On The Advantage And Disadvantage Of History For Life

In Chapter 9, Nietzsche reiterates the position of modern man in relation to history: “Hard by the pride of modern man we find his irony about himself” (54). The awareness of history puts modern man in what Nietzsche calls an “evening mood,” which verges on cynicism. This veering into cynicism is problematic because it limits opportunities for change and growth. Modern man, Nietzsche argues, posits human history as the evolution of natural history: “We are the apex of nature” (55). This knowledge, though, “does not complete nature but only kills [man’s] own” (55).

Citing Edouard von Hartmann’s Philosophie des Unbewussten (1869), Nietzsche claims that Hartmann’s idea of the Unconscious is symptomatic of an excess of historical knowledge. Hartmann’s appraisal of modernity in the light of doomsday is, for Nietzsche, a “parody” of history. It is typical of the antiquarian, conservative history Nietzsche outlined in Chapter 2.

Nietzsche interrogates Hartman’s notion that the individual should surrender their personality to the “world process for the sake of its goal, the redemption of the world” (57). Nietzsche argues that Hartmann’s idea of the “world process” is “to the detriment of existence and life” and hence proclaims it “a joke” (59). Rather, Nietzsche envisions history as a “bridge” across the Heraclitan stream of becoming, formed by its greatest contributors: “the goal of humanity cannot lie at the end but only in its highest specimens” (57).

The notion of life purpose is laughable, besides a death by exhaustion through striving for greatness. Success should not be measured in worldly terms, which greatness exceeds. Paradoxically, Christianity is successful in the world because of its doctrine that worldly success is of the devil. Worldly egoism is the drive behind historical movements. A modicum of egoism is helpful, or “prudent,” as Nietzsche puts it, in guiding the “laboring strata” toward practicality and enterprise.

Nietzsche concludes the chapter by returning to the discussion of Hartmann’s thought. Hartmann praises worldly labor and criticizes the elderly. In contrast, Nietzsche champions youth and asserts that historical aberrations are in fact used by society to shape the youth into worldly egotism. Nietzsche warns that an excess of history can rob the youth of its best traits: justice, selflessness, and love.