On The Advantage And Disadvantage Of History For Life

In Chapter 3, Nietzsche turns to evaluate the antiquarian and critical forms of history. History, says Nietzsche, belongs to the “persevering and revering soul” who acts “in service to life” (20). The self experiences itself within the context of history. This elevates transient and humble conditions. Nietzsche likens the citizen to a tree deeply rooted in its history, and is against dislocating or uprooting populations.

However, the limitation of the antiquarian approach to history is a reduction in scope. This loss of perspective may in turn cause disorientation: “Here there is always one danger very near: […] everything old and past […] will simply be taken as equally venerable […] while the new and growing will be rejected” (20-21). A second failing of the antiquarian approach is its undervaluation of what is in the process of becoming. This results from antiquarianism’s overemphasis on preserving, rather than generating, life.

Nor is critical history without its problems. In severing the chain that links us with a history we consider unpalatable, we discover that our “new” history is less ingrained than our original one. Moreover, it’s difficult to curtail this impulse to reject the past. However, on the plus side, critical historians will gain an additional nature, and can reflect that their original one was itself a second nature in an earlier time.