XXVI. The English PsychologistsNietzsche begins the first essay by considering the case of the “English psychologists,” who attempt to explain human behavior through such mechanisms as principles of associations. It would be an offense to human pride if all that is responsible for our mental life is so mechanical. Thus, it is interesting to speculate as to what drives these psychologists to treat the human being in this way. Is it a mean instinct to belittle humanity? Is it the pessimistic gloominess of disillusioned idealists? Is it a turn away from Plato and Christianity? Is it a taste for the strange and paradoxical? Perhaps it is one of these reasons or a bit of them all. Whatever the reason, Nietzsche holds out the hope hat they are “courageous, magnanimous and proud animals,” which hold out the hope of learning the truth, however distasteful it turns out to be.
