10.07.2015 Views

Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>Untimely</strong> <strong>Meditations</strong>Iithat <strong>the</strong>y are th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g more <strong>of</strong> science than <strong>the</strong>y. are <strong>of</strong> mank<strong>in</strong>d, that<strong>the</strong>y have been tra<strong>in</strong>ed to sacrifice <strong>the</strong>mselves to it like a legion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>lost, so as <strong>in</strong> turn to draw new generations on to <strong>the</strong> same sacrifice. Ifit is not directed and kept with<strong>in</strong> bounds by a higher m a xim <strong>of</strong>education, but on <strong>the</strong> contrary allowed to run wilder and wilder on<strong>the</strong> pr<strong>in</strong>ciple '<strong>the</strong> more <strong>the</strong> better', traffic with science is certa<strong>in</strong>ly asharmful to men <strong>of</strong>learn<strong>in</strong>g as <strong>the</strong> economic pr<strong>in</strong>ciple <strong>of</strong> laissezfaire isto <strong>the</strong> morality <strong>of</strong> whole.nations. Who is <strong>the</strong>re that still remembersthat <strong>the</strong> education <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> scholar is an extremely difficult problem, ifhis humanity is not to be sacrificed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> process - and yet this difficultyis pla<strong>in</strong>ly obvious when one regards <strong>the</strong> numerous examples<strong>of</strong> those who through an unth<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g and premature devotion toscience have become crookbacked and humped. But <strong>the</strong>re is an evenweightier witness to <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> all higher education, weightierand more perilous and above all much more common. If it is at onceobvious why an orator or a writer cannot now be educated <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>searts - because <strong>the</strong>re are no educators fo r <strong>the</strong>m -; if it is almost asobvious why a scholar must now becoe distorted and contorted -because he is supposed to be educated by science, that is to say by an<strong>in</strong>human abstraction - <strong>the</strong>n one f<strong>in</strong>ally asks oneself: where are we,scholars and unscholarly, high placed and low, to f<strong>in</strong>d <strong>the</strong> moralexemplars and models among our contemporaries, <strong>the</strong> visibleepitome <strong>of</strong> morality for our time? What has become <strong>of</strong> any reflectionon questions <strong>of</strong> morality - questions that have at all times engagedevery more highly civilized society? There is no longer any model orany reflection <strong>of</strong> any k<strong>in</strong>d; what we are <strong>in</strong> fact do<strong>in</strong>g is consum<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>moral capital we have <strong>in</strong>herited from our forefa<strong>the</strong>rs, which we are<strong>in</strong>capable <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g but know only how to squander; <strong>in</strong> oursociety one ei<strong>the</strong>r rema<strong>in</strong>s silent about such th<strong>in</strong>gs or speaks <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m<strong>in</strong> a way that reveals an utter lack <strong>of</strong> acqua<strong>in</strong>tance with or experience<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m and that can only excite revulsion. Thus it has come aboutthat our schools and teachers simply absta<strong>in</strong> from an education <strong>in</strong>morality or make do with mere fo rmalities: and virtue is a word thatno longer means anyth<strong>in</strong>g to our teachers or pupils, an oldfashionedword that makes one smile - and it is worse if one does notsmile, fo r <strong>the</strong>n one is be<strong>in</strong>g a hypocrite.The explanation <strong>of</strong> this spiriclessness and <strong>of</strong> why all moral energyis at such a low ebb is difficult and <strong>in</strong>volved; but no one who considers<strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>fluence victorious Christianity had on <strong>the</strong> morality <strong>of</strong>our ancient world can overlook <strong>the</strong> reaction <strong>of</strong> decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g Christianityupon our own time. Through <strong>the</strong> exalted ness <strong>of</strong> its ideal, Chris-132

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!