Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

Untimely MeditationsI. !that it is to their benefit too. At least I would think that an institutionfor the real sciences must see it is good for it no longer to have tokeep company with a semi-science. The universities enjoy so littleregard, moreover, they must on principle desire the exclusion ofdisciplines which academics themselves hold in low esteem. Fornon-academics have good reason for a certain general disrespect foruniversities; they reproach them with being cowardly, since thesmall ones fear the big ones and the big ones fear public opinion;with failing to take the lead in questions of higher culture but limpingslowly and tardily in the rear, with ceasing to maintain the respectedsciences on their true course. Linguistic studies, for example, arepursued more zealously than ever, but no one considers it necessaryto educate himself in correct writing and speaking. Indian antiquityis opening its gates, yet the relationship of those who study it to theimperishable works of the Indians, to their philosophies, hardly differsfrom that of an animal to a lyre: even though Schopenhauer consideredits acquaintance with Indian philosophy the greatestadvantage our century possessed overjill others. Classical antiquityhas become a take-it-or-Ieave-it antiquity and has ceased to producea classic and exemplary effect; a fact demonstrated by its disciples,who are truly not exemplary. Whither has the spirit of FriedrichAugust Wolf departed, of which Franz Passow could say it appeareda genuinely patriotic, genuinely human spirit which, if it needed to,possessed the force to set a continent on fire and in ferment - wherehas this spirit gone? On the other hand, the spirit of the journalist ispenetrating the universities more and more, and not seldom underthe name of philosophy; a smooth, highly coloured mode ofaddress, Faust and Nathan the Wise constantly invoked, thelanguage and views of our nauseating literary journals, lately evenchattering about our sacred German music and the demand forchairs fo r the study of Goethe and Schiller - all signs that the spirit ofthe university is beginning to confuse itself with the Zeitgeist. It thusseems to me of the first importance that there should be created outsidethe universities a higher tribunal whose fu nction would be tosupervise and judge these institutions in regard to the educationthey are promoting; and as soon as philosophy departs from theuniversities, and therewith purifies itself of all unworthy considerationsand prejudices, it must constitute precisely such a tribunal:devoid of official authority, without salaries or honours, it will knowhow to perform its duty free of the Zeitgeist and free from fear of it- inshort, as Schopenhauer lived, as the judge of the so-called culture192