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Of course, the entire ambiguity of "life" shows itself here, and the question remains as to whether and how a ranking can be postulated in this regard, e.g., along the lines of the Leibnizian monadology.

235. Truth and genuineness²⁷

We call true gold genuine gold and a genuine German a true one. The genuine is what corresponds to and satisfies the true, and the true is meant here in the sense of the actual or, as the case may be, the suitable.

Genuineness therefore implies correspondence and, accordingly, correctness.

Yet the genuine is not purely and simply what "agrees" with the suitable; it by no means merely pertains to propositions. A proposition is correct but is not genuine; or is it indeed? An ungenuine proposition, an apocryphal one that does not derive, e.g., from Aristotle himself, can still be correct; conversely, an incorrect one can be genuine. Thus genuineness signifies something other than correctness, if this latter term is to be reserved for the cor-respondence of a pronouncement to the thing spoken of.

Genuine, on the other hand, is a piece of gold, for example. We speak of a "genuine Dürer" but also of a "genuinely" Schillerian turn of phrase. In these cases, "genuine" means something else again, not simply "unfalsified" and deriving only from Durer or Schiller but, rather, precisely accordant with the one or the other and only with him, essentially characteristic. Likewise, we speak of genuineness when we call people "genuine" in their behavior.

The genuine is not only the suitable and the accordant, thus what corresponds to an already extant thing, but at the same time: accordant in the establishment of a measure, genuine in the unfolding, faithful to the origin, maintaining the originariness.

What is this "originariness"? What does it determine? The human being, being human! (Steadfastness of Da-sein!)

Genuineness is also more essential than honesty. Honesty always concerns merely the unfolding of something already given and already available (cf. the genuine and the straightforward and the simple).

Genuineness: the power for creatively preserving what is bestowed, the power for creatively carrying out what is assigned. Genuineness of temperament, of courage, of attuned, knowing, persistent will. Essential patience as the highest courage.

Genuineness and restraint; the latter still more original