# The first Untimely Meditation publicly attacks David Strauss as a cultural type

Date: 1873

## The fact

In 1873 Nietzsche published David Strauss, the Confessor and the Writer, a public polemic that treated a liberal-theological bestseller as a symptom to be destroyed.

It is one event.

## Context

A pamphlet can correct smugness and can train readers to treat a neighbour as a type. Split later anti-antisemitic letters.

[Friedrich Nietzsche](/people/friedrich-nietzsche)’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers date the row.

## Evidence and sources

eKGWB and Britannica independently place the 1873 Strauss Meditation in the Untimely series.

Official or archival record: Nietzsche Source — Digital Critical Edition (eKGWB) (https://doc.nietzschesource.org/en/ekgwb; Nietzsche Source / Paolo D’Iorio).

## Significance

A printed type-attack polarised German cultural Protestantism as a herd to be mocked.

1873 is not 1887 Genealogy.

A printed type-attack polarised German cultural Protestantism as a herd to be mocked.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 1873 public Strauss Meditation. Not established: a unique turnout series caused by the pamphlet.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Friedrich Nietzsche.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date, signatory, or non-occurrence; a demonstrated forgery; or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of other causes.

Contribution type is direct. They are not a public rating.

## People

- Friedrich Nietzsche: https://factrail.ai/people/friedrich-nietzsche

## Drivers

- Political Polarization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/political-polarization

## Sources

- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Nietzsche
- https://doc.nietzschesource.org/en/ekgwb

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/nie-untimely-strauss-1873