Book five

sections 375–383

pp. 249-260

in: Monika Langer, Nietzsche's Gay science, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010

Abstract

In the preceding sections Nietzsche outlined his view of scholarly books and scholars, distinguished the latter from writers playing the so-called experts, and differentiated monological art from art in witnesses' presence. He acknowledged his initial failure to recognize romantic pessimism and his resultant misinterpretation of both Wagner's music and Schopenhauer's philosophy. Nietzsche emphasized his own continual growth and change. He also examined the broader philosophical change from ancient philosophers' fear of the senses to his contemporaries' anti-idealism.