Human, All Too Human

Human, All Too Human (Menschliches, Allzumenschliches), subtitled A Book for Free Spirits (Ein Buch für freie Geister), is a book by 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, originally published in 1878. A second part, Assorted Opinions and Maxims (Vermischte Meinungen und Sprüche), was published in 1879, and a third part, The Wanderer and his Shadow (Der Wanderer und sein Schatten), followed in 1880. Reflecting an admiration of Voltaire as a free spirit, but also a break in his friendship with composer Richard Wagner two years earlier, Nietzsche dedicated the original 1878 edition “to the memory of Voltaire on the celebration of the anniversary of his death, May 30, 1778.” Instead of a preface, the first part originally included a quotation from Descartes’ Discourse on the Method. Nietzsche later republished all three parts as a two-volume edition in 1886, adding a preface to each volume, and removing the Descartes quote as well as the dedication to Voltaire.

Style and structure

Unlike his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, which was written in essay style, Human, All Too Human is a collection of aphorisms, a style which he would use in many of his subsequent works. The aphoristic style was suited to many of the ideas and thoughts in the book, which are as short as a sentence, to as long as a few pages. It was also likely due to Nietzsche’s decline in health at the time, when he was already frequently suffering from vision problems as well as painful migraine headaches that would have made reading and writing very difficult. In 1879, a year after publishing the first installment, he was forced to leave his professorship at Basel University because of his deteriorating health. The first installment’s 638 aphorisms are divided into nine sections by subject, and a short poem as an epilogue. The second and third installments are an additional 408 and 350 aphorisms respectively.

Of First and Last Things

In this first section Nietzsche deals with metaphysics, specifically its origins as relating to dreams, the dissatisfaction with oneself, and language as well.

On the History of Moral Feelings

This section, named in honor of his friend Paul Rée’s On the Origin of Moral Sensations, Nietzsche challenges the Christian idea of good and evil ^[1], and as it was philosophized by Arthur Schopenhauer.

Religious Life

Here Nietzsche attacks religious worship, specifically Christianity, going so far as to say that “Christianity wants to destroy, shatter, stun, intoxicate.” ^[3]

From the Soul of Artists and Writers

Nietzsche uses this section to go against the idea of divine inspiration in art, claiming great art is the result of hard work, not a higher power or “genius.” ^[4] This can be interpreted as a subliminal attack on his former friend Wagner (a strong believer in genius) though Nietzsche never mentions him by name, instead simply using the term “the artist.” ^[5]

Signs of Higher and Lower Culture

Nietzsche writes of the “free spirit” or “free thinker” (Freigeist), and his role in society. ^[7] This is an early form of the concept of the “superman” or “overman” (Übermensch), later explored in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. A free spirit is one who goes against tradition, and “onwards along the path of wisdom” in order to better society. ^[8]

Man in Society and Women and Child

These two sections are made up of mostly very short aphorisms on man’s and women and child’s respective roles in society. While section six is relatively mild, section seven furthers Nietzsche’s reputation for misogyny, writing that “women are so much more personal than objective.” ^[9] He also believes that free spirits do not marry and “prefer to fly alone.” ^[10]

A Look at the State

Here Nietzsche studies power in a state, and speaks strongly against war and nationalism. He also speaks on Europe’s Jews, worrying that “in the literature of nearly all present-day nations…there is an increase in the literary misconduct that leads the Jews to the slaughterhouse, as scapegoats for every possible public and private misfortune.” ^[11] He continues, saying that they have “had the most sorrowful history of all peoples, and to whom we owe the noblest human being (Christ), the purest philosopher (Spinoza), the mightiest book, and the most effective code in the world.” ^[12] Though not anti-Semitic, this would eventually be one of his works taken out of context and reinterpreted by the Nazis to paint Nietzsche as an early philosopher of Nazism.

Man Alone with Himself

Like sections six and seven, Nietzsche’s aphorisms here are mostly short, but also poetic and at times could be interpreted as semi-autobiographical, in anticipation of the next volumes: “He who has come only in part to a freedom of reason cannot feel on earth otherwise than as a wanderer.” ^[13]

Nietzsche also distinguishes the obscurantism of the metaphysicians and theologians from the more subtle obscurantism of Kant's critical philosophy and modern philosophical skepticism, claiming that obscurantism is that which obscures existence rather than obscures ideas alone: "The essential element in the black art of obscurantism is not that it wants to darken individual understanding but that it wants to blacken our picture of the world, and darken our idea of existence.” ^[14]

Reception and translation

Within his lifetime, prior to his mental breakdown in 1889, few of Nietzsche’s books sold particularly well, and Human, All Too Human is no exception. The first installment was originally printed in 1,000 copies in 1878, and sold only 120 of these, and still less than half of these by 1886 when it was resold as the complete two-volume set. ^[15] Though his friendship with Richard Wagner was nearly over, Wagner actually received a signed copy, though he never read it, saying Nietzsche would thank him for this one day. ^[16] It was first translated into English in 1909 by writer Helen Zimmern as part of a complete edition of Nietzsche’s books in English, but was never translated by Walter Kaufmann when he translated most of Nietzsche’s works into English in the 1950s and ‘60s. Finally, in the 1980s the first part was translated by Marion Faber and completely translated by R.J. Hollingdale the same decade.

Most notoriously, Human, All Too Human was used by archivist Max Oehler, a strong supporter of Hitler, as supposed evidence of Nietzsche’s support for nationalism and anti-Semitism, both of which he writes against. Oehler wrote an entire book, Friedrich Nietzsche und die Deutsche Zukunft, dealing with Nietzsche and his connection to nationalism (specifically National Socialism) and anti-Semitism, using quotes from Human, All Too Human, though out of context. ^[17] Nietzsche would speak against anti-Semitism in other works, most strongly in The Antichrist ^[18]: “An anti-Semite is certainly not any more decent because he lies as a matter of principle.” ^[19] Oehler also had control of Nietzsche’s archive during the Nazi’s rule, which he shared with Nietzsche’s sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, a Hitler supporter herself, until her death, when he took it over. It wasn’t until much of Walter Kaufmann’s work in the 1950s through the 1970s that Nietzsche was able to shed this connection with nationalism and anti-Semitism.

References and footnotes

^ Nietzsche, Friedrich W. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Trans. Marion Faber, and Stephen Lehmann. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. pp.43-4,67-8. §39,96.
^ Ibid., P. 74 §106.
^ Ibid., P.189, §114.
^ Ibid., Pp.107-08, §155-57.
^ Ibid., Pp. 103-04, §146.
^ Ibid., Pp. 138-39. §224
^ Ibid., P.139, §225.
^ Ibid., P.174, §292
^ Ibid., P.202, §419
^ Ibid., P.205, §426.
^ Ibid., P.229, §475
^ Ibid., P.229, §475
^ Ibid., P. 266, §638.
^ Nietzsche, Friedrich W. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Trans. R. J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. P. 220, §27.
^ Ibid., Introduction, xii.
^ Tanner, Michael, et al. German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. P. 370
^ Kaufmann, Walter A. Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. 4th ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974. “The Master Race,” Pp. 288-92.
^ Ibid., P. 298
^ Nietzsche, Friedrich W. The Portable Nietzsche. Trans. Walter A. Kaufmann. New York: Viking Press, 1954. P. 641, §55

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