Friedrich_Nietzsche - Untimely_Meditations_(Cambridge_Texts_in_the_History_of_Philosophy__1997)

IntroductionIt is also in the Untimely Meditations that Nietzsche first begins toperfect what is perhaps the most original feature of his own philosophicalpractice: namely, the method of 'genealogical' analysis,which is employed in these early texts to illuminate the origin ofsuch problematic phenomena as 'the pure will to truth', 'the selflessman of science' and conventional morality. One even finds inthe Meditations unmistakable anticipations of what is arguably themost important achievement of Nietzsche's final years: his analysisof the inevitability of nihilism, a topic that is distantly foreshadowedin his critique of the failure of secular humanists such asStrauss to recognize the intimate connection between their ownprogressive liberalism and those religious standards they reject, aswell as their failure to anticipate the dire and inexorable consequencesof their withdrawal of faith in the latter.In addition to any purely doctrinal continuity between theUntimely Meditations and Nietzsche's later writings, there is alsoanother sense in which he believed that his distinctive 'task' and'promise' were first made public in them - a sense that has less todo with his later writings than with his radically altered mode of lifein the years following their publication. One of the central thesesof the Meditations is that every genuine and original thinkerrequires a degree of radical personal independence that is simplyincompatible with any sort of institutional affiliation or sponsorship.It is the very independence of the true philosopher's modeof living that confirms his or her right to be taken seriously as aphilosophical educator.There is a familiar and frequently reproduced photograph ofNietzsche, taken at Basel around 1874, which bears the inscription,'Friedrich the Untimely One'. Nothing testifies morepoignantly to his rapidly growing awareness of his own, distinctive'task' than this presumptuous inscription; for when he wrotethese books and signed this photograph Nietzsche was still an'academic labourer', a Professor of Classical Philology. One of theimplicit promises made by the man who signed himself so is,therefore, that he will not put himself forward as a philosopher inhis own right until .he has first establi.shed his right to do so - notthrough any process of academic certification, but by successfullyestablishing his own independent mode of living, that is, throughthe 'courageous visibility' of his own 'philosophical life' . All reasonsof health aside, this is why Nietzsche simply had to leavexxix