Nietzsche and Other Exponents of Individualism — Nietzsche — John Shaqi
Nietzsche and Other Exponents of Individualism
Nietzsche · en
Nietzsche is on the right track when he ridicules such ideals as
"virtue for virtue's sake," and even "truth for truth's sake." Virtue
and truth are for the sake of life. They have not their purpose in
themselves, but their nature consists in serving the expansion and
further growth of the human soul. This is a truth which we have always
insisted upon and which becomes apparent when those people who speak of
virtue for its own sake try to define virtue, or determine the ultimate
standard of right and wrong, of goodness and badness. We say, that
whatever enhances soulgrowth, thus producing higher life and begetting
a superior humanity, is good; while whatever cripples or retards those
aspirations is bad. Further, truth is not holy in itself. It becomes
holy in the measure that it serves man's holiest aspirations. We
sometimes meet among scientists, and especially among philologists,
men who with the ideal of "truth for truth's sake," pursue some very
trivial investigations, such, for example, as the use of the accusative
after certain prepositions in Greek, or how often Homer is guilty of a
hiatus. They resemble Faust's famulus Wagner, whom Faust characterizes
as a fool
".... whose choice is
To stick in shallow trash for ever more,
Who digs with eager hand for buried ore,
And when he finds an angle-worm rejoices."
Thus there are many trivial truths of no importance, the investigation
of which serves no useful purpose. For instance, whether the correct
pronunciation of the Greek letter _êta_; was _ee_ or _ay_ need not
concern us much, and the philologist who devotes all his life and his
best strength to its settlement is rather to be pitied than admired.
Various truths are very different in value, for life and truth become
holy according to their importance. All this granted, we need not, with
Nietzsche, discard truth, reason, virtue, and all moral aspirations.
Nietzsche apparently is under the illusion that reason, systematic
thought, moral discipline and self-control, are external powers, and
in his love of liberty he objects to their authority. Did he ever
consider that thought is not an external agent, but a clarification of
man's instincts, and that discipline is, or at least in its purpose
and final aim ought to be, self-regulation, so that our contradictory
thoughts would not wage an internecine war? Thus, Nietzsche, the
instinct-philosopher, appears as an ingenious boy whose very
immaturity is regarded by himself as the highest blossom of his
existence. Like an intoxicated youth, he revels in his irresponsibility
and laughs at the man who has learned to take life seriously. Because
the love of truth originates from instincts, Nietzsche treats it as a
mere instinct, and nothing else. He forgets that in the evolution of
man's soul all instincts develop into something higher than instinct,
and the love of truth develops into systematic science.