The Insight of Use and Abuse of History

On the Use and Abuse of History for Life is the book published in 1874 by Friedrich Nietzsche. This constitutes a major work of Nietzsche's early artistic period. He criticized the fact that the importance of history is either overestimated or misunderstood. This book is divided into ten sections. Nietzsche explains the worthlessness and worth of history in detail. The use of history becomes broader as the scale increases in population. It seems, however, that Nietzsche sees this, not as a theory, but a law. Nietzsche ideas provide ways to access the history, to understand it and use it. There is no possible danger for approaching real historical event from the point of view of Nietzsche.

Nietzsche argues that the history must be such that “serves the interests of the people”. He asserts that we must not abuse the history because we use the past as a living and create the history of what is happening to become an individual. Nietzsche begins by giving a reminder to the readers about the roles played by both forgetting and remembering in the cultures, individuals and communities lives (Nietzsche, 67), “We need to appreciate the roles of the super-historical and unhistorical to maintain a modern life which is not historicism's slave”. According to Nietzsche, history must be valued, but none should become enslave by it.

Furthermore, Nietzsche provides three reasons to the readers due to which he believes that history must be studied. He believes that history is told in “three different methods,” i.e. criticism, monumentalism and antiquarianism. For example, In criticism, the historians criticize the events and decisions made in the past and the consequences the people had to face due to those decisions and events. In the method of monumentalism, the individuals find motivation and inspiration from ...