Herein, unluckily, Nietzsche fell into the trap which has snapped upon Haeckel and every other supporter of atheistic determinism. He denied that the human will was free and argued that every human action was inevitable, and yet he spent his whole life trying to convince his fellow men that they should do otherwise than as they did in fact. In a word, he held that they had no control whatever over their actions, and yet, like Moses, Mohammed and St. Francis, he thundered at them uproariously and urged them to turn from their errors and repent.
criticism · Truth
The determinist who preaches repentance
Mencken argues that Nietzsche fell into the trap of atheistic determinism: denying that the will is free while spending his life urging men, like a prophet, to change their ways.
- Will, freedom and the 'I will'Points to a tension between determinism and Nietzsche's exhortations to will otherwise.