ABSTRACT
I THE personal element in Nietzsche’s philosophy may have at times deflected or even distorted the trend of his thought, yet it never undermined his interest in mankind and its future. Nor were the analogies he drew between his own dilemma and that of modern decadence entirely arbitrary, since in both cases the problem of averting the menace of disintegration was of primary importance. The vigilance with which he followed the various phases of his own ailments undoubtedly sharpened his eyes also with regard to the evils of his epoch, some of which he saw more clearly, one is tempted to say-more clairvoyantly, than any of his contemporaries. However much we may reject his prescriptions we can hardly deny the frequent accuracy with which he diagnosed the growing moral and cultural maladies of Europe at a time when private and official optimism in this respect was still considered a matter of course. Nor can one help agreeing with some of his ‘biological’ warnings, especially those concerning the levity with which we allow the incurable, the imbeciles, and the criminal degenerates to breed posterity. It is only when one comes across Nietzsche’s political pronouncements that one doubts the reliability of his vision and most certainly that of his remedies.
