No More Learning

7 44'
Ah ! and the philosophy of jurisprudence ! That is a science which, like all moral sciences, has not even been wrapped in swaddling-clothes yet. Even among jurists who consider themselves liberal, the oldest and most valuable significance of punish ment is still misunderstood--it is not even known. So long as jurisprudence does not build upon a new foundation--on history and comparative an thropology--it will never cease to quarrel over the fundamentally false abstractions which are fondly imagined to be the "philosophy of law," and which have nothing whatever to do with modern man.
The man of to-day, however, is such a complicated woof even in regard to his legal valuation that he allows of the most varied interpretation.
745
An old Chinese sage once said he had heard that when mighty empires were doomed they began to have numberless laws.
746
Schopenhauer would have all rapscallions cast rated, and all geese shut up in convents. But from
? ? ? ? 202 THE \VILL TO POWER.
what point of view would this be desirable? The rascal has at least this advantage over other men-- that he is not mediocre; and the fool is superior to us inasmuch as he does not suffer at the sight of mediocrity. It would be better to widen the gulf--that is to say, roguery and stupidity should
be increased. In this way human nature would become broader . . . but, after all, this is Fate, and it will happen, whether we desire it or not. Idiocy and roguery are increasing: this is part of modern
progress.
'
747
Society, to-day, is full of consideration, tact, and reticence, and of good-natured respect for other people's rights--even for the exactions of strangers. To an even greater degree is there a certain charit able and instinctive depreciation of the worthof man as shown by all manner of trustful habits. Respect for men, and not only for the most virtuous, is
perhaps the real parting of the ways between us and the Christian mythologists. We also have our good share of irony even when listening to moral sermons. He who preaches morality to us debases himself in our eyes and becomes almost comical. Liberal-mindedness regarding morality is one of the best signs of our age. In cases where it is most distinctly wanting, we regard it as a sign of a morbid condition (the case of Carlyle in England,
of Ibsen in Norway, and Schopenhauer's pessimism throughout Europe). If there is anything which can reconcile us to our own age, it is precisely the amount of immorality which it allows itself without
? ? ? ? SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
falling in its own estimation--very much the re verse ! In what, then, does the superiority of culture over the want of culture consist--of the Renais sance, for instance, over the Middle Ages ? In this alone: the greater quantity of acknowledged im morality. From this it necessarily follows that the very zenith of human development must be regarded by the moral fanatic as the non plus ultra of cor ruption (in this connection let us recall Savona rola's judgment of Florence, Plato's indictment of Athens under Pericles, Luther's condemnation of Rome, Rousseau's anathemas against the society of Voltaire, and Germany's hostility to Goethe).
748
A little more fresh air, for Heaven's sake! This ridiculous condition of Europe must not last any longer. Is there a single idea behind this bovine nationalism? What possible value can there be in encouraging this arrogant self-conceit when every thing togday points to greater and more common interests ? --at a moment when the spiritual de pendence and denationalisation, which are obvious to all, are paving the way for the reciprocal rapprochements and fertilisations which make up the real value and sense of present-day culture! . . . And it is precisely now that "the new German Empire " has been founded upon the most thread bare and discredited of ideas--universal suffrage
'and equal right for all.
Think of all this struggling for advantage among
conditions which are in every way degenerate: of
203
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THE WILL TO POWER.
this culture of big cities, of newspapers, of hurry and
scurry, and of " aimlessness " I
The economic unity of Europe must necessarily come--and with as
reaction, the pacivist movement.
A pacivist party, free from all sentimentality,
which forbids its children to wage war; which forbids recourse to courts of justice; which for swears all fighting, all contradiction, and all perse cution for while the party of the oppressed, and later the powerful party :--this party would be op
posed to everything in the shape of revenge and resentment.
There will also be war party, exercising the same thoroughness and severity towards itself, which will proceed in precisely the opposite direction.
749
The princes of Europe should really consider whether as a matter of fact they can dispense with our services--with us, the immoralists. We are to-day the only power which can win a victory without allies: and we are therefore far and away the strongest of the strong. We can even do with
' out lying, and let me ask what other power can dispense with this weapon? A strong temptation fights for us the strongest, perhaps, that exists _the temptation of truth. . Truth? How do
come by this word? must withdraw must repudiate this proud word. But no. We do not even want it--we shall be quite able to achieve our victory of power without its help. The real charm which fights for us, the eye of Venus which our
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opponents themselves deaden and blind--this charm the magic of the extreme. The fascina tion which everything extreme exercises: we immoralists---we are in every way the extremists.
75?
The corrupted ruling classes have brought ruling into evil odour. The State administration ofjustice piece of cowardice, because the great man who can serve as standard lacking. At last
the feeling of insecurity becomes so great that men fall in the dust before any sort of will-power that commands.
751
" The will to power " so loathed in democratic ages that the whole of the psychology of these ages seems directed towards its belittlement and slander. The types of men who sought the highest honours are said to have been Napoleon Caesar! and Alexander ! --as these had not been precisely the greatest scorners of honour.
And Helvetius Would fain show us that we strive after power in order to have those pleasures which are at the disposal of the mighty--that to say, according to him, this striving after power _is the will to pleasure--hedonisml
752.
According as to whether people feels: "the rights, the keenness of vision, and the gifts of lead ing, etc. , are with the few " or " with the many "---
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it constitutes an oligarchic or a democratic com munity.
Monarchy represents the belief in a man who is completely superior--a leader, a saviour, a demigod.
Aristocracy represents the belief in a chosen few--in a higher caste.
Democracy represents the disbelief in all great men and in all e? lite societies: everybody is every body else's equal. "At bottom we are all herd and mob. "
753
I am opposed to Socialism because it dreams . ingenuously of " goodness, truth, beauty, and equal rights" (anarchy pursues the same ideal,
but in a more brutal fashion).
I am opposed to parliamentary government
and the power Of the press, because they are the means whereby cattle become masters.
754
The arming of the people means in the end the arming of the mob.
755
Socialists are particularly ridiculous in my eyes, because of their absurd optimism concerning the "good man" who is supposed to be waiting in their cupboard, and who will come into being when the
present order of society has been overturned and has made way for natural instincts. But the
? ? ? ? SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
207
opposing party quite as ludicrous, because will not see the act of violence which lies beneath every law, the severity and egoism inherent in every kind of authority. "I and my kind will rule and prevail. Whoever degenerates will be either expelled or annihilated. "--This was the fundamental feeling of all ancient legislation. The idea of a higher order of man hated much more profoundly than monarchs themselves. Hatred of aristocracy always uses hatred of
as mask.
756.
monarchy
? __
How treacherous are all parties! They bring to light something concerning their leaders which the latter, perhaps, have hitherto kept hidden beneath a bushel with consummate art.
757
Modern Socialism would fain create profane counterpart to jesuitism: everybody perfect instrument. But as to the object of all, the
purpose of it--this has not yet been ascertained.
753
The slavery of to-a'ay piece of barbarism. Where are the masters for whom these slaves work? One must not always expect the simultaneous appearance of the two complement ary castes of society.
Utility and pleasure are slave theories of life.
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" The blessing of work " is an ennobling phrase for slaves. Incapacity for leisure.
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759
There is no such thing as a right to live, a right to work, or a right to be happy: in this
'respect man is not different from the meanest worm.
760.
We must undoubtedly think of these things as uncompromisingly as Nature does: they preserve the species.
761.
We should look upon the needs of the masses with ironic compassion: they want something which we have got--Ah!
762.
European democracy is only in a very slight
? the manifestation of unfettered powers. It represents, above all, the unfettering of laziness, fatigue, and weakness.
763
Concerning the future of the workman--Work men should learn to regard their duties as soldiers do. They receive emoluments, incomes, but they do not get wages!
There is no relationship between work done and money received; the individual should,
degree
? ? ? SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL
according to his kind, be so placed as to perfom the lug/zest that compatible with his powers.
76+
Noblemen ought one day to live as the bour geois do now--but above them, distinguishing themselves by the simplicity of their wants-- the superior caste will then live in
and simpler way and yet be in possession of power.
For lower orders of mankind the reverse valuations hold good: matter of implanting "virtues " in them. Absolute commands, terrible compulsory methods, in order that they may rise above mere ease in life. The remainder may
but their vanity demands that they may feel themselves dependent, not upon great men, but upon principles.
765.
" T/ze Atonement of all Sin. "
obey,
of the " profound injustice " of the social arrangement, as the fact that one man born in favourable circumstances and that
another born unfavourable ones--or that one should possess gifts the other has not, were on the face of an injustice. Among the more honest of these opponents of society, this what
said: "We, with all the bad, morbid, criminal
People speak
which we acknowledge we possess, are only the inevitable result of the oppression for
qualities vor. . 1:.
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ages of the weak by the strong " ; thus they insinu ate their evil natures into the consciences of the ruling classes. They threaten and storm and curse. They become virtuous from sheer indignation-- they don't want to have become bad men and canaille for nothing. The name for this attitude, which is an invention of the last century, is, if I am not mistaken, pessimism; and even that pessimism which is the outcome of indignation. It is in this attitude of mind that history is judged, that it is deprived of its inevitable fatality, and that
responsibility and even guilt is discovered in it. For the great desideratum is to find guilty people in it. The botched and the bungled, the de cadents of all kinds, are revolted at themselves, and require sacrifices in order that they may not
slake their thirst for destruction upon themselves
? might, indeed, be the most reasonable
(which
procedure).
require a semblance of justification, i. e. a theory according to which the fact of their existence, and of their character, may be expiated by a scapegoat. This scapegoat may be God,--in Russia such resentful atheists are not wanting,--or the order
of society, or education and upbringing, or the jews, or the nobles, or, finally, the well-constituted of every kind. "It is a sin for a man to have been born in decent circumstances, for by so doing he disinherits the others, he pushes them aside, he imposes upon them the curse of vice and of work. . . . How can I be made answerable for my misery; surely some one must be respons
ible for or could not bear to live. "
But for this purpose they at least
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? SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL. 211
In short, resentful pessimism discovers responsible parties in order to create pleasurable sensation for itself--revenge. . "Sweeter than honey "-- thus does even old Homer speak of revenge.
The fact that such theory no longer meets with understanding-wr rather, let us say, contempt-- accounted for by that particle of Christianity
which still circulates in the blood of every one of us; makes us tolerant towards things simply because we scent Christian savour about them. . The Socialists appeal to the Christian instincts; this their really refined piece of cleverness. . Thanks to Christianity, we have now accustomed to the superstitious concept of soul--of an immortal soul, of soul monads, which, as matter of fact, hails from somewhere else, and which has only become inherent in certain cases--that to say, become incarnate in them--by accident: but the nature Of these cases not altered, let alone determined by it. The circumstances of society, of relationship, and Of history are only accidents for the soul, perhaps misadventures: in any case, the world not their work. By means of the idea of soul the individual
made transcendental thanks to ridiculous amount of importance can be attributed to him.
I As matter of fact, was Christianity which first induced the individual to take up this position of judge of all things.
It made megalomania almost his duty has made everything temporary and limited subordinate to eternal rights! What
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is the State, what is society, what are historical laws, what is physiology to me? Thus speaks something from beyond Becoming, an immutable entity throughout history: thus speaks something immortal, something divine--it is the soul!
Another Christian, but no less insane, concept has percolated even deeper into the tissues of modern ideas: the concept of the equality of all souls before God. In this concept the prototype of all theories concerning equal rights is to be found. Man was first taught to stammer this proposition religiously : later, it was converted into a moral; no wonder he has ultimately begun to take it seriously, to take it practicaltyl--that is to say,
politically, socialistically, resento-pessimistically. Where'ver responsible circumstances or people have been looked for, it was the instinct qf revenge
that sought them. This instinct of
obtained such an ascendancy over man in the course of centuries that the whole of metaphysics, psychology, ideas of society, and, above all, morality, are tainted with it. Man has nourished this idea of responsibility to such an extent that he has introduced the bacillus of vengeance into everything. By means of it he has made God
Himself ill, and killed innocence in the universe, by tracing every condition of things to acts of will, to intentions, to responsible agents. The whole teaching of will, this most fatal fraud that has ever existed in psychology hitherto, was invented essentially for the purpose of punishment. It was the social utility of punishment that lent this concept its dignity, its power, and its truth.
? revenge
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SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
2I3
The originator of that psychology, that we shall call volitional psychology, must be sought in those classes which had the right of punishment in their hands; above all, therefore, among the priests who stood on the very pinnacle of ancient social systems: these people wanted to create for themselves the right to wreak revenge--they wanted to supply God with the privilege of
For this purpose; man was declared "free": to this end every action had to be re
garded as voluntary, and the origin of every deed had to be considered as lying in consciousness. But by such propositions as these ancient psych
vengeance.
? refuted.
To-day, when Europe seems to have taken the
contrary direction; when we halcyonians would fain withdraw, dissipate, and banish the concept of guilt and punishment with all our might from the world; when our most serious endeavours are
concentrated upon purifying psychology, morality, history, nature, social institutions and privileges, and even God Himself, from this filth; in whom must we recognise our most mortal enemies? Precisely in those apostles of revenge and resentment, in those who are par excellence
ology
from indignation, who make their mission to sanctify their filth with the name of "righteous indignation. " . We others, whose
one desire to reclaim innocence on behalf of Becoming, would fain be the missionaries of purer thought, namely, that no one responsible for man's qualities; neither God, nor society, nor his parents, nor his ancestors, nor himself--in fact,
pessimists
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thatnooneistoblameforhim. . . Thebeing who might be made responsible for a man's exist ence, for the fact that he is constituted in a particular way, or for his birth in certain circum stances and in a certain environment, is absolutely lacking--And it is a great hlessz'ng that such a being is non-existent. . . . We are not the result of an eternal design, of a will, of a desire: there is no attempt being made with us to attain to an "ideal of perfection," to an "ideal of happiness," to an " ideal of virtue,"--and we are just as little the result of a' mistake on God's part in the presence of which He ought to feel uneasy
(a thought which is known to be at the very root
? of the Old Testament). There is not a place nor a purpose nor a sense to which we can attribute our existence or our kind of existence. In the first place, no one is in a position to do
this: it is quite impossible to judge, to measure, or to compare, or even to deny the whole universe! And why ? ---For five reasons, all accessible to the man of average intelligence: for instance, because there is no existence outside the universe . . . and let us say it again, this is a great blessing, for therein lies the whole innocence of our lives.
2. THE INDIVIDUAL.
766.
Fundamental errors: to regard the herd as an aim instead of the individual! The herd is only a means and nothing more! But nowadays
? ? ? SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
people are trying to understand the herd as they would an individual, and to confer higher rights
than upon isolated personalities.
mistake In addition to this, all that makes for
gregariousness, eg. sympathy, regarded as the more valuable side of our natures.
767.
The individual something quite new, and capable of creating new things. He something absolute, and all his actions are quite his own. The individual in the end has to seek the valua tion for his actions in himself: because he has to give an individual meaning even to traditional
words and notions. His interpretation of formula at least personal, even he does not create the formula itself: at least as an interpreter he creative.
768.
The "ego" oppresses and kills. acts like an organic cell. It predatory and violent. It would fain regenerate itself--pregnancy. It would fain give birth to its God and see all mankind at
upon
Terrible
215
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Every living organism gropes around as far as its power permits, and overcomes all that weaker than itself: by this means finds pleasure" in its own existence. The increasing" humanity of this tendency consists in the fact that we are beginning to feel ever more subtly how difficult
its feet.
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769.
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216 THE WILL TO POWER.
it is really to absorb others: while we could show our power by injuring him, his will estranges him from us, and thus makes him less susceptible of
being overcome.
770.
The degree of resistance which has to be con tinually overcome in order to remain at the top, is the measure offreedom, whether for individuals or for societies: freedom being understood as positive
ower, as will to povver. The highest form of individual freedom, ofsovereignty, would, according to this, in all probability be found not five feet away from its opposite--that is to say, where the danger of slavery hangs over life, like a hundred swords of Damocles. Let any one go through the whole of history from this point of view: the ages when the individual reaches perfect maturity, i. e. the free ages, when the classical type, sovereign man, is attained to--these were certainly not humane timesl
There should be no choice: either one must be uppermost 0r nethermost -- like a worm, despised, annihilated, trodden upon. One must have tyrants against one in order to become a tyrant, ie. in order to be free. It is no small advantage to have a hundred swords of Damocles
suspended over one: it is only thus that one learns to dance, it is only thus that one attains to any freedom in one's movements.
771
Man more than any other animal was originally altruistic--hence his slow growth (child) and lofty
? ? ? ? 4
development. Hence, too, his extraordinary and latest kind of egoism. ---Beasts of prey are much more individualistic.
772.
SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
217
A criticism of selfishness. The
involuntary of La Rochefoucauld, who believed that he was saying something bold, liberal, and
ingenuousness
paradoxical (in his days, of course, truth in psychological matters was something that astonished people) when he said: "Les grandes dmes ne sont pas celles qui ont mains de passions et plus de uertus que les dmes communes, mais seule ment celles qui ont de plus grands desseins. " Certainly, John Stuart Mill (who calls Chamfort the noble and philosophical La Rochefoucauld of the eighteenth century) recognises in him merely an astute and keen-sighted observer of all that which the result of habitual selfishness in the
human breast, and he adds: "A noble spirit unable to see the necessity of constant observa tion of baseness and contemptibility, unless were to show against what corrupting influences lofty spirit and noble character were able to triumph. "
The Morphology of llze Feelings of Self.
First stanafooint. --To what extent are sympathy
? or communal feelings, the lower or
states, at a time when personal self-esteem and
initiative in valuation, on the part of individuals, are not yet possible?
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Second standpoint--To what extent is the zenith of collective self-esteem, the pride in the distinc tion of the clan, the feeling of inequality and a certain abhorrence of mediation, of equal rights and of reconciliation, the school for individual self
esteem ? It may be this in so far a it compels the
individual to represent the pride of the community ' --he is obliged to speak and act with tremendous
self-respect, because he stands for the community And the same holds good when the individual re gards himself as the instrument or speaking-tube of a godhead.
Third standpoint--To what extent do these forms of impersonality invest the individual with enormous importance ? In so far as higher powers are using him as an intermediary: religious shy ness towards one's self is the condition of prophets and poets.
Fourth standpoint--To what extent does re sponsibility for a whole educate the individual in foresight, and give him a severe and terrible hand, a calculating and cold heart, majesty of bearing and of action--things which he would not allow
himself if he stood only for his own rights?
In short, collective self-esteem is the great pre
paratory school for personal sovereignty. The noble caste is that which creates the heritage of this faculty.
774
The disguised forms of will to power :-- .
(I) The desire for freedom, for independence for equilibrium, for peace, for co~ordination. Also
? ? ? ? SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL.
that of the anchorite, the "Free-Spirit. " In its lowest form, the will to live at all costs--the instinct of self-preservation.
(2) Subordination, with the view of satisfying the will to power of whole community; submis siveness, the making of one's self indispensable and useful to him who has the power; lOve, secret path to the heart of the powerful, in order to be come his master.
(3) The feeling of duty, conscience, the imagin ary comfort of belonging to higher order than those who actually hold the reins of power; the acknowledgment of an order of rank which allows of judging even the more powerful;
tion; the discovery of new codes of morality (of which the jews are classical example).
775
Praise and gratitude as forms of will to power. -- Praise and gratitude for harvests, for good weather, victories, marriages, and peace--all festivals need
subject on which feeling can be outpoured. The desire to make all good things that happen to one appear as though they h'ad been done to one: people will have a donor. The same holds good of the work of art: people are not satisfied with
alone, they must praise the artist. --What, then, praise It a sort of compensation for benefits
received, sort of giving back, manifestation of _ our power--for the man who praises assents to, blesses, values, judges: he arrogates to himself the right to give his consent to thing, to be able to
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confer honours. An increased feeling of happiness or of liveliness is also an increased feeling of power, and it is as a result of this feeling that a man
praises as the outcome of this feeling that he invents donor, " subject Gratitude thus revenge of lofty kind: most severely exercised and demanded where equality and pride' both require to be upheld--that to say, where
practised to its fullest extent.
77-6.
Concerning the Machiavelli's-m of Power.
The will to power appears :--
(a) Among the oppressed and slaves of all kinds, in the form of will to "freedom ": the mere fact of breaking loose from something seems to be an end in itself (in religio-moral sense: " One only answerable to one's own conscience " evangelical freedom," etc. etc. ).
In the case of stronger species, ascending to power, in the form of the will to overpower. If this fails, then shrinks to the " will to justice "-- that to say, to the will to the same measure of rights as the ruling caste possesses.
In the case of the strongest, richest, most independent, and most courageous, in the form of "love of humanity," of "love of the people," of the " gospel," of "truth," of " God," of " pity," of " self sacrifice," etc. etc. ; in the form of overpowering, of deeds of capture, of imposing service on some one, of an instinctive reckoning of one's self as part of great mass of power to which one attempts to give
revenge
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direction: the hero, the prophet, the Caesar, the Saviour, the bell-wether. (The love of the sexes also belongs to this category; will overpower something, possess utterly, and looks like self
abnegation. At bottom only the love of one's instrument, of one's " horse "--the conviction that things belong to one because one in position to use them. ) "
77
Love. ---Behold this love and pity of women-- what could be more egoistic? . And when they do sacrifice themselves and their honour or reputa tion, to whom do they sacrifice themselves? To the man? Is not rather to an unbridled desire? These desires are quite as selfish, even though they may be beneficial to others and provoke gratitude.
. .