In fine, it is necessary to remember that
Nietzsche was violently anti-democratic. For the mass of the people he
had only disdain, and it is folly to suppose that his aristocratic
philosophy has been accepted among them as a gospel.
Nietzsche has had a considerable influence on the more thoughtful
reading public in Germany, yet even here one has to make reserves in
charging him with a part in the preparation of the country for an
aggressive war. His peculiar art and temperamental exaggerations make it
impossible for any but a patient few to grasp his teaching accurately,
and are peculiarly liable to mislead the less patient. When, therefore,
he stresses--as most anti-Socialists do--the Darwinian struggle for
existence, when he assails the humanitarian and Christian doctrine of
helping the weak, when he calls into question the received code of
morals, and when he extols self-assertion and strength of will, his
fiery words do lend some confirmation, which he assuredly never
intended, to the Prussian ideal of a State. Nietzsche was too much
averse from politics to intend such an application of his teaching,
which is essentially individualistic, and he had nothing but contempt
for the bluster and philistinism of the Prussian State in particular.
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