248 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



incorporated not only in German, but also in the 

 languages of other European countries, rousing, especially 

 young minds, to individual thought and action. He 

 has tried to impress his age and the youth of his 

 country with the conviction that something radically 

 new is going to happen or is already happening, and 

 that an understanding of, as well as a participation in, 

 this new movement is a matter of individual effort, 

 of ruthlessly sweeping away, not of patiently enduring, 

 the evils of the day as well as the generally accepted 

 methods for combating them. Thus it is not the 

 greatest happiness of the greatest number, but the 

 favouring of the selected few, which is to be of import- 

 ance and value ; not the elevation of the masses, which 

 would end only in a general levelling down to medioc- 

 rity, but the existence and encouragement of exceptional 

 ability and force, constituting what has been termed 

 the " overman," which is to be the gospel of the future ; 

 in fact an accentuation and encouragement of the 

 struggle for existence and the supremacy of the 

 individual over the masses. 



In coining and scattering broadcast these incisive 

 phrases, Nietzsche not only showed his radicalism but 

 also embodied ideas and tendencies which surrounded 

 him, some of which were especially characteristic of 

 his country and its recent history. Thus the alliance 

 of radical and — as it seems to many — ruthless activity 

 with essentially conservative and aristocratic leanings 

 was to be found in Bismarck, the hero of the day: 

 a real type of the overman. The impotence of 

 democracy and of philosophical radicalism with its 



