What is it that bestows _authority_ upon men who have no physical power to wield (no army, no arms at all ...)? How do such men gain authority _over_ those who are in possession of material power, and who represent authority? (Philosophers enter the lists against princes, victorious conquerors, and wise statesmen.) They can do it only by establishing the belief that they are in possession of a power which is higher and stronger--_God._ Nothing is strong enough: every one is in _need_ of the mediation and the services of priests. They establish themselves as indispensable _intercessors._ The conditions of their existence are: (1) That people believe in the absolute superiority of their god, in fact believe in _their god_'; (2) that there is no other access, no direct access to god, save through them. The _second_ condition alone gives rise to the concept "heterodoxy"; the _first_ to the concept "disbelievers" (that is to say, he who believes in another god). 141. _A Criticism of the Holy Lie._--That a lie is allowed in pursuit of holy ends 'is a principle which belongs to the theory of all priestcraft, and the object of this inquiry is to discover to what extent it belongs to its practice. But philosophers, too, whenever they intend taking over the leadership of mankind, with the ulterior motives of priests in their minds, have never failed to arrogate to themselves the right to lie: Plato above all. But the most elaborate of lies is the double lie, developed by the typically Arian philosophers of the Vedanta: two systems, contradicting each other in all their main points, but interchangeable, complementary, and mutually expletory, when educational ends were in question. The lie of the one has to create a condition in which the truth of the other can alone become _intelligible...._ How _far_ does the holy lie of priests and philosophers go?--The question here is, what hypotheses do they advance in regard to education, and what are the dogmas they are compelled to _invent_ in order to do justice to these hypotheses? First: they must have power, authority, and absolute credibility on their side. Secondly: they must have the direction of the whole of Nature, so that everything affecting the individual seems to be determined by their law.