Our whole modern world is entangled11 in the meshes12 of Alexandrine culture, and recognises as its ideal the theorist equipped with the most potent13 means of knowledge, and labouring in the service of science, of whom the archetype and progenitor14 is Socrates. All our educational methods have originally this ideal in view: every other form of existence must struggle onwards wearisomely beside it, as something tolerated, but not intended. In an almost alarming manner the cultured man was here found for a long time only in the form of the scholar: even our poetical16 arts have been forced to evolve from learned imitations, and in the main effect of the rhyme we still recognise the origin of our poetic15 form from artistic experiments with a non-native and thoroughly17 learned language. How unintelligible18 must Faust, the modern cultured man, who is in himself intelligible19, have appeared to a true Greek,—Faust, storming discontentedly through all the faculties20, devoted21 to magic and the devil from a desire for knowledge, whom we have only to place alongside of Socrates for the purpose of comparison, in order to see that modern man begins to divine the boundaries of this Socratic love of perception and longs for a coast in the wide waste of the ocean of knowledge. When Goethe on one occasion said to Eckermann with reference to Napoleon: "Yes, my good friend, there is also a productiveness of[Pg 138] deeds," he reminded us in a charmingly na?ve manner that the non-theorist is something incredible and astounding22 to modern man; so that the wisdom of Goethe is needed once more in order to discover that such a surprising form of existence is comprehensible, nay23 even pardonable.
Now, we must not hide from ourselves what is concealed24 in the heart of this Socratic culture: Optimism, deeming itself absolute! Well, we must not be alarmed if the fruits of this optimism ripen,—if society, leavened25 to the very lowest strata26 by this kind of culture, gradually begins to tremble through wanton agitations27 and desires, if the belief in the earthly happiness of all, if the belief in the possibility of such a general intellectual culture is gradually transformed into the threatening demand for such an Alexandrine earthly happiness, into the conjuring28 of a Euripidean deus ex machina. Let us mark this well: the Alexandrine culture requires a slave class, to be able to exist permanently29: but, in its optimistic view of life, it denies the necessity of such a class, and consequently, when the effect of its beautifully seductive and tranquillising utterances30 about the "dignity of man" and the "dignity of labour" is spent, it gradually drifts towards a dreadful destination. There is nothing more terrible than a barbaric slave class, who have learned to regard their existence as an injustice31, and now prepare to take vengeance32, not only for themselves, but for all generations. In the face of such threatening storms, who dares to appeal with confident spirit to our pale and exhausted33 religions, which even in their foundations have degenerated34 into[Pg 139] scholastic35 religions?—so that myth, the necessary prerequisite36 of every religion, is already paralysed everywhere, and even in this domain37 the optimistic spirit—which we have just designated as the annihilating38 germ of society—has attained39 the mastery.
While the evil slumbering40 in the heart of theoretical culture gradually begins to disquiet41 modern man, and makes him anxiously ransack42 the stores of his experience for means to avert43 the danger, though not believing very much in these means; while he, therefore, begins to divine the consequences his position involves: great, universally gifted natures have contrived44, with an incredible amount of thought, to make use of the apparatus45 of science itself, in order to point out the limits and the relativity of knowledge generally, and thus definitely to deny the claim of science to universal validity and universal ends: with which demonstration46 the illusory notion was for the first time recognised as such, which pretends, with the aid of causality, to be able to fathom47 the innermost essence of things. The extraordinary courage and wisdom of Kant and Schopenhauer have succeeded in gaining the most, difficult, victory, the victory over the optimism hidden in the essence of logic48, which optimism in turn is the basis of our culture. While this optimism, resting on apparently49 unobjectionable ?terna veritates, believed in the intelligibility50 and solvability of all the riddles51 of the world, and treated space, time, and causality as totally unconditioned laws of the most universal validity, Kant, on the other hand, showed that these served in reality only to elevate the mere[Pg 140] phenomenon, the work of Maya, to the sole and highest reality, putting it in place of the innermost and true essence of things, thus making the actual knowledge of this essence impossible, that is, according to the expression of Schopenhauer, to lull52 the dreamer still more soundly asleep (Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, I. 498). With this knowledge a culture is inaugurated which I venture to designate as a tragic culture; the most important characteristic of which is that wisdom takes the place of science as the highest end,—wisdom, which, uninfluenced by the seductive distractions53 of the sciences, turns with unmoved eye to the comprehensive view of the world, and seeks to apprehend54 therein the eternal suffering as its own with sympathetic feelings of love. Let us imagine a rising generation with this undauntedness of vision, with this heroic desire for the prodigious55, let us imagine the bold step of these dragon-slayers, the proud and daring spirit with which they turn their backs on all the effeminate doctrines56 of optimism in order "to live resolutely57" in the Whole and in the Full: would it not be necessary for the tragic man of this culture, with his self-discipline to earnestness and terror, to desire a new art, the art of metaphysical comfort,—namely, tragedy, as the Hellena belonging to him, and that he should exclaim with Faust:
Und sollt' ich nicht, sehnsüchtigster Gewalt,
In's Leben ziehn die einzigste Gestalt?[21]
[Pg 141]
But now that the Socratic culture has been shaken from two directions, and is only able to hold the sceptre of its infallibility with trembling hands,—once by the fear of its own conclusions which it at length begins to surmise58, and again, because it is no longer convinced with its former na?ve trust of the eternal validity of its foundation, —it is a sad spectacle to behold59 how the dance of its thought always rushes longingly60 on new forms, to embrace them, and then, shuddering61, lets them go of a sudden, as Mephistopheles does the seductive Lami?. It is certainly the symptom of the "breach62" which all are wont63 to speak of as the primordial64 suffering of modern culture that the theoretical man, alarmed and dissatisfied at his own conclusions, no longer dares to entrust65 himself to the terrible ice-stream of existence: he runs timidly up and down the bank. He no longer wants to have anything entire, with all the natural cruelty of things, so thoroughly has he been spoiled by his optimistic contemplation. Besides, he feels that a culture built up on the principles of science must perish when it begins to grow illogical, that is, to avoid its own conclusions. Our art reveals this universal trouble: in vain does one seek help by imitating all the great productive periods and natures, in vain does one accumulate the entire "world-literature" around modern man for his comfort, in vain does one place one's self in the midst of the art-styles and artists of all ages, so that one may give names to them as Adam did to the beasts: one still continues the eternal hungerer, the "critic" without joy and energy, the[Pg 142] Alexandrine man, who is in the main a librarian and corrector of proofs, and who, pitiable wretch66 goes blind from the dust of books and printers' errors.
[21] Cf. Introduction, p. 14.
点击收听单词发音
1 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 phenomena | |
n.现象 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 specimens | |
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 deluded | |
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 stimulants | |
n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 );含兴奋剂的饮料;刺激物;激励物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 Buddhistic | |
adj.佛陀的,佛教的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 entangled | |
adj.卷入的;陷入的;被缠住的;缠在一起的v.使某人(某物/自己)缠绕,纠缠于(某物中),使某人(自己)陷入(困难或复杂的环境中)( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 meshes | |
网孔( mesh的名词复数 ); 网状物; 陷阱; 困境 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 progenitor | |
n.祖先,先驱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 poetic | |
adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 poetical | |
adj.似诗人的;诗一般的;韵文的;富有诗意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 unintelligible | |
adj.无法了解的,难解的,莫明其妙的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 intelligible | |
adj.可理解的,明白易懂的,清楚的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 faculties | |
n.能力( faculty的名词复数 );全体教职员;技巧;院 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 astounding | |
adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 leavened | |
adj.加酵母的v.使(面团)发酵( leaven的过去式和过去分词 );在…中掺入改变的因素 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 strata | |
n.地层(复数);社会阶层 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 agitations | |
(液体等的)摇动( agitation的名词复数 ); 鼓动; 激烈争论; (情绪等的)纷乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 conjuring | |
n.魔术 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 permanently | |
adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 utterances | |
n.发声( utterance的名词复数 );说话方式;语调;言论 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 degenerated | |
衰退,堕落,退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 scholastic | |
adj.学校的,学院的,学术上的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 prerequisite | |
n.先决条件;adj.作为前提的,必备的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 domain | |
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 annihilating | |
v.(彻底)消灭( annihilate的现在分词 );使无效;废止;彻底击溃 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 slumbering | |
微睡,睡眠(slumber的现在分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 disquiet | |
n.担心,焦虑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 ransack | |
v.彻底搜索,洗劫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 avert | |
v.防止,避免;转移(目光、注意力等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 apparatus | |
n.装置,器械;器具,设备 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 demonstration | |
n.表明,示范,论证,示威 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 fathom | |
v.领悟,彻底了解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 logic | |
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 intelligibility | |
n.可理解性,可理解的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 riddles | |
n.谜(语)( riddle的名词复数 );猜不透的难题,难解之谜 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 lull | |
v.使安静,使入睡,缓和,哄骗;n.暂停,间歇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 distractions | |
n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 );娱乐,消遣;心烦意乱;精神错乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 apprehend | |
vt.理解,领悟,逮捕,拘捕,忧虑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 doctrines | |
n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 );教义;学说;(政府政策的)正式声明 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 resolutely | |
adj.坚决地,果断地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 surmise | |
v./n.猜想,推测 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 longingly | |
adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 shuddering | |
v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 );发抖;(机器、车辆等)突然震动;颤动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 wont | |
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 primordial | |
adj.原始的;最初的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 entrust | |
v.信赖,信托,交托 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 wretch | |
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |