Macmillan

24 BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL
more as we have
"
alwaysacted mythologicallyṬhe
reciprocity, relativity, constraint, number,law,freedom,mo-
and purpose; and when we interpret and
symbol-world,as "beingin itself," with things,we act once
tive,
intermix this
"nonfree
will" is mythology;in real lifeit is only a
It strong and weak "
wills.
questionof
is almost always a symptom of
what is lackingin himself,when a thinker,in every "casualconnection"
and "psychological necessity," manifests something
of compulsion,indigence,obsequiousness, oppression,
and non-freedom;it is suspicious to have such "
feelingsthe
person betrayshimself. And in general,if I have observed
correctly, the "non-freedom of the will" is regardedas a
problem from two entirelyoppositestandpoints, but always
in a profoundlypersonalmanner: some will not give up
their "responsibility," their beliefin themselvesțhe personal
rightto their merits,at any price(thevain races belongto
this class) ; others on the contrary,do not wish to be answerable
inward
for anything,or blamed for anything,and owing to an
self-contempt, seek to get out of the business,no
matter how. The latter,when they write books,are in the
habit at present of takingthe side of criminals;a sort of
socialisticsympathy is their favourite disguise Ạnd as a
matter of fact țhe fatalism of the weak-willed embellishes
itselfsurprisingly when it can pose as "la religion de la soufjrancehumaine";that
is its"good taste."
22
Let me be pardoned,as an old philologist who
cannot
desist from the mischief of puttinghis fingeron bad modes
of interpretation, but "Nature's conformityto law,"of which
you physicists talk so proudly,as though" why, it existsonly
owing to your interpretation and bad "philology."It is no