"Human, All-Too-Human" (_"Menschliches Allzu Menschliches"_) was
first published in 1878. Previous to this time Nietzsche had devoted
himself to a sedulous study of the French philosophers--Pascal,
La Rochefoucauld, Vanergues, Montaigne and others--and these men
influenced him in his selection of the aphoristic style as a medium
for his thoughts. His serious illness at the time made it impossible
for him to attempt any large and co-ordinated philosophical task which
would have required sustained thinking and continual physical labour,
and the detached manner of writing employed by the French thinkers
fitted in with the intermittent manner in which he was necessitated to
work. "Miscellaneous Maxims and Opinions," the second part of "Human,
All-Too-Human," appeared the following year; and "The Wanderer and his
Shadow," the third section, was made public in 1880. Six years later
these three parts were put together in two volumes under the caption of
the original book, and were subtitled "A Book of Free Spirits."
At that time Nietzsche already had numerous writings to his credit.
"The Birth of Tragedy" (_"Die Geburt der Tragödie"_) was composed
between 1869 and 1871, and issued in January, 1872. It was a treatise
on pessimism and Hellenism, and in it Nietzsche endeavoured to
ascertain the origin of Greek tragedy. In his research he passed over
many of the lesser philological discussions which were then occupying
the minds of his academic confrères, and, mild as was this first
published work of his, he suddenly found himself the centre of a
discussion which augured ill for his future at the University of Bâle.
In this book he undertook to explain the constant conflict between the
Apollonian and Dionysian ideals, and defined the differences underlying
these two great influences in Greek art. Later in his writings we find
him applying the theories stated in "The Birth of Tragedy" to all human
transactions.
"On the Future of our Educational Institutions" and "Homer and
Classical Philology," contained in one volume, were addresses
delivered during Nietzsche's professorship of classical philology
at Bâle University. In these lectures he pointed out the necessity
of protecting the man of genius, and denied the existence of actual
culture in the educational institutions of modern Germany, holding that
true culture is only for the higher type of man. He made a plea for an
institution where genuine culture, founded on the ideals of ancient
Greece, would be harboured for the few who would devote their lives
to it. Here unquestionably was the faint beginning of his conception
of the superman. While these lectures dealt only with the educational
institutions of Germany, the criticisms in them may nevertheless be
applied in a broader sense to the general principles underlying all
schools. This book is the first visible step in the development of his
thought.
More evidences of what was to come later are found in a series of
essays written during the early seventies, which are now published
under the general caption of "Early Greek Philosophy and Other Essays."
The seven essays contained in this volume are: "The Greek State"
(1871), in which he attacked the modern conception of labour, and
advanced a brief for slavery based on the assumption that without it
true culture cannot exist; "The Greek Woman" (1871), an outline of
Nietzsche's ideal of woman; "On Music and Words" (1871), an analysis
of the origins of music and language and a statement of the functions
of each; "Homer's Contest" (1872), a comparison of the ancient and
modern individualistic strife, in which was pointed out the necessity
of competition in any successful commonwealth; "The Relation of
Schopenhauer's Philosophy to a German Culture" (1872), a gay attack
upon certain phases of German philistinism, with the suggestion that
Schopenhauer's philosophy would prove an excellent counter-irritant;
"Philosophy During the Tragic Age of the Greeks" (1873), a brilliant
account and exposition of those Greek thinkers who preceded Socrates;
and "On Truth and Falsity in their Ultramoral Sense" (1873), a
rhapsodic refutation of the theory of absolute truth, in which we find
many denials of the values attached to current conventions. These
denials we are constantly meeting in the major part of Nietzsche's
later work.
In Volume I of "Thoughts Out of Season" we find two essays: "David
Strauss, the Confessor and Writer" (written in 1873), and "Richard
Wagner at Bayreuth" (written during the close of 1875 and at the
beginning of 1876). The first essay is an attack upon an ex-clerical
who set up a philosopher's shop in Nietzsche's day and succeeded in
sufficiently inflaming the popular mind to secure for himself a wide
and ardent following. Nietzsche, angered by the effect that Strauss's
sophistries had upon the German mind, undertook to answer them and
show up their spuriousness. In the essay on Richard Wagner, Nietzsche
praised the composer in no uncertain terms, hailing him as a saviour
of mankind through the medium of the drama. Nietzsche thought he saw
in Wagner a kindred spirit, a man free from the narrow dictates of his
time, one capable of establishing a new order of things in the realm of
art. Subsequently the philosopher turned against Wagner and denounced
him bitterly for his anti-Hellenic tendencies.
Volume II of "Thoughts out of Season" contains "The Use and Abuse of
History" and "Schopenhauer as Educator," both written in 1874. In the
first of these essays Nietzsche attacked the study of history which was
then the foremost educational fad in Germany. He denied it a place in
the curriculum of culture unless it had for its foundation a profound
knowledge of the causes of history. Also in this essay he made a plea
for the individualistic interpretation of history, arguing that the
events founded on the activities of majorities are useless to a true
understanding of the fundamentals of racial development. Here again
we encounter the foreshadowing of the philosophy of the superman.
Nietzsche paid high tribute to Schopenhauer in his essay "Schopenhauer
as Educator." Without subscribing unqualifiedly to all the doctrines
of the great pessimist, he nevertheless allied himself philosophically
with Schopenhauer's theory that all logic is an outgrowth of the law of
self-preservation.
In the autumn of 1874 Nietzsche wrote a series of brief comments
dealing with the subject of education. These paragraphs contain
about 20,000 words, and were to have constituted, when completed,
the fifth part of "Thoughts Out of Season." He never finished them,
however, and they were not published until after his death. These
fragments appear, under the caption of "We Philologists," at the end
of the volume entitled "The Case of Wagner." "We Philologists" is a
protest against the manner in which classical culture was promulgated
in the universities. It offers a stinging criticism of those German
professors, the philologists, to whom was entrusted the duty of
disseminating Greek cultural ideals, and in addition presents a concise
outline of what genuine Hellenic culture should consist. Nietzsche
protests against the filtering of pagan antiquity through Christian
doctrines--the method of teaching then in vogue--and insists that such
a form of education entirely misses its aim. Although "We Philologists"
is comparatively of small value to the student of Nietzsche's later
philosophy, it is interesting to note that as early as 1874, his
anti-Christian spirit was already well defined.
The four essays contained in the two volumes of "Thoughts out of
Season" and "We Philologists" were the first of an intended series
of pamphlets to be called _"Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen"_[1] but the
series was never finished. However, the Nietzschean philosophical
ideas had unquestionably begun to take definite form. Already there
had been attempts at idealistic and moralistic valuations. There had
also been a considerable amount of that preliminary analysis which was
to form a foundation for the destructive and constructive thoughts of
later years. In these essays Nietzsche had already begun to strike his
bearings, and while they cannot be taken as a part of his philosophical
scheme, they nevertheless form an excellent introduction for those
students who care to go behind the final expression of his ideas and
behold them in embryo.
"Human, All-Too-Human," following two years later, came as a distinct
surprise even to Nietzsche's most intimate friends: Wagner especially
was horrified at the heresies contained in it. There had not been
sufficient indications in his earlier writings for one to predict so
devastating an arraignment of modern life as was contained in this
work. It was a departure, not only in thought but also in manner, from
all else he had written. The conventional essay form had been set aside
for an aphoristic style. Here we find a series of paragraphs varying in
length from a few lines to a page or more, each dealing with a separate
and syllogistically detached idea. The epigram, which was to play
such an important part in all of Nietzsche's writings, is also found
in abundance. The form in which these two volumes are cast gives the
effect of a man felling a giant tree with a thousand blows of an axe,
as distinguished from the method of the man who saws it down gradually
and continuously.
Despite its muscular and incisive qualities, the manner of this work
is calm. As a whole it is an excellent example of those writings which
Nietzsche himself has called Apollonian. At times one even feels a
tentativeness in its utterances not unlike that which attaches to
the steps a man takes in a region he knows to be full of quicksands.
In this regard it is interesting to note how a certain insecurity at
the beginning of the work, which manifests itself in ultra-obscure
passages, later gives way to a clarity and humour indicative of almost
wanton temerity. In this book Nietzsche passes from the academician
to the iconoclast. He bridges the chasm from the doctor of philology
to the independent thinker. It is the record of the psychological
transition of his mind; and this record is evident in both his outlook
and his habits of expression.
Nietzsche, at his birth as a thinker, presents himself as an
arch-nihilist. He realised the necessity of destroying the universe
before an understanding of it was possible, and so the two volumes of
"Human, All-Too-Human" are almost entirely destructive. In this work
we have Nietzsche the trail-blazer, the incendiary, the idol-smasher,
the pessimist, the devastator. One by one the doctrines and tenets,
strengthened by the accumulative acceptance of centuries, go down
before his bludgeon. Piece by piece the universe of reality is
neutralised by his analyses. Every human transaction, every phase of
human hope and aspiration, is reduced to negation. Ancient and modern
cultures are dissected unsparingly. Political systems are stripped
of their integuments and their origins exposed. New valuations are
attached to the great artists and writers. Many of Nietzsche's most
famous definitions grow out of the ruthless inquests he makes in this
work.
This uncompassionate clearing away of accepted values prepared the
way for the books which were to come. Once having ascertained the
foundation on which human actions are built, the path was clear for
reconstruction and reorganisation. "Human, All-Too-Human," then, was
the first indirect voicing of Nietzsche's philosophy. All else had
been mere skirmishing with ideas. Only vaguely and desultorily had
his opinions been heretofore voiced. His analysis of history, his
criticisms of ancient and modern thought, had actually pried away the
superficial manifestations of existence and given him that insight
into the undercurrents of causation which was later to inspire him
in his work. For this reason we are more conscious of the man than of
the philosopher when reading the series of aphorisms which constitute
the main body of this document. "Human, All-Too-Human" is in the main
an inquiry into the fundamental reasons for human conduct. Nietzsche
devotes his efforts to showing that ideals, when pushed to their
final analysis, reveal a basis in human need. Especially does he
concern himself with the causes underlying current moral doctrines.
He points out that there is no static and absolute morality, but that
all moral codes are systems of deportment founded on human conditions
in accordance with the environmental needs of a people. From this
he states the corollary that all morality is subject to alteration,
amendment and abrogation. He asserts the relativity of the terms "good"
and "evil," and denies the justice of any final criticism of right and
wrong as applied to any human action.
From this Nietzsche deduces the formula which is at the bottom of all
individualistic philosophy, namely: that what is immoral for one man
is moral for another, and that the application of any moral code is
undesirable for the reason that no system of conduct can apply alike
to all men. Thus any attempt on the part of any one man to direct the
actions of any other man is in itself an immorality, because it is an
attempt to hinder and retard the development of the individual. It
must not be thought that Nietzsche's arrival at this conclusion is a
direct and simple affair based on superficial observation. Nor is it in
itself the end for which he strives. To the contrary, the conclusion
is stated mainly by inference. The work he lays out for himself is one
of analysis, and under his critical scalpel fall religions, political
institutions and nations, as well as individuals. Wherever he finds
a belief whose origin is considered divine, he tears away its surface
characteristics and inquires into it. In every instance he finds a
human ground for it. Going still further, he points out that all
institutions, in order to meet the constantly fluctuating conditions of
society, must subject themselves to change.
A multiplicity of themes comes under Nietzsche's observation in this
work. Not only is there a great deal of abstract reasoning but also
a vast amount of brilliant and penetrating criticism of men and
art. Ancient and modern philosophers, novelists, poets, musicians,
dramatists, as well as theories of art, literature and music, here come
under his careful and acute analysis. There are passages of startling
poetry interpolated between paragraphs of cynical and destructive
research. Nietzsche reveals himself as a scholar, the philologist, the
historian and the scientist, as well as the thinker. The amount of
general knowledge he displays in nearly every line of human endeavour
is astonishing. In his most elaborate processes of ratiocination he is
always capable of adhering to authenticated facts. He never side-steps
into the purely metaphysical or denies the existence of corporeality
once it has been assumed as a hypothesis. He breaks once and for all
with the metaphysicians and word-jugglers. Denying all reason in the
Kantian sense, he is always scrupulously reasonable.
Although no direct philosophical doctrines are propounded in "Human,
All-Too-Human," Nietzsche had undoubtedly outlined in his mind the
constructive works which were to come later. However, in reading
this work one finds but little indication--and that only obscurely
hinted at--of the transvaluation of values which was to follow the
devaluation. We have no hint, for instance, of the doctrine of the
superman other than an implied ideal of an intellectual aristocracy
which will permit of the highest development; of the individual.
Evolution beyond the present is mentioned but indirectly. The
future, to this destructive Nietzsche, is non-existent. His eyes are
continually turned toward the past and they shift no further than the
present. Only through implication is the Hellenic ideal voiced, and
then it is with a certain degree of speculation as to its efficacy in
meeting the demands of the modern man. Greek culture is used largely as
a means of comparison, or as an arbitrary premise of his dialectic. The
doctrine of eternal recurrence, which was to form one of the bases of
"Thus Spake Zarathustra," is not even suggested. The "will to power,"
the anti-Schopenhauerian doctrine, which is the framework on which all
of Nietzsche's constructive thinking is hung, was, at the time of his
writing "Human, All-Too-Human," a hypothesis, vague and undeveloped.
"Human, All-Too-Human" is the first work of Nietzsche one should read.
In reality it is an elaborate introduction to his later works. In his
following book, "The Dawn of Day," comes the birth of his philosophy;
it is the first real battle in his righteous warfare, the first great
blasphemous assault upon the accepted order of things. But it cannot be
readily understood or appreciated unless we have prepared ourselves for
it.
The selection of the passages from the present two volumes has been
extremely difficult, due to their multiplicity of themes and to
the heterogeneity of their treatment. It is impossible to create a
convincing effect of a razed forest by presenting a picture of an
occasional fallen tree. Herein has lain my chief difficulty. I have
been able to show only sections of the destruction of human values
which Nietzsche here accomplishes. Furthermore, it has been impossible
to give any very adequate idea of the vast amount of brilliant
criticism of men and art which is to be encountered in these two
volumes. All this must be got direct. It has been possible only to
suggest it here. Those portions of the books which I have been able to
comprehend in these excerpts are necessarily limited to Nietzsche's
more important destructive conclusions.
[Footnote 1: "Inopportune Speculations."]