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Clearly, he ís speaking primarily of tímes when the sense of “the same” eclipses all other criteria, or rather it takes their place, as Schopenhauer might have experienced himself just a few decades later in his own country. He himself puts meritocracy above all else. It cannot be stressed enough. If that does not work, then misanthropy is the antidote: he would even pay the bill of the table beside him at the restaurant just so no one would sit beside him. These two go very well side by side: the real fear of the stranger, and the transformation of the mediocrity of the same into greatness on the other side. That is, fear of my own littleness, although one can easily disprove the other. But who would think of that? That is no longer interesting at such times.
