HistoryEssay · 1874
The Use and Abuse of History
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche published this in 1874 as the second of his four Untimely Meditations. It distinguishes monumental, antiquarian and critical uses of history, and argues that an excess of historical consciousness weakens the capacity to act. The link is to the Gutenberg text of Thoughts Out of Season, Part II, translated by Adrian Collins, which also contains Schopenhauer as Educator.
Why you should read this
The second of Nietzsche's Untimely Meditations, warning that too much historical consciousness can paralyze the capacity to act and to create. He argues a culture needs a working balance of remembering and forgetting rather than simply more history for its own sake.
- Field
- History
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 1874
- Themes
- HistoriographyHistory
