_Thesis_: The appearance of moralists belongs to periods when morality is declining. _Thesis_: The moralist is a dissipator of moral instincts, however much he may appear to be their restorer. _Thesis_: That which really prompts the action of a moralist is not a moral instinct, but the _instincts of decadence,_ translated into the forms of morality (he regards the growing uncertainty of the instincts as _corruption_). _Thesis_: The _instincts of decadence_ which, thanks to moralists, wish to become master of the instinctive morality of stronger races and ages, are:-- (1) The instincts of the weak and of the botched; (2) The instincts of the exceptions, of the anchorites, of the unhinged, of the abortions of quality or of the reverse; (3) The instincts of the habitually suffering, who require a noble interpretation of their condition, and who therefore require to be as poor physiologists as possible. 424. The humbug of the _scientific spirit._--One should not affect the spirit of science, when the time to be scientific is not yet at hand; but even the genuine investigator has to abandon vanity, and has to affect a certain kind of method which is not yet seasonable. Neither should we falsify things and thoughts, which we have arrived at differently, by means of a false arrangement of deduction and dialectics. It is thus that Kant in his "morality" falsifies his inner tendency to psychology; a more modern example of the same thing is Herbert Spencer's _Ethics._ A man should neither conceal nor misrepresent the _facts_ concerning the way in which he conceived his thoughts. The deepest and most inexhaustible books will certainly always have something of the aphoristic and impetuous character of Pascal's _Pensées_. The motive forces and valuations have lain long below the surface; that which comes uppermost is their effect. I guard against all the humbug of a false scientific spirit:-- (1) In respect of the manner of _demonstration,_ if it does not correspond to the genesis of the thoughts; (2) In respect of the demands for _methods_ which, at a given period in science, may be quite impossible; (3) In respect of the demand for _objectivity_ for cold impersonal treatment, where, as in the case of all valuations, we describe ourselves and our intimate experiences in a couple of words. There are ludicrous forms of vanity, as, for instance, Sainte-Beuve's. He actually worried himself all his life because he had shown some warmth or passion either "_pro_" or "con," and he would fein have lied that fact out of his life. 425. "Objectivity" in the philosopher: moral indifference in regard to one's self, blindness in regard to either favourable or fetal circumstances. Unscrupulousness in the use of dangerous means; perversity and complexity of character considered as an advantage and exploited.