On The Advantage And Disadvantage Of History For Life

Nietzsche perceives a danger in the historical sense which, if unchecked, can lead to the annihilation of life in the present. Creativity is discouraged in such an atmosphere, because the love and unconditional faith that are required for creation are inhibited by an overemphasis on the achievements of the past. This kind of history is destructive.

Christianity is, for Nietzsche, the example of this notion of annihilating history in action. Becoming unnatural and finally completely historical, the fascination of the church with “minutiae” is evidence for Nietzsche of its deterioration (45). While some contemporary theologians claim that there is a pure core to the religion, Nietzsche argues that the location of the true church is imprecise.

Nietzsche argues everything that is ripening needs “an enveloping madness, such as a protective and veiling cloud”(46). The atmosphere that surrounds the era is of indifference, “not to be excessively astonished by anything, finally to tolerate everything” (46). This, Nietzsche argues, is the consequence of a historical sensibility. If the youth are hastened ever faster to make scientific advances, they themselves will begin to degenerate, and the work will suffer. Scholars should think highly of the “people” for whom they write and are too often “practical pessimists” who lack hope for the future and thus live an “ironical existence” (48).