The Untimely Meditations

"The Untimely Meditations" are four works by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, started in 1873 and completed in 1876.

The work comprises a collection of four (out of a projected 13) essays concerning the contemporary condition of European, especially German, culture. A fifth essay, published posthumously, had the title "We Philologists", and gave as a "Task for philology": disappearance".Glenn W. Most, [http://www.hypernietzsche.org/navigate.php?sigle=gmost-1 "On the use and abuse of ancient Greece for life"] , HyperNietzsche, 2003-11-09 en icon ]

Publication

"Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen" has been one of the more difficult of Nietzsche's titles to be translated into English, with each subsequent translation offering a new variation. Thus: "Untimely Meditations" (Kaufmann), "Thoughts Out of Season" (Ludovici), "Untimely Reflections" (Hayman), "Unmodern Observations" (Arrowsmith) and "Inopportune Speculations" or "Essays in Sham Smashing" (Menken).

Many different plans for the series are found in Nietzsche's notebooks, most of them showing a total of thirteen essays. The titles and subjects vary with each entry, the project conceived to last six years (one essay every six months.) A typical outline dated "Autumn 1873" reads as follows:columns |width=15em |g

col1 =1. The Cultural Philistine
2. History
3. The Philosopher
4. The Scholar
5. Art
6. The Teacher
7. Religion
col2 =8. State War Nation
9. The Press
10. Natural Science
11. Folk Society
12. Commerce
13. Language

Nietzsche abandoned the project after completing only four essays, seeming to lose interest after the publication of the third. [Schaberg, pp.31-2]

"David Strauss: the Confessor and the Writer"

"", 1873 ("David Strauss: der Bekenner und der Schriftsteller") attacks David Strauss's "The Old and the New Faith: A Confession" (1871), which Nietzsche holds up as an example of the German thought of the time. He paints Strauss's "New Faith" - scientifically-determined universal mechanism based on the progression of history - as a vulgar reading of history in the service of a degenerate culture, polemically attacking not only the book but also Strauss as a Philistine of pseudo-culture.

"On the Use and Abuse of History for Life"

"", 1874 ("Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben") offers — instead of the prevailing view of "knowledge as an end in itself" — an alternative way of reading history, one where living life becomes the primary concern; along with a description of how this might improve the health of a society. It also introduced an attack against the basic precepts of classic humanism.

In this essay, Nietzsche attacks both the historicism of man (the idea that man is created through history) and the idea that one can possibly have an objective concept of man, since a major aspect of man resides in his subjectivity. Nietzsche expands the idea that the essence of man dwells not inside of him, but rather above him, in the following essay, "Schopenhauer als Erzieher" ("Schopenhauer as Educator"). Glenn Most argues for the possible translation of the essay as "The Use and Abuse of History Departments for Life", as Nietzsche used the term "Historie" and not "Geschichte". Furthermore, he alleges that this title may have its origins via Jacob Burckhardt, who would have referred to Leon Battista Alberti's treatise, "De commodis litterarum atque incommodis" (1428 — "On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Literary Studies"). Glenn Most argues that the untimelessness of Nietzsche here resides in calling to a return, beyond historicism, to Humboldt's humanism, and, maybe even beyond, to the first humanism of the Renaissance.

"Schopenhauer as Educator"

"", 1874 ("Schopenhauer als Erzieher") describes how the philosophic genius of Schopenhauer might bring on a resurgence of German culture. Nietzsche gives special attention to Schopenhauer's individualism, honesty and steadfastness as well as his cheerfulness, despite Schopenhauer's noted pessimism.

"Richard Wagner in Bayreuth"

"", 1876 investigates Richard Wagner's psychology — less flatteringly than Nietzsche's friendship with his subject might suggest. Nietzsche considered not publishing it because of this, and eventually settled on drafts that criticized the musician less than they might have done. Nonetheless this essay foreshadows the imminent split between the two.

Notes

References

cite book | last = Schaberg | first = William H. | title = The Nietzsche Canon: A Publication History and Bibliography
publisher = University of Chicago Press | date = 1995 | location = Chicago | pages = 281 | isbn = 0226735753

External links

* [http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Nietzsche,+Friedrich/Unzeitgem%C3%A4%C3%9Fe+Betrachtungen "Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen", original German text]