170 NietzscheWe might say that in Human, All Too Human Nietzsche embarked on
his experiment of observing "people, customs, laws" as they appear to
those who approach them with this "feadess hovering." Of course, we
must recognize that this hovering can sometimes turn into circling and
then into aggressive swooping down to prey. Once the one who is hov-
ering, circling, and then swooping over human affairs has seized his prey,
he turns it over with an "evil laugh" and seeks to discover "how these
things appear if they are turned over" (2,17; ////Preface § 3). The "evil
laugh" requires an element of surprise; it might turn out that there is lit-
de or nothing behind the veneer, which might be masking an awful
reverse side. There may be less to it than meets the eye. Still, the element
of surprise wears off. Nietzsche feared that the "important truths of sci-
ence invariably become ordinary and commonplace" (2,208f.; HHI §
251). Even if, however, the others are too callous to be taken aback, it
remains possible to hurt the part of one's own person that has remained
reverent, romantic, and longing for metaphysics.
Human, All Too Human begins with a critique of the metaphysical way
of thinking, to which Nietzsche himself was also subject He strove to
liberate himself from the so-called "first and last things."
He began with the metaphysical principle that the beginning, origin,
or original cause holds the truth and that true being, integrity, purity, and
abundance can be found there. If the origin contains the truth, as meta-
physical thought assumes, it is a matter of rediscovering the original
model and the true structure in the bevy of time and embodied forms.
Nietzsche called for a "chemistry of concepts and feelings" (2,23; HH
I § 1) that could conclude its investigation of origins with the finding
that the "most splendid colors are extracted from base and even
despised substances" (2,24; HHl § 1) and take the place of the meta-
physical fiction of integrity and truth of beginnings. Nietzsche was pro-
ceeding according to the principle of this "chemistry" when he
explained that the origin of morality was anything but moral, and that
knowledge developed from obfuscation and deception. His psychology
of suspicion was also indebted to this kind of "chemistry." Behavior,