575. 393 



599.9 



III. 



Human Evolution. 



V. — According to Nietzsche. 



THOUGH Mr. Wells thinks it proper "to put a flat denial to Mr. 

 Costa's flat assertion," he himself, in a most careless manner, 

 introduces into the discussion new and false assertions, which require 

 even a more emphatic flat denial. 



Mr. Wells would make the readers of Natural Science believe 

 that Nietzsche's Gospel is " blackguardism " (or at least the glorifi- 

 cation of blackguardism), whereas it is quite the reverse. There is 

 no philosopher more opposed than Nietzsche to everything that is 

 injurious to the human race, and that has a deteriorating influence, 

 while to the anarchism which advocates unlimited liberty for bad men 

 — the prerequisite to blackguardism, — he is, if possible, more opposed 

 than to anything else. He accordingly favours master-morality 

 (aristocratic morality), under which the advancement of society takes 

 place, in opposition to slave-morality (democratic morality), under 

 which society tends to deteriorate. In every well-regulated and pro- 

 gressive society there must necessarily be a system of ranks and 

 classes corresponding approximately to the merit of individuals and 

 families. The best men should rule and the inferior should obey, if 

 things are to go on well ; and when inferior men will not obey reason- 

 able rules, they should be coerced. It is, however, entirely false, and 

 in accordance with the methods of slave -morality, to charge Nietzsche 

 with the glorification of blackguardism because he sees clearly that 

 the appropriate coercion of inferior individuals by their superiors is 

 often necessary in order to secure and maintain the highest excellence 

 of society. 



Mr. Wells, like many others who assume the functions of moral 

 teachers, does not seem to have any adequate notion of the nature of 

 true morality. The following remarks of Nietzsche apply alike to 

 Mr. Wells's sociology and to his ideal : — " My objection against all 

 the sociology of England and France is that it only knows decaying 

 types of society by experience, and quite innocently takes its own 

 instincts of decay as the standard for sociological valuations. Deterio- 

 rating life, the decline of all organising power (i.e., separating, gap- 

 making, subordinating, and superordinating power) formulates itself 

 as the ideal in the sociology of the present day." 



Nietzsche makes a further remark in the same book (" Twilight 



2 F 



