_The notion "decadence":--Decay, decline,_ and _waste,_ are, _per se,_ in no way open to objection; they are the natural consequences of life and vital growth. The phenomenon of decadence is just as necessary to life as advance or progress is: we are not in a position which enables us to _suppress_ it. On the contrary, reason _would have it retain its rights._ It is disgraceful on the part of socialist-theorists to argue that circumstances and social combinations could be devised which would put an end to all vice, illness, crime, prostitution, and poverty.... But that is tantamount to condemning _Life_ ... a society is not at liberty to remain young. And even in its prime it must bring forth ordure and decaying matter. The more energetically and daringly it advances, the richer will it be in failures and in deformities, and the nearer it will be to its fall. Age is not deferred by means of institutions. Nor is illness. Nor is vice. 41. Fundamental aspect of the nature of decadence: _what has heretofore been regarded as its causes are its effects._ In this way, the whole perspective _of the problems of morality_ is altered. All the struggle of morals against vice, luxury, crime, and even against illness, seems a _naïveté,_ a superfluous effort: there is no such thing as "_improvement_" (a word against _repentance_). Decadence itself is not a thing _that can be withstood_: it is absolutely necessary and is proper to all ages and all peoples. That which must be withstood, and by all means in our power, is the spreading of the contagion among the sound parts of the organism. Is that done? The very _reverse_ is done. It is precisely on this account that one makes a stand on behalf of _humanity._ How do the _highest values_ created hitherto stand in relation to this fundamental question in _biology_? Philosophy, religion, morality, art, etc. (The remedy: militarism, for instance, from Napoleon onwards, who regarded civilisation as his natural enemy.) 42. All those things which heretofore have been regarded as the _causes of degeneration,_ are really its effects. But those things also which have been regarded as the _remedies_ of degeneration are only _palliatives_ of certain effects thereof: the "cured" are _types of the degenerate._ _The results of decadence_: vice--viciousness; illness--sickliness; crime--criminality; celibacy--sterility; hysteria--the weakness of the will; alcoholism; pessimism, anarchy; debauchery (also of the spirit). The calumniators, underminers, sceptics, and destroyers. 43. Concerning the notion "decadence." (1) Scepticism is a result of decadence: just as spiritual debauchery is. (2) Moral corruption is a result of decadence (the weakness of the will and the need of strong stimulants). (3) Remedies, whether psychological or moral, do not alter the march of decadence, they do not arrest anything; physiologically they do not count.