The era of enlightenment (1650-1800), is described as a time when citizens took a universal and scientific approach to history. In other words, it was an epoch during which history was discovered as an important discipline for humanity. During the nineteenth century, a Franco-German war led to the establishment of a new German Empire. When the empire became industrious, historical creation stories became significant for residents in generating a public image of the German state (Wilkerson). As a result, citizens of the state relied heavily on history to define their new cultural identity. This influenced many enlightenment philosophers, namely Friedrich Nietzsche, to distinguish between history as a science and history as serving life. In The
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When history is viewed as a “science” through objectivity, individuals lose the ability of maintaining a balance of the past and present. Unlike animals who are able to forget the past, a human being “cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him” (Nietzsche 5) Nietzsche defines this impotence as living “historically” and in despair. However, Nietzsche does not desire the human race to adapt a degree of amnesia, instead, he emphasizes on the importance of creating a unity between the past and present in order to attain happiness in an enlightened …show more content…
Although having knowledge of the past is important and distinguishes us from other living species, we flourish by moving beyond the past and living “super-historically.” The citizens of the enlightenment era were impeding their happiness by using the objective approach of studying history. Therefore, Nietzsche critiqued their view of history as a “science” that implemented characteristics of a spectator as opposed to a
When history is viewed as a “science” through objectivity, individuals lose the ability of maintaining a balance of the past and present. Unlike animals who are able to forget the past, a human being “cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him” (Nietzsche 5) Nietzsche defines this impotence as living “historically” and in despair. However, Nietzsche does not desire the human race to adapt a degree of amnesia, instead, he emphasizes on the importance of creating a unity between the past and present in order to attain happiness in an enlightened …show more content…
Although having knowledge of the past is important and distinguishes us from other living species, we flourish by moving beyond the past and living “super-historically.” The citizens of the enlightenment era were impeding their happiness by using the objective approach of studying history. Therefore, Nietzsche critiqued their view of history as a “science” that implemented characteristics of a spectator as opposed to a