Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

On the uses and disadvantages of history for lifetruth and a lord in the universal empire of history. If already as a boyhe was 'ripe', now he is over-ripe: one needs only to shake him andwisdom comes clattering down into one's lap; but the wisdom is rottenand there is a worm in every apple. Believe me: if men are to labourand be useful in the factory of science before they are mature,science will soon be ruined just as effectively as the slaves th usemployed too early. I regret the need to make use of the jargon of theslave-owner and employer of labour to describe things which inthemselves ought to be thought of as free of utility and raised abovethe necessities oflife; but the words 'factory' , 'labour market', 'supply','making profitable', and whatever auxiliary verbs egoism nowemploys, come unbidden to the lips when one wishes to describe themost recent generation of men of learning. Sterling mediocritygrows even more mediocre, science ever more profitable in theeconomic sense. Actually our most recent men of learning are wiseon one point, and on that they are, I admit, wiser than anyone hasever been, but on all other points they are infinitely different - to usea cautious expression - from any man of learning of the old stamp.Th is notwithstanding, they demand honours and advantages fo rthemselves, as though the state and public opinion were duty boundto accept the new coins as being of equal value to the old. The cartershave made a contract with one another and by restamping themselvesas geniuses have decreed that genius is superfluous; probablya later age will see that their buildings are carted together, not constructed.Those who unwearyingly repeat the modern call to battleand sacrifice 'Division of labour! Fall in!' must for once be told inround and plain terms: if you want to push science forward as quicklyas possible you will succeed in destroying it as quickly as possible;just as a hen perishes ifit is compelled to lay eggs too quickly. Sciencehas certainly been pushed fo rward at an astonishing speed over thepast decades: but just look at the men of learning, the exhaustedhens. They are in truth not ' harmonious' natures; they can only cacklemore than ever because they lay eggs more often: though the eggs, tobe sure, have got smaller and smaller (though the books have gotthicker and thicker) . As the final and most natural outcome we havethe universally admired 'popularization' (together with 'feminization'and 'infantization') of science, that is to say the infamous trimmingof the coat of science to fit the body of the 'general public' - toemploy a cutting expression for an activity suited to tailors. Goethesaw this as a misuse of science and demanded that the sciencesshould affect the outside world only through enhanced practical99