Lecture Four

In his two books, then, he has set himself, as he thinks, a final task: henceforth there should be no more philosophers, he is to be the last. This is the deeper meaning of his books. He is to be the last philosopher, for he has set himself this task ... now how is this to be explained? Richard Wahle as waiter or cook among other waiters and cooks who have formerly concocted indigestible food, and now have nothing whatever to do except with other cooks and waiters to concoct a poison which will be the end of them all—this is an extraordinarily interesting spectacle! When we accustom ourselves to studying symptomatically the development of history, we find this to be a symptom of the times which is worthy of our attention. For this philosopher is quick-witted and deeply imbued with the problems of scientific thinking.