DEMOCRATIC CULTURE >77 



onstrate it is of interest to review his opinion of 

 the character of the scientist. For Nietzsche the sci- 

 entist is not a heroic superman, but a commonplace 

 type of man, with commonplace virtues. ]! li<Ks 

 domination, authority, self-sufficiency ; he is rather 

 in need of recognition from others and is character- 

 ized by the self-distrust innate in all dependent men 

 and gregarious animals. He is industrious, patiently 

 adaptable to rank and file, equable and moderate in 

 capacity and requirement. He has a natural feeling 

 for people like himself, and for that which they re- 

 quire : A fair competence and the green meadow 

 without which there is no rest from labor. The 

 scientist shows no rapture for exalted views ; in 

 fact, with an instinct for mediocrity, he is envious 

 and strives for the destruction of the exceptional 

 man. 



A training in natural science tends to make one 

 objective. But the objective man, in Nietzsche's 

 opinion, distrusts his own personality and regards it 

 as something to be set aside as accidental, and a 

 detriment to calm judgment. The temperamental 

 philosopher thinks the scientist serene, but tha 

 serenity springs not from lack of trouble, but from 

 incapacity to grasp and deal with his own private 

 grief. His is merely disinterested knowledge, accord- 

 ing to Nietzsche. The scientist is emotionally im- 

 poverished. His love is constrained, and his hatred 

 artificial ; he is less interesting to women than the 

 warrior. " His mirroring and externally self-polished 

 soul no longer knows how to affirm, no longer how 

 to deny; he does not command; mitlur does he 

 destroy." As we see in the case of Leibnitz, the 



