nature, make it impossible to establish any all-embracingnecessity prevailing throughout all events.' But it is exactly this kindof necessity that is supposed to be brought to light as the result ofthat 'objective' view of things! This is a presupposition which, ifenunciated by an historian as an article of faith, would assume a verystrange shape; Schiller is quite clear as to the purely subjectivenature of this assumption when he says of the historian: 'onephenomenon after another begins to fo rsake the realm of blindchance and limitless freedom and to take its place as a fitting memberwhich whole is, of course, present only in hisof a harmonious whole -imagination', But what is one to make of this assertion, hovering as itdoes between tautology and nonsense, by one celebrated historicalvirtuoso: 'the fact of the matter is that all human actions are subjectto the mighty and irresistible direction of the course of things,though it may often not be apparent'? Such a proposition is not, as itmight perhaps seem, enigmatic wisdom in the ' shape of plainfoolishness, as when Goethe's court gardener says 'Nature may letitself be forced but it cannot be compelled', or in the fairgroundplacard reported by Swift: 'Here can be seen the biggest elephant inthe world except itself.' For how are human actions and the course ofthings to be distinguished from one another? It seems to me ingeneral that historians such as the one we have just quoted cease toinstruct as soon as they begin to generalize and then reveal the weaknessthey feel in the dark obscurities they employ, In other sciencesthe generalizations are the most important thing, inasmuch as theycontain the laws: but if such propositions as that quoted are intendedto count as laws, then one must object that in that case the work ofthe historiographer is wasted; for whatever truth remains in suchpropositions after the obscurities referred to have been removed issomething completely fa miliar and even trivial; for it will be obviousto everyone through every kind of experience down to the verysmallest. To incommode whole nations and expend years ofwearisome toil on it, however, is merely to pile experiment uponexperiment long after the law intended to be extracted from themhas been amply demonstrated: a senseless excess of experimentationwhich has in fact plagued the natural sciences since the time ofZollner. If the value of a drama lay solely in its conclusion, the dramaitself would be merely the most wearisome and indirect way possibleof reaching this goal; and so I hope that the significance of history92