Metaphysicians praise the transcendental, and carefully avoid it. Nietzsche hated metaphysics, he praised the earth--_bleib nur der Erde treu, O meine Bruder_--and always lived in the realm of the transcendental. Of course the metaphysicians behave better: this is indisputable. He who would be a teacher must proclaim the metaphysical point of view, and he may become a hero without ever smelling powder. In these anxious days, when positivism seems to fall short, one cannot do better than turn to metaphysics. Then the young man need not any more envy Alexander the Macedonian. With the assistance of a few books not only earthly states are conquered, but the whole mysterious universe. Metaphysics is the great art of swerving round dangerous experience. So metaphysicians should be called the positivists _par excellence_. They do not despise all experience, as they assert, but _only the dangerous experiences_. They adapt the safest of all methods of selfdefence, what the English call protective mimicry. Let us repeat to all students--professors know it already: he who would be a sincere metaphysician must avoid risky experience. Schiller once asked: How can tragedy give delight? The answer--to put it in our own words--was: If we are to obtain delight from tragedy, it must be seen only upon the stage.--In order to love the transcendental it also should be known only from the stage, or from books of the philosophers. This is called idealism, the nicest word ever invented by philosophising men. 5