Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Untimely Meditationsthat he does not become depressed and melancholic. And to thatend let him surround himself with pictures of good and bravefighters, such as Schopenhauer was. But the second danger whichthreatened Schopenhauer is not altogether rare, either. Here andthere a man is equipped by nature with mental acuteness, histhoughts like to do the dialectical double-step; how easy it is, if hecarelessly lets go the reins of his talent, for him to perish as a humanbeing and to lead a ghostly life in almost nothing but 'purescience'; or, grown accustomed to seeking the for and against inall things, for him to lose sight of truth altogether and then beobliged to live without courage or trust, in denial and doubt,agitated and discontented, half hopeful, expecting to be disappointed:'No dog would go on living like this!" The third danger is that ofpetrifaction, in the moral or the intellectual sphere; a man severs thebonds that tied him to his ideal; he ceases to be fruitful, to propagatehimself, in this or that domain; in a cul'tural sense he becomes feebleor useless. The uniqueness of his being has become an indivisible,uncommunicating atom, an icy rock. nd thus one can be reducedto ruin by this uniqueness just as well as by the fear of it, by oneself aswell as by surrender of oneself, by longing as well as by petrifaction:and to live at all means to live in danger.Besides these constitutional dangers to which Schopenhauerwould have been exposed in whatever century he had lived, thereare also dangers which arose from his age; and this distinction betweenconstitutional dangers and those proceeding from the age helived in is essential for an understanding of what is exemplary andeducative in Schopenhauer's nature. Let us think of the philosopher'seye resting upon existence: he wants to determine its value anew. Forit has been the proper task of all great thinkers to be lawgivers as tothe measure, stamp and weight of things. How it must obstruct himif the mankind most immediate to him is a feeble and worm-eatenfruit! How much allowance he has to make for the valuelessness ofhis time if he is to be just to existence as a whole! If occupation withthe history of past or foreign nations is of any value, it is of most valueto the philosopher who wants to arrive at a just verdict on the wholefate of man - not, that is, only on the average fate but above all on thehighest fate that can befall individual men or entire nations. Buteverything contemporary is importunate; it affects and directs theeye even when the philosopher does not want it to; and in the total# Qu oted from Goethe's Faust, Part I Scene 1.144