religiosi too—every class and every individual capable of functioning. When then Dr. Dolson says, "the weak can hardly be said to have an end," she can only mean "be their own end." Yet when, I ask, was it taken for granted—at least before these democratic and subtly egoistic days, inaugurated in no small measure by Rousseau and Kant—that a man might not have an end outside himself and be dignified rather than lowered by it? How do most of us human creatures get worth anyway, save by serving something beyond us—some cause, some institution, some permanent interest, the commonwealth, the church, the law—throwing in our mite to the greater result and first gaining self-respect as we do so? If we really take ourselves as ends, what becomes of most of us? Nietzsche thinks that many throw away their last worth when they throw away their servitude. No, the "weak" (i.e., the relatively weak, as contrasted with those great and significant enough to be their own ends), all these functionaries of society from the lowest laborer up, most decidedly have an end—and that is to fit into, and become worthy members of a social organism aiming in the transcendent direction already described. r Nietzsche speaks expressly of the classes as "reciprocally conditioning each other,"[1] and time and again of the third class as the indispensable prerequisite of the first.
But something more may be said. In a way, the lower class does best for itself when it functions in the way described. Though in a sense it is a sacrificed class, and Nietzsche so speaks of it, the sense is one which the average member of the class would hardly know how to appreciate—for he feels of most consequence as a social functionary, and would scarcely know what to do, if left to himself. s Nietzsche emphasizes the fact that his distinction of the classes has natural foundations. Just as the physical body has enjoyment when it is well ruled (by the higher will-centers), so in society. The strong are as indispensable for the weak as the weak are for the strong, and obeying is a self-preservative function as truly as commanding.[2] There may have to be a trial of strength to know who is stronger and who weaker—sometimes the conflict may have
