For fear—that is man’s original and fundamental feeling; through fear everything is explained, original sin and original virtue. Through fear there grew also MY virtue, that is to say: Science.
He claims fear of wild animals, and of the beast within, is man's oldest feeling. Grown spiritual, it is what is now called science.
- Scholars, poets and the knowersHe defines science, his own virtue, as ancient fear of the beast made subtle and intellectual.
- Nihilism (all is empty)His view of man grounded in fear stands against Zarathustra's courage.
What the critics said
Ludovici argues that by making the conscientious specialist the only one to resist the magician's melancholy music, Nietzsche pays high tribute to the honesty of the scientist, and uses the debate on fear to restate that courage is the entire primitive history of man.