190 Nietzschea comparison of cultures, though, no one specific metaphysical claim to
truth can be maintained. The grand truths become fragmented into the
myriad forms that culture can assume. Nietzsche reminds us that this
inclination to analyze foreign cultures in relative terms provided the
foundations of enlightenment as far back as Greek antiquity. The com-
parative historiography of Herodotus contributed to breaking open
mythically sealed Greek culture. In the modern era, Montaigne in par-
ticular used cultural comparisons to dismande claims to truth. Nietzsche
situated himself in this tradition. He had no intention of relinquishing
the principle of morality just because its implicit metaphysics had
become untenable. Morality remained essential. Nietzsche placed a high
value on the power of morality to direct our drives and create a second
nature. He therefore felt confident in his contention that "without the
errors that underlie the assumptions of morality, man would have
remained an animal" (2,64; HHI § 40).
Nietzsche's critique of the metaphysical and religious self-legitimacy
of morality was not aimed at changing the concept of directing drives
and the achievements of the "second nature." He simply wanted to
ensure that it be managed in a more enlightened manner in the future
and be subject to more deliberate control. The system of morality
should evolve from a hot, murky project to a cold, clear one. Certainly,
some will feel "far too wintry in the breath of this manner of seeing
things" (2,61; HHI § 38). Still, we need to move forward in our quest to
enlighten culture about itself without any inhibitions about probing its
innermost secrets. In a culture that is insulated against self-enlighten-
ment, the internal temperature rises, which we might think of as warmth
from the nest. If the fear of freedom and of metaphysical homelessness
evokes feelings of panic, the warm nest can become a boiling kettle,
which is Nietzsche's reason for appealing to "the more spiritual beings
of an era that is clearly going up in flames more and more" to use the
sciences as a means of "dousing and cooling" and to employ them as
"mirrors and self-reflection" (2,62; HH I § 38) of the prevailing spirit.
In Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche placed great faith in this kind of