A man like Nietzsche, who makes so little impression upon mankind in
general, is certainly not, as some people have thought and openly said, a
public danger, so the guardians of the State need not be uneasy. There is
little danger of Nietzsche’s revolutionising either the masses or the
classes; for, as Goethe used to say, “Seulement celui qui ressemble le
peuple, l’émeut.” Nietzsche’s voice has as yet hardly been lifted in this
country; and, until it is fully heard, both masses and classes will calmly
proceed on their way to the extremes of democracy and anarchy, as they now
appear to be doing. Anarchy, though, may be too strong a word; for there
is some doubt whether, throughout Europe and America at all events, the
people are not now too weak even for anarchy. A revolt is a sign of
strength in a slave; but our modern slaves have no strength left.
In the meantime, however, it will have become clear that Nietzsche tried
to stop this threatening degradation of the human race, that he
endeavoured to supplant the morality of altruism—the cause of this
degradation—by another, a super-Christian morality, and that he has
succeeded in this aim, if not where the masses and the classes are
concerned, at any rate in the case of that small minority of thinkers to
which he really wished to appeal. And this minority is naturally grateful
to the philosopher for having supplied them with a morality which enables
them to be “good” without being fools—an unpleasant combination which,
unfortunately, the Nazarene morality is seldom able to avoid. This
Nazarene morality has doubtless its own merits, and its “good” and “evil”
in many cases coincide with ours; but common sense and certain
intellectual qualities are not too highly appreciated in the table of
Christian values (see, for instance, 1 Cor. iii. 19), whence it will be
observed that the enlightenment of a Christian is not always quite equal
to his otherwise excellent intentions. We Nietzschians, however, must show
that patience to them which they always pretend to show to their
opponents. Nietzsche himself, indeed, recommends this in Aphorism 103 of
this book, an aphorism which is almost too well known to need repetition;
for it likewise disproves the grotesque though widely circulated
supposition that all kinds of immorality would be indulged in under the
sway of the “Immoralistic” philosopher:
“I should not, of course, deny—unless I were a fool—that many actions
which are called immoral should be avoided and resisted; and in the same
way that many which are called moral should be performed and encouraged;
but I hold that in both cases these actions should be performed from
motives other than those which have prevailed up to the present time. We
must learn anew in order that at last, perhaps very late in the day, we
may be able to do something more: feel anew.”