Untimely Meditations

Untimely Meditations (German: Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen), also translated as Unfashionable Observations[1] and Thoughts Out of Season,[2] consists of four works by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, started in 1873 and completed in 1876.

The work comprises a collection of four (out of a projected 13) essays concerning the contemporary condition of European, especially German, culture.

[3] Nietzsche here began to discuss the limitations of empirical knowledge, and presented what would appear compressed in later aphorisms.

Furthermore, he alleges that this title may have its origins via Jacob Burckhardt, who would have referred to Leon Battista Alberti's treatise, De commodis litterarum atque incommodis (On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Literary Studies, 1428).

[3] This particular essay is notable for showcasing the increasingly strident elitism Nietzsche was developing inside his mind.

He was persuaded to redraft the article by his friend, the enthusiastic Wagnerian Peter Gast who helped him prepare a less contentious version.