On the Use and Disadvantage of History for Life
by Friedrich Nietzsche · Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das Leben
Assigned by 2 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1874
- Form
- Essay
- Language
- German
- Length
- Short · 100 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendUntimely Meditations, translated by R. J. HollingdaleCambridge University Press, 1997All four meditations in the Cambridge Texts series, with an introduction by Daniel Breazeale.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
The second of Nietzsche's four Untimely Meditations, written when he was a young professor of classical philology. He argues that the nineteenth century suffers from an excess of historical knowledge that paralyses action, and that history serves life in three ways, monumental, antiquarian and critical, each of which becomes poisonous when it dominates. Life requires a horizon and the power to forget. The essay ends by calling on youth to resist the historical culture of the universities.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns On the Use and Disadvantage of History for Life are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
