In the volume before us we have the first two books of what was to be Nietzsche's greatest theoretical and philosophical prose work. The reception given to Thus Spake Zarathustra had been so unsatisfactory, and misunderstandings relative to its teaching had become so general, that, within a year of the publication of the first part of that famous philosophical poem, Nietzsche was already beginning to see the necessity of bringing his doctrines before the public in a more definite and unmistakabl

1. Concerning great things one should either be silent or one should speak loftily:—loftily—that is to say, cynically and innocently. 2. What I am now going to relate is the history of the next two centuries. I shall describe what will happen, what must necessarily happen: the triumph of Nihilism. This history can be written already; for necessity itself is at work in bringing it about. This future is already proclaimed by a hundred different omens; as a destiny it announces its advent everywher

1. Nihilism is at our door: whence comes this most gruesome of all guests to us?—To begin with, it is a mistake to point to "social evils," "physiological degeneration," or even to corruption as a cause of Nihilism. This is the most straightforward and most sympathetic age that ever was. Evil, whether spiritual, physical, or intellectual, is, in itself, quite unable to introduce Nihilism, i.e., the absolute repudiation of worth, purpose, desirability. These evils allow of yet other and quite dif

I. CRITICISM OF RELIGION. All the beauty and sublimity with which we have invested real and imagined things, I will show to be the property and product of man, and this should be his most beautiful apology. Man as a poet, as a thinker, as a god, as love, as power. Oh, the regal liberality with which he has lavished gifts upon things in order to impoverish himself and make himself feel wretched! Hitherto, this has been his greatest disinterestedness, that he admired and worshipped, and knew how t

For the history of the text constituting this volume I would refer readers to my preface to The Will to Power, Books I, and II., where they will also find a brief explanation of the actual title of the complete work. In the two books before us Nietzsche boldly carries his principle still further into the various departments of human life, and does not shrink from showing its application even to science, to art, and to metaphysics. Throughout Part I. of the Third Book we find him going to great p

[Pg 2] [Pg 3] (a) The Method of Investigation. 466. The distinguishing feature of our nineteenth century is not the triumph of science, but the triumph of the scientific method over science. 467. The history of scientific methods was regarded by Auguste Comte almost as philosophy itself. 468. The great Methodologists: Aristotle, Bacon, Descartes, Auguste Comte. 469. The most valuable knowledge is always discovered last: but the most valuable knowledge consists of methods. All methods, all the hy

[Pg 294] [Pg 295] 1. The Doctrine of the Order of Rank. 854. In this age of universal suffrage, in which everybody is allowed to sit in judgment upon everything and everybody, I feel compelled to re-establish the order of rank. 855. Quanta of power alone determine rank and distinguish rank: nothing else does. 856. The will to power. —How must those men be constituted who would undertake this transvaluation? The order of rank as the order of power: war and danger are the prerequisites which allow