Book Two: A Criticism of the Highest Values That Have Prevailed Hitherto
II: Criticism of Morality§277 The morality of truthfulness in the herd, “Thou shalt be recognisable, thou shalt express thy inner nature by means of clear and constant signs, otherwise thou art dangerous: and supposing thou art evil, thy power of dissimulation is absolutely the worst thing for the herd. We despise the secretive and those whom we cannot identify. Consequently thou must regard thyself as recognisable, thou mayest not remain concealed from thyself, thou mayest not even believe in the possibility of thy ever changing”. Thus, the insistence upon truthfulness has as its main object the recognisability and the stability of the individual. As a matter of fact, it is the object of education to make each herd unit believe in a certain definite dogma concerning the nature of man: education first creates this dogma and thereupon exacts “truthfulness”.