863.
_The notion, "strong and weak man"_ resolves itself into this, that in
the first place much strength is inherited--the man is a total sum; in
the other, _not yet enough_ (inadequate inheritance, subdivision of the
inherited qualities). Weakness may be a _starting_ phenomenon: _not yet
enough_; or a final phenomenon: "no more."
The determining point is there where great strength is present, or
where a great amount of strength can be discharged. The mass, as the
sum-total of the _weak,_ reacts _slowly;_ it defends itself against
much for which it is too weak,--against that for which it has no
use; it _never_ creates, it _never_ takes a step forward. This is
opposed to the theory which denies the strong individual and would
maintain that the "masses do everything." The difference is similar
to that which obtains between separated generations: four or even
five generations may lie between the masses and him who is the moving
spirit--it is a _chronological_ difference.
The _values of the weak_ are in the van, because the strong have
adopted them in order to _lead_ with them.
864.
_Why the weak triumph._--On the whole, the sick and the weak have
more _sympathy_ and are more "humane"; the sick and the weak have
more intellect, and are more changeable more variegated, more
entertaining--more malicious; the sick alone invented _malice._ (A
morbid precocity is often to be observed among rickety, scrofulitic,
and tuberculous people.) _Esprit:_ the property of older races; Jews,
Frenchmen, Chinese. (The anti-Semites do not forgive the Jews for
having both intellect--and money. Anti-Semites--another name for
"bungled and botched.")
The sick and the weak have always had _fascination_ on their side; they
are more _interesting_ than the healthy: the fool and the saint--the
two most interesting kinds of men.... Closely related thereto is the
"genius." The "great adventurers and criminals" and all great men,
the most healthy in particular, have always been _sick_ at certain
periods of their lives--great disturbances of the emotions, the
passion for power, love, revenge, are all accompanied by very profound
perturbations. And, as for decadence, every man who does not die
prematurely manifests it in almost every respect--he therefore knows
from experience the instincts which belong to it: for _half his life_
nearly every man is decadent.
And finally, woman! _One-half of mankind is weak,_ chronically sick,
changeable, shifty woman requires strength in order to cleave to it;
she also requires a religion of the weak which glorifies weakness,
love, and modesty as divine: or, better still, she makes the strong
weak--she _rules_ when she succeeds in overcoming the strong. Woman
has always conspired with decadent types,--the priests, for instance,
against the mighty, against the "strong," against _men._ Women avail
themselves of children for the cult of piety, pity, and love:--the
_mother_ stands as the symbol of _convincing_ altruism.
Finally, the increase of civilisation with its necessary correlatives,
the increase of morbid elements, of the _neurotic_ and _psychiatric_
and of the _criminal._ A sort of _intermediary species_ arises,
the artist. He is distinct from those who are criminals as the
result of weak wills and of the fear of society, although they may
not yet be ripe for the asylum; but he has antennas which grope
inquisitively into both spheres, this specific plant of culture,
the modern artist, painter, musician, and, above all, novelist, who
designates his particular kind of attitude with the very indefinite
word "naturalism."... Lunatics, criminals, and realists[1] are on
the increase: this is the sign of a growing culture plunging forward
at headlong speed--that is to say, its excrement, its refuse, the
rubbish that is shot from it every day, is beginning to acquire more
importance, the retrogressive movement _keeps pace_ with the advance.
Finally, _the social mishmash,_ which is the result of revolution,
of the establishment of equal rights, and of the superstition, the
"equality of men." Thus the possessors of the instincts of decline
(of resentment, of discontent, of the lust of destruction, of anarchy
and Nihilism), as also the instincts of slavery, of cowardice, of
craftiness, and of rascality, which are inherent among those classes
of society which have long been suppressed, are beginning to get
infused into the blood of all ranks. Two or three generations later,
the race can no longer be recognised--everything has become _mob._ And
thus there results a collective instinct against _selection,_ against
every kind of _privilege_, and this instinct operates with such power,
certainty, hardness, and cruelty that, as a matter of fact, in the end,
even the privileged classes have to submit: all those who still wish to
hold on to power flatter the mob, work with the mob, and must have the
mob on their side--the "geniuses" _above all._ The latter become the
_heralds_ of those feelings with which the mob can be inspired,--the
expression of pity, of honour, even for all that suffers, all that is
low and despised, and has lived under persecution, becomes predominant
(types: Victor Hugo, Richard Wagner).--The rise of the mob signifies
once more the rise of old values.
In the case of such an extreme movement, both in tempo and in means,
as characterises our civilisation, man's ballast is shifted. Those
men whose worth is greatest, and whose mission, as it were, is to
compensate for the very great danger of such a morbid movement,--such
men become dawdlers _par excellence_; they are slow to accept anything,
and are tenacious; they are creatures that are relatively lasting
in the midst of this vast mingling and changing of elements. In
such circumstances power is necessarily relegated to the _mediocre:
mediocrity,_ as the trustee and bearer of the future, consolidates
itself against the rule of the mob and of eccentricities (both of
which are, in most cases, united). In this way a new antagonist is
evolved for exceptional men--or in certain cases a new temptation.
Provided that they do not adapt themselves to the mob, and stand up
for what satisfies the instincts of the disinherited, they will find
it necessary to be "mediocre" and sound. They know: _mediocritas_
is also _aurea,_--it alone has command of money and _gold_ (of all
that glitters ...).... And, once more, old virtue and the whole
superannuated world of ideals in general secures a gifted host of
special-pleaders.... Result: mediocrity acquires intellect, wit, and
genius, it becomes entertaining, and even seductive.
***
_Result._--A high culture can only stand upon a broad basis, upon a
strongly and soundly consolidated mediocrity. In its service and
assisted by it, _science_ and even art do their work. Science could
not wish for a better state of affairs: in its essence it belongs to a
middle-class type of man,--among exceptions it is out of place,--there
is not anything aristocratic and still less anything anarchic in its
instincts.--The power of the middle classes is then upheld by means of
commerce, but, above all, by means of money-dealing: the instinct of
great financiers is opposed to everything extreme--on this account
the Jews are, for the present, the most _conservative_ power in the
threatening and insecure conditions of modern Europe. They can have
no use either for revolutions, for socialism, or for militarism: if
they would have power, and if they should need it, even over the
revolutionary party, this is only the result of what I have already
said, and it in no way contradicts it. Against other extreme movements
they may occasionally require to excite terror by showing how much
power is in their hands. But their instinct itself is inveterately
conservative and "mediocre, ... Wherever power exists, they know how to
become mighty; but the application of their power always takes the same
direction. The polite term for _mediocre,_ as is well known, is the
word _"Liberal."_
_Reflection._--It is all nonsense to suppose that this general
_conquest of values_ is anti-biological. In order to explain it, we
ought to try and show that it is the result of a certain interest of
life to maintain the type "man," even by means of this method which
leads to the prevalence of the weak and the physiologically botched--if
things were otherwise, might man not cease to exist? Problem ...
The _enhancement_ of the type may prove fatal to the _maintenance of
the species._ Why?--The experience of history shows that strong races
_decimate_ each other _mutually,_ by means of war, lust for power, and
venturousness; the strong emotions; wastefulness (strength is no longer
capitalised, disturbed mental systems arise from excessive tension);
their existence is a costly affair in short, they persistently give
rise to friction _between themselves;_ periods of _profound slackness_
and torpidity intervene: all great ages have to be _paid for...._ The
strong are, after all, weaker, less wilful, and more absurd than the
average weak ones.
They are _squandering_ races. "_Permanence,_" in itself, can have no
value: that which ought to be preferred thereto would be a shorter life
for the species, but a life _richer_ in creations. It would remain
to be proved that, even as things are, a richer sum of creations is
attained than in the case of the shorter existence; _i.e._ that man, as
a storehouse of power, attains to a much higher degree of dominion over
things under the conditions which have existed hitherto.... We are here
face to face with a problem of _economics._
[Footnote 1: The German word is "Naturalist," and really means
"realist" in a bad sense.--Tr.]
865.
The state of mind which calls itself "idealism," and which will neither
allow mediocrity to be mediocre nor woman to be woman! Do not make
everything uniform! We should have a clear idea of how _dearly we have
to pay for the establishment of a virtue;_ and that virtue is nothing
generally desirable, but a _noble piece of madness,_ a beautiful
exception, which gives us the privilege of feeling elated....
866.
It is _necessary_ to show _that a counter-movement is inevitably
associated_ with any increasingly economical consumption of men
and mankind, and with an ever more closely involved "machinery" of
interests and services. I call this counter-movement the _separation
of the luxurious surplus of mankind:_ by means of it a stronger kind,
a higher type, must come to light, which has other conditions for its
origin and for its maintenance than the average man. My concept, my
metaphor for this type is, as you know, the word "Superman." Along the
first road, which can now be completely surveyed, arose adaptation,
stultification, higher Chinese culture, modesty in the Instincts,
and satisfaction at the sight of the belittlement of man--a kind of
_stationary level of mankind._ If ever we get that inevitable and
imminent, general control of the economy of the earth, then mankind
_can_ be used as machinery and find its best purpose in the service of
this economy--as an enormous piece of clock-work consisting of ever
smaller and ever more subtly adapted wheels; then all the dominating
and commanding elements will become ever more superfluous; and the
whole gains enormous energy, while the individual factors which compose
it represent but small modicums of strength and of _value._ To oppose
this dwarfing and adaptation of man to a specialised kind of utility, a
reverse movement is needed -the procreation of the _synthetic_ man who
_embodies_ everything and _justifies_ it; that man for whom the turning
of mankind into a machine is a first condition of existence, for whom
the rest of mankind is but soil on which he can devise his _higher
mode_ of existence.
He is in need of the _opposition_ of the masses, of those who are
"levelled down"; he requires that feeling of distance from them; he
stands upon them, he lives on them. This higher form of _aristocracy_
is the form of the future. From the moral point of view, the collective
machinery above described, that solidarity of all wheels, represents
the most extreme example in the _exploitation of mankind_: but it
presupposes the existence of those for whom such an exploitation would
have some _meaning.[2]_ Otherwise it would signify, as a matter of
fact, merely the general depreciation of the type man,--a _retrograde
phenomenon_ on a grand scale.
Readers are beginning to see what I am combating--namely, _economic_
optimism: as if the genera] welfare of everybody must necessarily
increase with the growing self-sacrifice of everybody. The very reverse
seems to me to be the case, _the self-sacrifice of everybody amounts
to a collective loss;_ man becomes _inferior_--so that nobody knows
what end this monstrous purpose has served. A wherefore? a _new_
wherefore?--this is what mankind requires.
[Footnote 2: This sentence for ever distinguishes Nietzsche's
aristocracy from our present plutocratic and industrial one, for which,
at the present moment at any rate, it would be difficult to discover
some meaning.--Tr.]
867.
The recognition of the _increase of collective power:_ we should
calculate to what extent the ruin of individuals, of castes, of ages,
and of peoples, is included in this general increase.
The transposition of the _ballast_ of a culture. The _cost_ of every
vast growth: who bears it? _Why must it be enormous at the present
time?_
868.
General aspect of the future European: the latter regarded as the most
intelligent servile animal, very industrious, at bottom very modest,
inquisitive to excess, multifarious, pampered, weak of will,--a chaos
of cosmopolitan passions and intelligences. How would it be possible
for a stronger race to be bred from him?--Such a race as would have a
classical taste? The classical taste: this is the will to simplicity,
to accentuation, and to happiness made visible, the will to the
terrible, and the courage for psychological _nakedness_ (simplification
is the outcome of the will to accentuate; allowing happiness as well
as nakedness to become visible is a consequence of the will to the
terrible ...). In order to fight one's way out of that chaos, and up
to this form, a certain _disciplinary constraint_ is necessary: a man
should have to choose between either going to the dogs or _prevailing._
A ruling race can only arise amid terrible and violent conditions.
Problem: where are the _barbarians_ of the twentieth century? Obviously
they will only show themselves and consolidate themselves after
enormous socialistic crises. They will consist of those elements which
are capable of the _greatest hardness towards themselves,_ and which
can guarantee the _most enduring will-power._
869.
The mightiest and most dangerous passions of man, by means of which he
most easily goes to rack and ruin, have been so fundamentally banned
that mighty men themselves have either become impossible or else must
regard themselves as _evil,_ "harmful and prohibited." The losses are
heavy, but up to the present they have been necessary. Now, however,
that a whole host of counter-forces has been reared, by means of the
temporary suppression of these passions (the passion for dominion, the
love of change and deception), their liberation has once more become
possible: they will no longer possess their old savagery. We can now
allow ourselves this tame sort of barbarism: look at our artists and
our statesmen!
870.
_The root of all evil:_ that the slave morality of modesty, chastity,
selflessness, and absolute obedience should have triumphed. Dominating
natures were thus condemned (1) to hypocrisy, (2) to qualms of
conscience,--creative natures regarded themselves as rebels against
God, uncertain and hemmed in by eternal values.
The barbarians showed that the ability o_f keeping within the bounds
of moderation_ was not in the scope of their powers: they feared and
slandered the passions and instincts of nature--likewise the aspect
of the ruling Cæsars and castes. On the other hand, there arose the
suspicion that all _restraint_ is a form of weakness or of incipient
old age and fatigue (thus La Rochefoucauld suspects that "virtue" is
only a euphemism in the mouths of those to whom vice no longer affords
any pleasure). The capacity for restraint was represented as a matter
of hardness, self-control, asceticism, as a fight with the devil,
etc. etc. The natural _delight_ of æsthetic natures, in measure; _the
pleasure derived from the beauty of measure,_ was _overlooked_ and
_denied,_ because that which was desired was an anti-eudæmonistic
morality. The belief in the pleasure which comes of restraint has
been lacking hitherto--this pleasure of a rider on a fiery steed! The
moderation of weak natures was confounded with the restraint of the
strong!
In short, the best things have been blasphemed because weak or
immoderate swine have thrown a bad light upon them--the best men have
_remained concealed_--and have often _misunderstood_ themselves.
871.
_Vicious_ and _unbridled people_: their depressing influence upon the
_value of the pussions._ It was the appalling barbarity of morality
which was principally responsible in the Middle Ages for the compulsory
recourse to a veritable "league _of_ virtue"--and this was coupled with
an equally appalling exaggeration of all that which constitutes the
value of man. Militant "civilisation" (taming) is in need of all kinds
of irons and tortures in order to maintain itself against terrible and
beast-of-prey natures.
In this case, contusion, although it may have the most nefarious
influences, is quite natural: that which _men of power and will are
able to demand of themselves_ gives them the standard for what they
may also allow themselves. Such natures are the very opposite of the
_vicious_ and the _unbridled;_ although under certain circumstances
they may perpetrate deeds for which an inferior man would be convicted
of vice and intemperance.
In this respect the concept, "_all men are equal before God_" does
an extraordinary amount of harm; actions and attitudes of mind were
forbidden which belonged to the prerogative of the strong alone, just
as if they were in themselves unworthy of man. All the tendencies of
strong men were brought into disrepute by the fact that the defensive
weapons of the most weak (even of those who were weakest towards
themselves) were established as a standard of valuation.
The confusion went so far that precisely the great _virtuosos_ of life
(whose self-control presents the sharpest contrast to the vicious and
the unbridled) were branded with the most opprobrious names. Even to
this day people feel themselves compelled to disparage a Cæsar Borgia:
it is simply ludicrous. The Church has anathematised German Kaisers
owing to their vices: as if a monk or a priest had the right to say
a word as to what a Frederick II. should allow himself. Don Juan is
sent to hell: this is very _naïf._ Has anybody ever noticed that all
interesting men are lacking in heaven? ... This is only a hint to the
girls, as to where they may best find salvation. If one think at all
logically, and also have a profound insight into that which makes a
great man, there, can be no doubt at all that the Church has dispatched
all "great men" to Hades--its fight is _against_ all "greatness in man."
872.
The rights which a man arrogates to himself are relative to the duties
which he sets himself, and to the tasks which he feels _capable of
performing._ The great majority of men have no right to life, and are
only a misfortune to their higher fellows.
873.
_The misunderstanding of egoism:_ on the part of _ignoble natures_ who
know nothing of the lust of conquest and the insatiability of great
love, and who likewise know nothing of the overflowing feelings of
power which make a man wish to overcome things, to force them over to
himself, and to lay them on his heart, the power which impels an artist
to his material. It often happens also that the active spirit looks
for a field for its activity. In ordinary "egoism" it is precisely the
... "non-ego," the _profoundly mediocre creature,_ the member of the
herd, who wishes to maintain himself--and when this is perceived by the
rarer, more subtle, and less mediocre natures, it revolts them. For the
judgment of the latter is this: "We are the _noble_! It is much more
important to maintain _us_ than _that_ cattle!"
874.
_The degeneration of the ruler and of the ruling classes_ has been the
cause of all the great disorders in history! Without the Roman Cæsars
and Roman society, Christianity would never have prevailed.
When it occurs to inferior men to doubt whether higher men exist, then
the danger is great I It is then that men finally discover that there
are virtues even among inferior, suppressed, and poor-spirited men,
and that everybody is equal before God: which is the _non plus ultra_
of all confounded nonsense that has ever appeared on earth! For in the
end higher men begin to measure themselves according to the standard
of virtues upheld by the slaves--and discover that they are "proud,"
etc., and that all their _higher_ qualities should be condemned.
When Nero and Caracalla stood at the helm, it was then that the paradox
arose: "The lowest man is of more value than that one on the throne!"
And thus the path was prepared for an _image of God_ which was as
remote as possible from the image of the mightiest,--God on the Cross!
875.
_Higher man and gregarious man._--When great men are _wanting,_ the
great of the past are converted into demigods or whole gods: the rise
of religions proves that mankind no longer has any pleasure in man
("nor in woman neither," as in Hamlet's case). Or a host of men are
brought together in a heap, and it is hoped that as a Parliament they
will operate just as tyrannically.
Tyrannising is the distinctive quality of great men; they make inferior
men stupid.
876.
Buckle affords the best example of the extent to which a plebeian
agitator of the mob is incapable of arriving at a clear idea of
the concept, "higher nature." The opinion which he _combats_ so
passionately--that "great men," individuals, princes, statesmen,
geniuses, warriors, are the levers and _causes_ of all great movements,
is instinctively misunderstood by him, as if it meant that all that was
essential and valuable in such a "higher man," was the fact that he
was capable of setting masses in motion; in short, that his sole merit
was the effect he produced.... But the "higher nature" of the great man
resides precisely in being different, in being unable to communicate
with others, in the loftiness of his rank--_not_ in any sort of effect
he may produce even though this be the shattering of both hemispheres.
877.
The Revolution made Napoleon possible: that is its justification.
We ought to desire the anarchical collapse of the whole of our
civilisation if such a reward were to be its result. Napoleon made
nationalism possible: that is the latter's excuse.
The value of a man (apart, of course, from morality and immorality:
because with these concepts a man's _worth_ is not even skimmed) does
not lie in his utility; because he would continue to exist even if
there were nobody to whom he could be useful. And why could not that
man be the very pinnacle of manhood who was the source of the worst
possible effects for his race: so high and so superior, that in his
presence everything would go to rack and ruin from envy?
878.
To appraise the value of a man according to his _utility_ to mankind,
or according to what he costs it, or the _damage_ he is able to inflict
upon it, is just as good and just as bad as to appraise the value
of a work of art according to its _effects._ But in this way the
value of one man compared with another is not even touched upon. The
"moral valuation," in so far as it is _social_ measures men altogether
according to their effects. But what about the man who has his own
taste on his tongue, who is surrounded and concealed by his isolation,
uncommunicative and not to be communicated with; a man whom no one has
fathomed yet--that is to say, a creature of a higher, and, at any rate,
_different_ species, how would ye appraise his worth, seeing that ye
cannot know him and can compare him with nothing?
_Moral valuation_ was the cause of the most enormous obtuseness
of judgment: the value of a man in himself is _underrated,_
well-nigh _overlooked,_ practically _denied._ This is the remains of
simple-minded teleology: the value of man _can only be measured with
regard to other men._
879.
_To be obsessed by moral considerations_ presupposes a very low
grade of intellect: it shows that the instinct for special rights,
for standing apart, the feeling of freedom in creative natures, in
"children of God" (or of the devil), is lacking. And irrespective of
whether _he_ preaches a ruling morality or _criticises_ the prevailing
ethical code from the point of view of his own ideal: by doing these
things a man shows that he belongs to the herd--even though he may be
what it is most in need of--that is to say, a "shepherd."
880.
We should substitute morality by the will to our own ends, and
_consequently_ to the means to them.
881.
_Concerning the order of rank._--What is it that constitutes the
_mediocrity_ of the typical man? That he does not understand that
things necessarily have _their other side;_ that he combats evil
conditions as if they could be dispensed with, that he will not take
the one with the other; that he would fain obliterate and erase the
_specific character of a thing,_ of a circumstance, of an age, and
of a person, by calling only a portion of their qualities good, and
suppressing the remainder. The "desirability" of the mediocre is that
which we others combat: their _ideal_ is something which shall no
longer contain anything harmful, evil, dangerous, questionable, and
destructive. We recognise the reverse of this: that with every growth
of man his other side must grow as well; that the highest man, if
such a concept be allowed, would be that man who would represent _the
antagonistic character of existence_ most strikingly, and would be its
glory and its only justification.... Ordinary men may only represent
a small corner and nook of this natural character; they perish the
moment the multifariousness of the elements composing them, and the
tension between their antagonistic traits, increases: but this is the
prerequisite for greatness in man. That man should become better and at
the same time more evil, is my formula for this inevitable fact.
The majority of people are only piecemeal and fragmentary examples
of man: only when all these creatures are jumbled together does one
whole man arise Whole ages and whole peoples in this sense, have a
fragmentary character about them; it may perhaps be part of the economy
of human development that man should develop himself only piecemeal.
But, for this reason, one should not forget that the only important
consideration is the rise of the synthetic man; that inferior men, and
by far the great majority of people, are but rehearsals and exercises
out of which here and there a whole man may arise; a man who is a
human milestone, and who indicates how far mankind has advanced up to
a certain point. Mankind does not advance in a straight line,--often
a type is attained which is again lost (for instance, with all the
efforts of three hundred years, we have not reached the men of the
Renaissance again, and in addition to this we must not forget that the
man of the Renaissance was already behind his brother of classical
antiquity).
882.
The superiority of the Greek and the man of the Renaissance is
recognised, but people would like to produce them without the
conditions and causes of which they were the result.
883.
_"Purification of taste"_ can only be the result of the _strengthening_
of the type. Our society to-day represents only the cultivating
systems, the cultivated man is _lacking._ The great _synthetic man,_ in
whom the various forces for attaining a purpose are correctly harnessed
together, is altogether wanting. The specimen we possess is the
_multifarious_ man, the most interesting form of chaos that has ever
existed: but _not_ the chaos _preceding_ the creation of the world, but
that following it: _Goethe_ as the most beautiful expression of the
type (_completely and utterly un-Olympian_!)[3]
[Footnote 3: The Germans always call Goethe the Olympian.--Tr.]
884.
Handel, Leibniz, Goethe, and Bismarck, are characteristic of the
_strong German type._ They lived with equanimity, surrounded by
contrasts. They were full of that agile kind of strength which
cautiously avoids convictions and doctrines, by using the one as a
weapon against the other, and reserving absolute freedom for themselves.
885.
Of this I am convinced, that if the rise of great and rare men had
been made dependent upon the voices of the multitude (taking for
granted, of course, that the latter knew the qualities which belong
to greatness, and also the price that all greatness pays for its
self-development), then there would never have been any such thing as a
great man!
The fact that things pursue their course _independently_ of the voice
of the many, is the reason why, a few astonishing things have taken
place on earth.
886.
_The Order of Rank in Human Values._
_(a)_ A man should not be valued according to isolated acts. _Epidermal
actions._ Nothing is more rare than a _personal_ act. Class, rank,
race, environment, accident--all these things are much more likely to
be expressed in an action or deed than the "personality" of the doer.
_(b)_ We should on no account jump to the conclusion that there are
many people who are personalities. Some men are but conglomerations
of personalities, whilst the majority are not even _one._ In all
cases in which those average qualities preponderate, which ensure
the maintenance of the species, to be a personality would involve
unnecessary expense, it would be a luxury in fact, it would be
foolish to demand of anybody that he should be a personality. In such
circumstances everybody is a channel or a transmitting vessel.
_(c)_ A "personality" is a relatively _isolated_ phenomenon; in view of
the superior importance of the continuation of the race at an average
level, a personality might even be regarded as something _hostile to
nature._ For a personality to be possible, timely isolation and the
necessity for an existence of offence and defence, are prerequisites;
something in the nature of a walled enclosure, a capacity for shutting
out the world; but above all, a much _lower degree of sensitiveness_
than the average man has, who is too easily infected with the views of
others.
The first _question_ concerning the _order of rank:_ how far is a man
disposed to be _solitary_ or _gregarious?_ (in the latter case, his
value consists in those qualities which secure the survival of his
tribe or his type; in the former case, his qualities are those which
distinguish him from others, which isolate and defend him, and make his
_solitude possible_).
_Consequence:_ the solitary type should not be valued from the
standpoint of the gregarious type, or _vice versâ._
Viewed from above, both types are necessary; as is likewise their
antagonism,--and nothing is _more_ thoroughly reprehensible than
the "desire" which would develop a _third_ thing out of the two
("virtue" as hermaphroditism). This is as little worthy of desire as
the equalisation and reconciliation of the sexes. The _distinguishing
qualities must be developed ever more and more,_ the gulf must _be made
ever wider...._
The concept of _degeneration_ in both cases: the approximation of
the qualities of the herd to those of solitary creatures: and _vice
versâ_--in short, when they begin to _resemble_ each other. This
concept of degeneration is beyond the sphere of moral judgments.
887.
Where the _strongest natures_ are to be sought. The ruin and
degeneration of the _solitary_ species is much greater and more
terrible: they have the instincts of the herd, and the tradition of
values, against them; their weapons of defence, their instincts of
self-preservation, are from the beginning insufficiently strong and
reliable--fortune must be peculiarly favourable to them if they are _to
prosper_ (they prosper best in the lowest ranks and dregs of society;
if ye are seeking _personalities_ it is there that ye will find them
with much greater certainty than in the middle classes!)
When the dispute between ranks and classes, which aims at equality of
rights, is almost settled, the fight will begin against the _solitary
person._ (In a certain sense _the latter can maintain and develop
himself most easily in a democratic society:_ there where the coarser
means of defence are no longer necessary, and a certain habit of
order, honesty, justice, trust, is already a general condition.) The
_strongest_ must be most tightly bound, most strictly watched, laid
in chains and supervised: this is the instinct of the herd. To them
belongs a régime of self-mastery, of ascetic detachment, of "duties"
consisting in exhausting work, in which one can no longer call one's
soul one's own.
888.
I am attempting an _economic_ justification of virtue. The object is to
make man as useful as possible, and to make him approximate as nearly
as one can to an infallible machine: to this end he must be equipped
with _machine-like virtues_ (he must learn to value those states in
which he works in a most mechanically useful way, as the highest of
all: to this end it is necessary to make him as disgusted as possible
with the other states, and to represent them as very dangerous and
despicable).
Here is the first stumbling-block: the tediousness and monotony
which all mechanical activity brings with it. To learn to endure
_this_--and not only to endure it, but to see tedium enveloped in a
ray of exceeding charm: this hitherto has been the task of all higher
schools. To learn something which you don't care a fig about, and to
find precisely your "duty" in this "objective" activity; to learn to
value happiness and duty as things apart; this is the invaluable task
and performance of higher schools. It is on this account that the
philologist has, hitherto, been the educator _per se:_ because his
activity, in itself, affords the best pattern of magnificent monotony
in action; under his banner youths learn to "swat": first prerequisite
for the thorough fulfilment of mechanical duties in the future (as
State officials, husbands, slaves of the desk, newspaper readers,
and soldiers). Such an existence may perhaps require a philosophical
glorification and justification more than any other: pleasurable
feelings must be valued by some sort of infallible tribunal, as
altogether of inferior rank; "duty _per se_" perhaps even the pathos
of reverence in regard to everything unpleasant,--must be demanded
imperatively as that which is above all useful, delightful, and
practical things.... A mechanical form of existence regarded as the
highest and most respectable form of existence, worshipping itself
(type: Kant as the fanatic of the formal concept "Thou shalt").
889.
The economic valuation of all the ideals that have existed
hitherto--that is to say, the selection and rearing of definite
passions and states at the cost of other passions and states. The
lawgiver (or the instinct of the community) selects a number of states
and passions the existence of which guarantees the performance of
regular actions (mechanical actions would thus be the result of the
regular requirements of those passions and states).
In the event of these states and passions containing ingredients
which were painful, a means would have to be found for overcoming
this painfulness by means of a valuation; pain would have to be
interpreted as something valuable, as something pleasurable in a higher
sense. Conceived in a formula: "_How does something unpleasant become
pleasant?_" For instance, when our obedience and our submission to the
law become honoured, thanks to the energy, power, and self-control
they entail. The same holds good of our public spirit, of our
neighbourliness, of our patriotism, our "humanisation," our "altruism,"
and our "heroism." The _object of all idealism_ should, be to induce
people to do unpleasant things cheerfully.
890.
The _belittlement_ of man must be held as the chief aim for a long
while: because what is needed in the first place is a broad basis from
which a stronger species of man may arise (to what extent hitherto has
_every stronger_ species of man arisen from a _substratum of inferior
people?_).
891.
The absurd and contemptible form of idealism which would not have
mediocrity mediocre, and which instead of feeling triumphant at being
exceptional, becomes _indignant_ at cowardice, falseness, pettiness,
and wretchedness. _We should not wish things to be any different,_ we
should make the gulfs even _wider_!--The higher types among men should
be compelled to distinguish themselves by means of the sacrifices which
they make to their own existence.
_Principal point of view; distances_ must be established, but _no
contrasts must be created._ The _middle classes_ must be dissolved, and
their influence decreased: this is the principal means of maintaining
distances.
892.
Who would dare to disgust the mediocre of their mediocrity! As
you observe, I do precisely the reverse: every step away from
mediocrity--thus do I teach--leads to _immorality._
893.
To hate mediocrity is unworthy of a philosopher: it is almost a note of
interrogation to his "_right_ to philosophy." It is precisely because
he is the exception that he must protect the rule and ingratiate all
mediocre people.
894.
What I combat: that an exceptional form should make war upon the
rule--instead of understanding that the continued existence of the rule
is the first condition of the value of the exception. For instance,
there are women who, instead of considering their abnormal thirst for
knowledge as a distinction, would fain dislocate the whole status of
womanhood.
895.
The _increase of strength_ despite the temporary ruin of the
individual:--
A new level must be established;
We must have a method of storing up forces for the maintenance of small
performances, in opposition to economic waste;
Destructive nature must for once be reduced to an _instrument_ of this
economy of the future;
The weak must be maintained, because there is an enormous mass of
_finicking_ work to be done;
The weak and the suffering must be upheld in their belief that
existence is still possible;
_Solidarity_ must be implanted as an instinct opposed to the instinct
of fear and servility;
War must be made upon accident, even upon the accident of "the great
man."
896.
War upon _great_ men justified on economic grounds. Great men are
dangerous; they are accidents, exceptions, tempests, which are strong
enough to question things which it has taken time to build and
establish. Explosive material must not only be discharged harmlessly,
but, if possible, its discharge must be _prevented_ altogether, this is
the fundamental instinct of all civilised society.
897.
He who thinks over the question of how the type man may be elevated
to its highest glory and power, will realise from the start that he
must place himself beyond morality; for morality was directed in its
essentials at the opposite goal--that is to say, its aim was to arrest
and to annihilate that glorious development wherever it was in process
of accomplishment. For, as a matter of fact, development of that sort
implies that such an enormous number of men must be subservient to
it, that a _counter-movement_ is only too natural: the weaker, more
delicate, more mediocre existences, find it necessary to take up sides
_against_ that glory of life and power; and for that purpose they
must get a new valuation of themselves by means of which they are
able to condemn, and if possible to destroy, life in this high degree
of plenitude. Morality is therefore essentially the expression of
hostility to life, in so far as it would overcome vital types.
898.
_The strong of the future._--To what extent necessity on the one hand
and accident on the other have attained to conditions from which a
_stronger species_ may be reared: this we are now able to understand
and to bring about consciously; we can now create those conditions
under which such an elevation is possible.
Hitherto education has always aimed at the utility of society: _not_
the greatest possible utility for the future, but the utility of the
society actually extant. What people required were "instruments" for
this purpose. Provided the _wealth of forces were greater,_ it would
be possible to think of a draft being made upon them, the aim of which
would not be the utility of society, but some future utility.
The more people grasped to what extent the present form of society
was in such a state of transition as sooner or later to be _no longer
able to exist for its own sake,_ but only as a means in the hands of a
stronger race, the more _this task would have to be brought forward._
The increasing belittlement of man is precisely the impelling
power which leads one to think of the cultivation of a _stronger
race:_ a race which would have a surplus precisely there where the
dwarfed species was weak and growing weaker (will, responsibility,
self-reliance, the ability to postulate aims for one's self).
The means would be those which history teaches: _isolation_ by means of
preservative interests which would be the reverse of those generally
accepted; exercise in transvalued valuations; distance as pathos; a
clean conscience in what to-day is most despised and most prohibited.
The _levelling_ of the mankind of Europe is the great process which
should not be arrested; it should even be accelerated. The necessity of
_cleaving gulfs,_ of _distance,_ of the _order of rank,_ is therefore
imperative; but not the necessity of retarding the process above
mentioned.
This _levelled-down_ species requires justification as soon as it is
attained: its justification is that it exists for the service of a
higher and sovereign race which stands upon it and can only be elevated
upon its shoulders to the task which it is destined to perform. Not
only a ruling race whose task would be consummated in ruling alone:
but a race with _vital spheres_ of its own, with an overflow of energy
for beauty, bravery, culture, and manners, even for the most abstract
thought; a yea-saying race which would be able to allow itself every
kind of great luxury--strong enough to be able to dispense with the
tyranny of the imperatives of virtue, rich enough to be in no need of
economy or pedantry; beyond good and evil; a forcing-house for rare and
exceptional plants.
899.
Our psychologists, whose glance dwells involuntarily upon the symptoms
of decadence, lead us to mistrust intellect ever more and more. People
persist in seeing only the weakening, pampering, and sickening effects
of intellect, but there are now going to appear:--
New Cynics The union of intellectual
barbarians Experimentalists superiority with well-being
Conquerors and an overflow of strength.
900.
I point to something new: certainly for such a democratic community
there is a danger of barbarians; but these are sought only down below.
There is also _another kind of barbarians_ who come from the heights: a
kind of conquering and ruling natures, which are in search of material
that they can mould. Prometheus was a barbarian of this stamp.
901.
_Principal standpoint:_ one should not suppose the mission of a higher
species to be the _leading_ of inferior men (as Comte does, for
instance); but the inferior should be regarded as the _foundation_
upon which a higher species may live their higher life--upon which
alone they _can stand._ The conditions under which a _strong, noble_
species maintains itself (in the matter of intellectual discipline) are
precisely the reverse of those under which the industrial masses--the
tea-grocers _à la_ Spencer--subsist. Those qualities which are within
the grasp only of the _strongest_ and most _terrible_ natures, and
which make their existence possible leisure, adventure, disbelief, and
even dissipation--would necessarily ruin mediocre natures --and does
do so--when they possess them. In the case of the latter industry,
regularity, moderation, and strong "conviction" are in their proper
place--in short, all "gregarious virtues": under their influence these
mediocre men become perfect.
902.
_Concerning the ruling types._ The shepherd as opposed to the "lord"
(the former is only a means to the maintenance of the herd; the latter,
the _purpose_ for which the herd exists).
903.
The temporary preponderance of social valuations is both comprehensible
and useful; it is a matter of building a _foundation_ upon which a
_stronger_ species will ultimately be made possible. The standard
of strength: to be able to live under the transvalued valuations,
and to desire them for all eternity. State and society regarded as a
sub-structure: economic point of view, education conceived as breeding.
904.
A consideration which "free spirits" _lack_: that the same discipline
which makes a strong nature still stronger, and enables it to go in for
big undertakings, _breaks up and withers the mediocre_: doubt --_la
largeur de cœur_--experiment--independence.
905.
The hammer. How should men who must value in the opposite way be
constituted?--Men who possess _all_ the qualities of the modern soul,
but are strong enough to convert them into real health? The means to
their task.
906.
The strong man, who is mighty in the instincts of a strong and healthy
organisation, digests his deeds just as well as he digests his meals;
he even gets over the effects of heavy fare: in the main, however, he
is led by an inviolable and severe instinct which prevents his doing
anything which goes against his grain, just as he never does anything
against his taste.
907.
_Can_ we _foresee_ the favourable circumstances under which creatures
of the highest value might arise? It is a thousand times too
complicated, and the probabilities of failure are _very great:_ on that
account we cannot be inspired by the thought of striving after them!
Scepticism.--To oppose this we can enhance courage, insight, hardness,
independence, and the feeling of responsibility; we can also subtilise
and learn to forestall the delicacy of the scales, so that favourable
accidents may be enlisted on our side.
908.
Before we can even think of acting, an enormous amount of work requires
to be done. In the main, however, _a cautious exploitation_ of the
present conditions would be our best and most advisable course of
action. The actual _creation_ of conditions such as those which occur
by accident, presupposes the existence of _iron_ men such as have not
yet lived. Our first task must be to make the personal ideal _prevail_
and _become realised_! He who has understood the nature of man and _the
origin of mankind's greatest specimens, shudders before man and takes
flight from all action_: this is the result of inherited valuations!!
My consolation is, that the nature of man is _evil,_ and this
guarantees his _strength_!
909.
_The typical forms of self-development, or the eight principal
questions:_--